Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin Joined European Parliamentarians in Brussels This Week for a Global Conference on the Closure of Guantanamo  

Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin joined European Parliamentarians in Brussels this week for a global conference on the closure of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The event brought the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur, European Union Parliamentarians, former detainees including Mansoor Adayfi, a non-resident Visiting Fellow at the Law School's Human Rights Center, the former Muslim Chaplain to Guantanamo, and detainee lawyers together.

In June of this year, Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, held a press conference detailing her official visit to the detention facility at Guantanamo. She made specific recommendations and concluded that the U.S. Government must ensure accountability for all international law violations, for victims of counter-terrorism and victims of terrorism. She concluded, “The time is now to undo the legacies of exceptionalism, discrimination, and securitization perpetuated by Guantánamo’s continuing existence.”