GB Quigley Question:

Could a type of International Criminal Court be established to try to give a more fair trial regarding Duvalier's political crimes or does the U.N. already have such a court and is just not taking action?

Partnoy Question-GB

Why do you think so few people received justice for their actions in Argentina and around Latin America?

What would happen if the U.N. or A.I. decided to take action to help the disappeared persons without implementing a normative idea or framework for handling such an unprecendented issue?

Where did you and your fellow prisoners find the strength to endure such terrible circumstances?

Progress Report 3, Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay- Group 1

Ayesha Syed

Claire Glezer

Preston Keiffer

Rachel Grossfeld

Greg Baumel

Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Our group has collectively researched our topic on Guantanamo Bay and found many sources ranging from journal articles to television shows and films. In order to give a visual portrayal of the mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Rachel found a 60 Minutes segment from CBS News entitled, Nightmare at Guantanamo Bay. To accompany this visual section of our presentation, Claire also found clips from the documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, a 2007 film about the treatment and torture of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. This film is influential to our research because it also details the United State’s policy on torture, interrogation, and the treatment of foreign prisoners.

Ayesha, Preston, and Greg each contributed to the findings of articles from the New Yorker, the International Journal of Human Rights, the Journal of Criminal Law, and an article from International Debates. Moore’s article ties in with Claire’s film in detailing the United State’s military action in Afghanistan, the detention of prisoners, and then their transportation to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hertzberg’s article ties in with Moore’s, shedding light on the men who actually being held at the prison and the promise by President Barack Obama to close the prison.

Scheneider’s article, Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay, explains the legal issues arising from the treatment of the prisoners. This gives our presentation a legal and criminal standpoint to accompany the morality and ethics of just the human rights standpoint. Our final article by Schulhofer concentrates on the law as well, describing the testimony of the New York University School of Law professor and his appearance before the U.S. Senate Committee on the treatment and dealings of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

Bibliography

Hertzberg, Hendrik. "Prisoners." New Yorker 87.9 (2011): 45-46. Academic Search Premier. Web.

          1 Oct. 2012.

Moore, Catherine. "The United States, International Humanitarian Law And The Prisoners At 

         Guantanamo Bay."International Journal Of Human Rights 7.2 (2003): 1-27. 

         Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

"Nightmare At Guantanamo Bay." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 30 Mar. 2008. Web. 01 Oct. 2012. 

        <http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3980799n>.

Schneider, Daniella. "Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay." Journal of Criminal Law 68.5   
         (2004): 423-39.

Schulhofer, Stephen J. "Does The Treatment Of Prisoners At The Detention Facility In 

         Guantánamo Bay Violate International Law? Pro." International Debates 4.4 (2006): 

         110-122. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

Taxi to the Dark Side. Think Film, 2007.

Guantanamo Bay Progress Report 2

Progress Report 2:

Guantanamo Bay- Group 1

Ayesha Syed

Claire Glezer

Preston Keiffer

Rachel Grossfeld

Greg Baumel

Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Group Members' Progress on Tasks:

      All members of our group have worked to accumulate a multitude of sources relating to the Guantanamo Bay prisoners.  This is evident from our working bibliography that will undoubtedly change as our action campaign begins to take shape.  Also on a group level, we have made plans to view the documentary that Claire found together.  This will allow us all to express our views on the issues regarding the remaining prisoners.  We plan to use at least one clip from this documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, so viewing the film together will help us to determine what clips resonate most with the viewer and best get our point across.  Rachel has been finding journal articles that cover the debate over the remaining prisoners and sending them to all of the members via our group email thread.  These articles have been particularly helpful in describing the argument from both sides in a professional manner.  Ayesha has been posting frequently in the group page on Blogger and is helping greatly to relate the topics discussed in class to our own topic.  This has ensured our groups timely submittal of all assignments and provided links between class topics and the Guantanamo Bay situation.  Preston and Greg have both focused on finding academic sources that will provide published insight into the Guantanamo Bay debate over human rights.  The articles compiled so far have provided opposing viewpoints that allowed our group to get a more universal understanding of why this topic is so controversial. 

