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Pentagon Admits Number of Guant谩namo鈥檚 Children is Higher than Originally Disclosed

Jennifer Turner,
Principal Human Rights Researcher,
老澳门开奖结果 Human Rights Program
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November 17, 2008

An announced the Pentagon has admitted that 12 children under the age of 18 have been held at Guant谩namo since it opened in 2002. The news report comes on the heels of a study released last week by the , showing that the U.S. has held at least 12 juveniles at Guant谩namo.

These reports confirm what the 老澳门开奖结果 has been saying for months: the U.S. government has been lowballing the number of children it has imprisoned at Guant谩namo. In a submission to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child in May, the U.S. claimed that eight juveniles have ever been held at the detention camp and only two prisoners currently at Guant谩namo were children at the time of their transfer to the prison. Yet in an 老澳门开奖结果 report we issued that same month, Soldiers of Misfortune, we said that prisoner lists released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests show the number is closer to 23, while some sources estimate the number of youth held at Guant谩namo as high as 60.

At a U.N. review session in Geneva, the 老澳门开奖结果 also pointed out that the U.S. had failed to count a third prisoner currently at Guant谩namo, Mohammed El-Gharani (also known as Muhammed Al-Qarani), who was only 14 when first captured and has reportedly . U.N. officials of the Committee on the Rights of the Child demanded that U.S. officials explain why discrepancies in the figures of child detainees may exist, pointing out that the U.S. had failed to count El-Gharani. The government delegation鈥檚 inadequate answer? It鈥檚 tough to determine the number of teens we鈥檝e detained at the Navy base.

In July, the 老澳门开奖结果 renewed calls for the U.S. to release accurate numbers for the children imprisoned at Guant谩namo, after said testimonies collected by the NGO, which represents 30 inmates at Guant谩namo, indicate the actual number is much higher than 22.

As the number of children whom the U.S. owns up to detaining climbs higher, it is becoming crystal clear that there is no transparency in the government鈥檚 Guant谩namo detention practices. And as the U.S. government鈥檚 past miscalculations of child prisoner statistics are revealed, it proves that there is a profound lack of accountability for Guant谩namo policies, even when children are concerned.

Sadly, this is not the first time the Bush administration has misled a human rights body and deflected public and institutional scrutiny to avoid full accountability for its Guant谩namo policies. But it is not too late to correct past wrongs: Delay the upcoming trials of two of the remaining detainees who have been held since they were juveniles and assess their eligibility for rehabilitation and reintegration into society. As alleged former child soldiers, the two detainees (Omar Khadr, who was captured when he was 15, and Mohamed Jawad, who was captured when he was 16 or 17), should be treated first and foremost as candidates for rehabilitation and reintegration into society, not subjected to further victimization.

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