ICRC Report on Visits to U.S. Detention Facilities
The ICRC recently published this report on its visits to detainees being held in U.S. facilities in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq, and South Carolina. The report opens:
Although terrorism is not new, States continue to be confronted with the question of how to respond adequately and effectively to the security challenges it poses while protecting the fundamental rights of suspects they have to detain.
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The ICRC recently published this report on its visits to detainees being held in U.S. facilities in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Iraq, and South Carolina. The report opens:
Although terrorism is not new, States continue to be confronted with the question of how to respond adequately and effectively to the security challenges it poses while protecting the fundamental rights of suspects they have to detain. Over the years, there has been intensive dialogue between the ICRC and the US on the issue of detention related to armed conflict and counter-terrorism. There have been some differences of opinion, particularly regarding the legal framework applicable to some of the persons detained in the fight against terrorism. However, the ICRC welcomed the three detention-related Executive Orders issued by President Obama on 22 January 2009 as an opportunity for a thorough review of the status of all detainees and of the conditions and procedures governing internment. The ICRC has been visiting people captured in the context of armed conflict and the fight against terrorism who are being held at US detention facilities in Afghanistan and in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since January 2002 and in Iraq since March 2003. It also visited three persons held in Charleston, South Carolina, during the period of their detention there.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.