    As we move on towards progress report 3 our group plans to begin forming our multimedia presentation with both Microsoft PowerPoint and video clips. Also, we will move towards taking a stance in the debate and format our presentation based on each individual group member's opinion.  This will account for varying opinions on the controversial topics of how to deal with the Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

Bibliography

Hertzberg, Hendrik. "Prisoners." New Yorker 87.9 (2011): 45-46. Academic Search Premier. Web.

          1 Oct. 2012.

Moore, Catherine. "The United States, International Humanitarian Law And The Prisoners At 

         Guantanamo Bay."International Journal Of Human Rights 7.2 (2003): 1-27. 

         Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

Schneider, Daniella. "Human Rights Issues in Guantanamo Bay." Journal of Criminal Law 68.5   
         (2004): 423-39.

Schulhofer, Stephen J. "Does The Treatment Of Prisoners At The Detention Facility In 

         Guantánamo Bay Violate International Law? Pro." International Debates 4.4 (2006): 

         110-122. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Oct. 2012.

Taxi to the Dark Side. Think Film, 2007.

Progress Report 1:

Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay: Group 1-Progress Report 1

Ayesha Syed

Claire Glezer

Preston Keiffer

Rachel Grossfeld

Greg Baumel

            Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Questions to Address:

As our group’s topic deals with the institution of Guantanamo Bay, we have chosen two main questions surrounding the controversy to address in our action campaign. Primarily, we hope to discuss and reach a conclusion about whether the institution should be completely shut down resulting in the return of the remaining detainees to their respective countries. The debate about whether the detainees should be released to their countries arises from the notion that detainees of Guantanamo Bay are not entitled to all human rights or protections stated in the Geneva Conventions. Subsequently, the second issue our group would like to address is whether it is anyone’s decision to strip the prisoners of rights they are essentially entitled to.

Resources:

 In order to address these issues, our group will explore both electronic resources and book resources. Our hope is enhance our presentation with video clips and graphic images of occurrences at the institution to convey the severity of what Guantanamo Bay has caused and is still causing.

Developing the Campaign:

As of now, each group member has been assigned the responsibility of completing a progress report. Everyone in the group is responsible for accumulating research on the institution and posting it on our blog as they come across it. After there is a firm understanding of the issues at hand, we plan to synthesize the information and claim our collective or individual stance on the two main issues we will address in the campaign. We will then build our campaign using a PowerPoint presentation that contains graphic images, videos, and interviews with the prisoners, as well written information obtained from our research. Also, we will present the counterarguments to our positions on the issues and explain why we are not in accordance with them.  We believe the best way to build our campaign is with pertinent factual information as well as visual aids that will appeal to the ethos of our audience. 

Questions for Mr. Quigley

How exactly did the terrible atrocities during the Holocaust lead the world powers and other nations to support the declaration of human rights?

Is there an international document that discusses what should be done if any of the explicitly stated human rights is violated? Why or why not?

GB-Questions for Mr. Rutonesha

How could/can the UN approve any international involvement or intervention if one of the 6 criterion from the 1993 Security Council agreement was that the safety of the UN personnel have to be insured. Is that ever possible?

Besides the possibility of joining the US Military, what other factors led you to pursue traveling to the United States so persistently?

What do you think the Hutu extremists believed was the justification of their killing the Tutsis? How then did the views of Hutus that wanted to help differ, from your perspective and experience?

GB Group- Mueller Question

What is an example of a genocide you would consider the result of ethnic hatred or ethnic war as you define it in your perspective?

Transnational Advocacy Groups

As far as transnational advocacy groups go in relation to the Guantanamo Bay controversy, our group found something interesting. We noticed that there are not many groups that advocate about a certain stance on the issue. Instead, we found that they are groups targeted against torture of prisoners, not necessarily only those in Guantanamo Bay. We did find one group called Cage Prisoners that is specifically targeted at helping the GB prisoners.

Human Rights in Guantanamo Bay article

Human Rights in Guantanamo Bay

Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay: Group 1-Progress Report 1

Ayesha Syed

Claire Glezer

Preston Keiffer

Rachel Grossfeld

Greg Baumel

            Dealing with the Remaining Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay

Questions to Address:

As our group’s topic deals with the institution of Guantanamo Bay, we have chosen two main questions surrounding the controversy to address in our action campaign. Primarily, we hope to discuss and reach a conclusion about whether the institution should be completely shut down resulting in the return of the remaining detainees to their respective countries. The debate about whether the detainees should be released to their countries arises from the notion that detainees of Guantanamo Bay are not entitled to all human rights or protections stated in the Geneva Conventions. Subsequently, the second issue our group would like to address is whether it is anyone’s decision to strip the prisoners of rights they are essentially entitled to.

Resources:

 In order to address these issues, our group will explore both electronic resources and book resources. Our hope is enhance our presentation with video clips and graphic images of occurrences at the institution to convey the severity of what Guantanamo Bay has caused and is still causing.

Developing the Campaign:

As of now, each group member has been assigned the responsibility of completing a progress report. Everyone in the group is responsible for accumulating research on the institution and posting it on our blog as they come across it. After there is a firm understanding of the issues at hand, we plan to synthesize the information and claim our collective or individual stance on the two main issues we will address in the campaign. We will then build our campaign using a PowerPoint presentation that contains graphic images, videos, and interviews with the prisoners, as well written information obtained from our research. Also, we will present the counterarguments to our positions on the issues and explain why we are not in accordance with them.  We believe the best way to build our campaign is with pertinent factual information as well as visual aids that will appeal to the ethos of our audience. 

Segment 4 GB

Should we care about them if they have possibly harmed our country or our allies and should we make sure they are safe from harm and torture?-Red Cross Reading

Is it a moral obligation to protect peoples' human rights based on their country of origin or based on our human rights?-Red Cross Reading

More articles on GB

Life After Guantanamo Bay
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/03/2012322135213659138.html

All branches of the US government must act to end one of the most shameful episodes in American history.

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/201211193555298292.html

Khadr trial opens at Guantanamo Bay

Omar Khadr says he confessed to murder of US soldier after "torture" at Guantanamo Bay. www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2010/08/201081018133349839.html The first civilian Guantanamo trial Ahmed K Ghailani is the first Guantanamo Bay prisoner to be tried in a civilian court rather than a military tribunal. www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2010/10/2010106212212436924.html Some 200 men have just celebrated their tenth Eid in the US prison as they continue to be detained without trial. www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011118131517244568.html Timeline: Guantanamo Bay prison A timeline of key events at the US-run prison. www.aljazeera.com/focus/2009/07/20097221092685420.html Inside Guantanamo Bay Al Jazeera examines the controversial US prison camp that is now set to be closed. www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2009/01/2009122193216401880.html

Recent article on GB

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/questions-and-answers-on-the-sept-11-war-crimes-trial-at-guantanamo-bay-cuba/2012/09/08/60143e58-f9d1-11e1-a0a1-b07778c66e04_story.html

Research

Here is a link to a documentary called Taxi to the Dark Side. My professor showed it to us last year and it's really intense, but pretty amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPPQ8fhwDHc&feature=related

Segment 3

From Franck's article, "Are Human Rights Universal?" we decided to focus on the idea of prisoners losing their rights because they are incarcerated. There is a morality questioned involved when dealing with those who have severely broken the law on whether they still deserve human rights even though they may have taken them away from someone else. Are prisoners still protected under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

Also, from Kirkpatrick's article comes the problem of jurisdiction in Guantanamo Bay. Which country claims over governmental power? Is it the country from which the prisoner is from, or the country from which the prisoner is currently located? How does this play into the human and ethnic rights dilemma?

GB

From Segment 2, we will use the question of whether or not humans that have committed a crime have the same human rights as other humans.  Is it our job to take their rights away as well if they have taken away others' rights.

From Segment 2, dignity vs rights and how it applies to someone that is in jail.

Instructions

Every Student Must Use a "Label" to apply his or her post to the correct action group. If you do not do this, your post will get lost in the home page () and not appear in your Label page linked at the top of the blog.

The Labels for each Action Group are as follows:

AIDS: AIDS as a Human Rights Issue Action Group
CED: Corporate Environmental Destruction Action Group
Darfur: Darfur Action Group
GB: Guantanamo Bay Action Group
HT: Human Trafficking Action Group
Refugee: Refugees Action Group


If you forgot to label your post, then please edit your post and simply add the correct label by selecting it from the list on the right side of the screen.

Thanks,

-JH