DEBATE: “Finland should accept prisoners from Guantánamo”

Years in camp should atone for possible old crimes, writes MP Pekka Haavisto

Pekka Haavisto

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By Pekka Haavisto
     
      The first presidential order of United States President Barack Obama concerned the closure of the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay. As a result of the decision, the 250 remaining prisoners in the camp on the eastern tip of Cuba will be released, or will have their cases handled in court.
      The camp, located on a US naval base in a “no-man’s land” was one of the results of the terror attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001.
      The war against terror required the arrest and lengthy detainment of the international backers of al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
     
Many radically thinking young men had gathered in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan from all over the Muslim world to fight for what they felt was right.
      The reward offered for the arrest of the fighters had the desired effect.
      There were once as many as 800 prisoners in Guantánamo from 47 different countries, from Sweden to Bangladesh, from Tunisia to Russia.
      Child prisoners have also been held in Guantánamo. The youngest were 14-15 years old when arrested, and 16-year-olds were subjected to torture during interrogation.
     
The war against terror was based on an analysis, which now seems incorrect, that the threat of terror could be overcome by military means.
      The greatest risk to the West in this new war was the sullying of its own values. The Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the CIA’s secret detention centres with their torture, and the prison camp at Guantánamo have become a shameful stain, overshadowing speeches made on behalf of human rights, civil liberties, and democracy.
      The end did not justify the means, and the means cast doubt on the end itself.
     
If the prisoners at Guantánamo were prisoners of war they would have been protected by the Geneva Accords, and they would be freed once the war ended.
      If the prisoners had been criminals, their cases should be handled in a civilian court.
      The cases of most of the prisoners have not been handled in any courts. Actually they are not even prisoners, because they have not been given any prison sentences.
      They are detainees, some of whom have waited for seven years to have their cases handled. With no indictment or legal process, it is impossible to put on a defence.
     
Obama’s decision to close the Guantánamo camp quickly is the only possible one.
      Returning them to their own home countries would be the best option for the prisoners. If it is not safe - for instance, if they would face arrest or torture there - they would need to be offered the possibility to stay in the United States.
      If there are criminals among them, their cases should be handled properly, in court.
      However, there will be prisoners left over, several dozen undoubtedly, who do not feel that the United States - which was responsible for their incarceration - is a safe country for themselves, and whose return to their own country is not possible. The EU should offer help for these kinds of prisoners.
     
The EU foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, and at the initiative of Portugal, the agenda will include the situation in Guantánamo.
      Many EU countries, including Portugal, France, and Germany, have expressed their readiness to accept prisoners who are released from the camp. Finland should also be among those offering this help.
      It has been estimated that of the last 250 prisoners in Guantánamo, 50 to 60 of them might be in need of European help. If all 27 EU countries take part in the effort, the Finnish “share of the burden” would be limited to helping a few individuals. This would be reasonable.
     
Legally, those freed from Guantánamo are not convicted criminals for us, and they are not prisoners - suspects at the most. They would come to Finland as free individuals, whose status would be comparable with that of refugees needing asylum. They would be met here not by police and prison guards, but by immigration officials, social workers, and experts in integration.
      Specialist expertise in Finland - for instance, the rehabilitation centre for victims of torture, which is run by the Helsinki Deaconess Institute, could have considerable importance in helping some individuals. The time spent behind a chain-linked fence in a small cell will undoubtedly have left its mark. There have been many attempted suicides in the camp.
     
I have heard of two counter-arguments to taking the prisoners. The first is that the USA itself should solve the problem it has created.
      Those who think like this forget that living people are involved, for whom every day spent in imprisonment without a good reason is a heavy one.
      For some of these people, settling in the United States might be an overwhelming idea, even if such a possibility were offered them.
     
Another argument against it involves security. If these people have been imprisoned in the war against terror, dare we take them into Europe or Finland?
      What if they were to commit crimes?
      With respect to possible old crimes, for which there have been no investigations or convictions in most cases, the time spent in prison - up to seven years - should be sufficient atonement. If they come to Europe, they would naturally be subject to the laws of their new countries of residence, with the same rights and obligations as the rest of us.
     
In our own democratic tradition, one of the most valuable possibilities is to give people a chance for a new start.
      It is connected to our human rights thinking, and with Christian ethics. It determines our attitude, both to our own citizens and to all of humanity.
      People kept in cages are a spectacle, which we all have the responsibility, as eyewitnesses, to stop.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 25.1.2009
     
The writer is a Green Member of Parliament and a member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

More on this subject:
 Minister Thors: Accepting prisoners to be considered case by case

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland could give refuge to freed Guantanámo inmates (23.1.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat