This week is Amnesty International’s National Week Of Student Action. This week students across the nation are asked to take action to push the issues of human rights to our government leadership. This year the topics of focus are:

CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO
» Those held in Guantánamo have been subjected to numerous human rights abuses. Many have been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment while in U.S. custody.
» Reports of forced feedings and religious intolerance are commonplace.
» Individuals held indefinitely without charge or access to a fair trial are denied fundamental protections under international human rights and humanitarian law.
» People who continue to be detained in Guantánamo should be charged with a crime and given a fair trial in U.S. federal court, or, if appropriate, by court martial.
» Anyone who is not charged should be released immediately and unconditionally. No one should be returned to a country where they would face torture or other human rights violations.

STOP TORTURE
» Torture is immoral, illegal, and counterproductive and is an ineffective means of interrogation because it often results in false statements.
» Torture is illegal under U.S. law, international human rights law and the laws of war, and the U.S. Government is obligated to comply with prohibitions against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
» Anyone involved in the torture and ill treatment of people in U.S. custody should be held accountable, and victims of torture should be compensated.

RESTORE HABEAS CORPUS
» Habeas corpus is the right to challenge one’s detention before an independent court, and it is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and international law. It is a critical protection against human rights abuses for people in custody and is the primary protection from arbitrary executive detention and torture.
» The Military Commissions Act (MCA) strips the habeas rights of foreign nationals held as “enemy combatants,” prohibiting people who have been held without charge or trial from challenging the basis and conditions of their detention.
» Amnesty International does not believe that the proceedings at Guantánamo are a substitute for full independent judicial review and demands the restoration of habeas corpus.