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Communication Addressing North Carolina's Role in the CIA's University of North Carolina School of Law Carolina Law Scholarship Repository Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 6-20-2019 Communication Addressing North Carolina’s Role in the CIA’s Extraordinary Rendition and Torture Program and Request for Coordinated Measures Including State Visit, Investigations, and International Condemnation Deborah M. Weissman University of North Carolina School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Weissman, Deborah M., "Communication Addressing North Carolina’s Role in the CIA’s Extraordinary Rendition and Torture Program and Request for Coordinated Measures Including State Visit, Investigations, and International Condemnation" (2019). Faculty Publications. 481. https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/faculty_publications/481 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. June 20, 2019 Professor Nils Melzer Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment c/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 8-14 Avenue de la Paix CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] and c/o Special Procedures Branch of the High Commissioner for Human Rights RE: Communication Addressing North Carolina’s Role in the CIA’s Extraordinary Rendition and Torture Program and Request for Coordinated Measures Including State Visit, Investigations, and International Condemnation CC: Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on Human Rights While Countering Terrorism; Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief; Felipe Gonzalez Morales, Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants; Fabián Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence; Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance; Livingstone Sewanyana, Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group to Elaborate the Content of an International Regulatory Framework, without Prejudging the Nature Thereof, Relating to the Activities of Private Military and Security Companies; Surya Deva, Chair of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights; Saeed Mokbil, Chair of the Working Group on Mercenaries Special Procedures Branch Dear Special Rapporteur Professor Nils Melzer: We, the Human Rights Policy Seminar at the University of North Carolina School of Law, submit this communication on behalf of the North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (“NCCIT” or “the Commission”), an organization working extensively to bring about justice for victims of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (“CIA”) extraordinary rendition and torture program and, in particular, its operations in North Carolina. Our mission has received bi-partisan support from a wide array of organizations and individuals, ranging from the American Civil 1 Liberties Union to former high-ranking government officials.1 In this communication, we seek to call attention to the unaddressed human rights violations committed by the U.S. government, the state of North Carolina and its political subdivisions, as well as Aero Contractors, Limited (“Aero”) incorporated in North Carolina and located at the Johnston County Airport and the North Carolina Global TransPark in North Carolina. As the home base of a private government contractor, the state, county, and two airports enabled Aero’s participation in the unlawful capture of multiple persons and their rendition to black sites for the purpose of subjecting them to interrogation by torture. Moreover, the protocol used by the personnel on the North Carolina rendition flights constituted torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. This CIA program with global reach literally “got off the ground” locally at the airports where Aero planes were located. Taking into consideration the extensive human rights violations that occurred as a result, we call upon members of various rapporteurships and working groups to investigate both the CIA’s and Aero’s human rights violations in North Carolina and other U.S. states. We ask that members request the U.S. government to grant a site visit to North Carolina to aid in that investigation and to take any and all other action permitted by the various mandates. We also encourage members to issue a statement calling on the U.S. government, the state of North Carolina and its political subdivisions as well as Aero to deliver immediate reparations and reconciliation to victims of the extraordinary rendition. The prohibition on torture is enumerated in all authoritative international human rights and international humanitarian law instruments, including treaties ratified by the United States.2 The United States has entered into, by both signature and ratification with the United Nations, the: 1) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1st Amendment Note) (“ICERD”); 2) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1st Generation rights, no derogation from articles 6, 7, 8 para. I & II, 11, 15, 16, and 18 under this provision) (“ICCPR”); and 3) Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.3 In addition, the Universal 1 Please see The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture (NCCIT), a non-profit organization dedicated to investigating and establishing public accountability for the role that North Carolina's government and state resources played in helping to facilitate the U.S. torture program at http://www.nccit.org/about. 2 See, e.g., Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 5, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 2, Dec. 10, 1984, S. Treaty Doc. 100-20 (1988), 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 [hereinafter CAT] (ratified by the United States on October 21, 1994); Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, arts. 3, 13, 130, Aug. 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3316, 75 U.N.T.S. 135 [hereinafter GC III] (ratified by the United States on August 2, 1955); Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, arts. 3, 32, 147, Aug. 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 [hereinafter GC IV] (ratified by the United States on August 2, 1955). 3 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 5, G.A. Res. 217 (III) A; Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, art. 2, Dec. 10, 1984, S. Treaty 2 Declaration of Human Rights is customary law so basic to humanity that the U.S. government cannot justify dispute with the doctrine.4 All of these instruments are reinforced by Article VI of the U.S. Constitution which states in relevant part, “all [T]reaties made . shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and all the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby . .”5 As noted in the report submitted by the Commission, [a]cross all of the human rights treaties, there is also a right to an effective remedy, including reparation and compensation for violations that are committed. This means that the human rights treaties that the United States has ratified govern what the government does or does not do long after the program itself has ended. 6 Indeed, a right to remedy is found in both the ICCPR and CAT. As testimony before hearings held by the Commission highlighted, neither the Bush nor the Obama administration criminally prosecuted any officials for violations of international law committed during the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and torture program.7 Furthermore, government claims of the “state secrets” privilege were invoked to block attempts by victims to remedy violations through civil litigation notwithstanding the fact that the details and circumstances of the program had been disclosed to the public prior to the litigation.8 The failure of U.S. government authorities as well as the state of North Carolina at all levels to investigate allegations of human rights abuses arising out of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and torture program— including allegations of abuses faced by those rendered to foreign custody—and to prosecute and provide redress for violations, is itself a “breach of its binding obligations under human rights treaties.”9 These circumstances make it all the more important for victims to obtain the assistance of international human rights bodies as the national systems have closed the door on them. Doc. 100-20 (1988), 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 [hereinafter CAT] (ratified by the United States on October 21, 1994); Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, arts. 3, 13, 130, Aug. 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3316, 75 U.N.T.S. 135 [hereinafter GC III] (ratified by the United States on August 2, 1955); Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, arts. 3, 32, 147, Aug. 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 [hereinafter GC IV] (ratified by the United States on August 2, 1955). 4 Id. 5 U.S. Const. art. VI. 6 North Carolina Commission
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