March 30, 2006 Stephen J. Toope, Chairman-Rapporteur Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances c/o OHCHR-UNOG CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Fax: (+41-22) 917 90 06 E-mail:
[email protected] Re: General Allegation Regarding the United States Policy and Practice of Rendition Dear Mr. Toope, We write on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (“ACLU”), a non-profit organization that educates the public about civil liberties and employs lawyers who provide legal representation free of charge in cases involving civil and human rights. Since September 11, 2001, the United States government has relied increasingly in its counterterrorism operations on a practice that has commonly become known as “rendition,” or “extraordinary rendition.”1 While the circumstances of individual cases vary, the practice generally involves the abduction of persons either outside or inside the U.S. and their extrajudicial transfer either to U.S.-run detention facilities overseas or to the custody of foreign intelligence agencies. Following their abduction and detention, suspects are subjected to interrogation methods proscribed by United States and international law. Even when suspects are transferred to the custody of foreign agents under the rendition program, the United States often maintains a degree of control over their custody as well as the interrogation process itself.2 Because those subjected to this practice are generally held incommunicado in secret facilities, we believe that the practice either facilitates or effects enforced disappearances as this term has been defined under the Declaration for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance.3 1 See e.g.: Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Peter Finn, U.S.