Ask Amnesty

From Garland, Albequerque, NM:

I understand the IRC is prevented from visiting Iraqi soldiers who are prisoners of war. Has AI tried to see them? Has anyone information on their condition?

International USA's Refugee Program Director Bill Frelick responds. Bill Frelick served as a delegate on an Amnesty International mission to Iraq in late April/early May 2003. In addition to visiting the POW/civilian internee camp at Umm Qasr and searching for hidden detention centers, Frelick assessed humanitarian conditions and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The ICRC-the International Committee of the Red Cross-has a mandate under the Third Geneva Convention to visit prisoners of war (POWs) and a mandate under the Fourth Geneva Convention to visit civilians detained by an occupying power. ICRC delegates have, in fact, had access to the main POW camp at Umm Qasr. ICRC delegates have also visited detention centers in and around Baghdad and transitional places of detention in Basra and Missan. Although the ICRC maintains-according to the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions-that it should have access to anyone (civilian or military) detained by the occupying powers, it was not clear to the Amnesty International delegates during the time of my mission that the ICRC also had access to all the former Ba'ath leaders who had been apprehended or to persons whom the United States might regard as "unlawful combatants."

I visited the POW camp at Umm Qasr, called Camp Bucca, on 27 April 2003. The US authorities had released a large number of POWs that day and had had a press conference. The AI delegation took advantage of the relative openness on that particular day to tour the administrative side of the camp where the U.S soldiers and Arabic interpreters were quartered, administrative officers were located, and where POWs were processed for entry and exit. We found a camp composed almost entirely of tents and mobile containers, with a few plywood structures, such as latrines. It was a very inhospitable environment. A strong wind (which looked to be a constant feature of this location) was blowing sand and dust, making visibility extremely limited. A number of the soldiers had their faces covered to protect them from the harsh sun, wind, and sand.

Through the haze of sand and dust, it was quite difficult to see the area where the prisoners were being kept. We drove up to that compound, which was surrounded by an earthen embankment and barbed wire and guard posts along the embankment. Inside were lines of tents. We could not see any prisoners outside the tents.

We were told that there were smaller temporary camps "all over Iraq," but that POWs were being moved from those camps to Camp Bucca, which was to be "the more permanent" POW camp in Iraq.

We were told that the camp used Iraqi expatriates, Kuwaitis and Iraqi Kurds as interpreters when conducting "tribunals." These were described as administrative hearings to determine the background of prisoners and to decide whether or not they should be released. We saw several groups of prisoners in various stages of processing. The first prisoners we saw were two men in light blue jump suits being closely guarded by several soldiers. At another location we saw a larger group of about 30 prisoners in civilian clothes sitting in a tent. The last group of prisoners we saw was about a dozen people being escorted in a single file line. This group appeared to be preparing to leave.

The Amnesty delegation later returned to Camp Bucca, and made a formal request to observe the "tribunals" and to interview military lawyers and interpreters. The request was denied, and AI has had no further access to the camp.