The Inter-American Human Rights Commission has released a statement expressing its approval of President Obama’s  decision to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.  A brief portion of the statement is below.  The rest of the statement references past calls by the Commission to close the detention center and to investigate rights violations allegedly taking place there.  It is so good to see the U.S. finally taking some of its international obligations seriously.

IACHR WELCOMES ORDER TO CLOSE GUANTANAMO DETENTION CENTER

Washington, D.C., January 27, 2009 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its deep satisfaction over the decision by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to close the detention center at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base within a period of no later than one year and to prohibit cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment in interrogations of detained individuals.

President Obama made these decisions on January 22, 2009, with the signing of the executive orders entitled “Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities” and “Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.” These decisions order government officials to immediately review the status of all individuals detained at Guantánamo and to ensure that the conditions of detention comply with all applicable national and international laws, including the Geneva Conventions. The constitutional privilege of habeas corpus of all detained individuals is also recognized, and the detention center at Guantánamo is ordered to be closed within a period of no later than one year. 

[The rest of the statement is available here.]