OSCE Parliamentary Assembly representative visits Guantanamo

COPENHAGEN, 20 June 2007 - Anne-Marie Lizin, the President of the Belgian Senate and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on Guantanamo, is today visiting the Guantanamo detention centre on the invitation of the U.S. Government.

The fact-finding trip is Ms. Lizin's second to Guantanamo. Her previous visit was in March 2006. The one-day visit will be followed on Thursday by Ms. Lizin appearing at a public hearing before the U.S. Helsinki Commission on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The hearing is entitled "Guantanamo: Implications for U.S. Human Rights Leadership."

Ms. Lizin, who is also Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly's General Committee on Human Rights, was appointed Special Representative on Guantanamo in February 2005 by the then President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, U.S. Congressman Alcee L. Hastings. He is now chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission).

The detention centre at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was opened in January 2002 and currently holds around 385 detainees. The state of prisoners there has long been of interest to OSCE parliamentarians, who passed a resolution on the issue at the Annual Session in July 2003 in Rotterdam. The issue has been debated at subsequent Annual Sessions. All documents and reports on this can be found at www.oscepa.org

Members of Ms. Lizin's delegation include Professor Simon Petermann, an expert from Belgium; Francoise Themelin, secretary of the Belgian OSCE PA delegation; and Gustavo Pallares, staff member of OSCE PA's International Secretariat. Representatives from the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense and Air Force accompanied the delegation.