PREVENTION AND CONFLICT

By the Numbers: Findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project

This briefing paper presents the preliminary conclusions of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project (DAA Project) based on data collected as of April 10, 2006. It also highlights a number of individual cases that illustrate various key findings.

In 2004, revelations about the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq shocked people across the world. In response, U.S. government officials condemned the conduct as illegal and assured the world that perpetrators would be held accountable. 

Two years later, it has become clear that the problem of torture and other abuse by U.S. personnel abroad was far more pervasive than the Abu Ghraib photos revealed—extending to numerous U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq, and at Guantánamo Bay, and including hundreds of incidents of abuse. Yet an analysis of alleged abuse cases shows that promises of transparency, investigation, and appropriate punishment for those responsible remain unfulfilled. U.S. authorities have failed to investigate many allegations, or have investigated them inadequately. And numerous personnel implicated in abuses have not been prosecuted or punished. 

In order to collect and analyze allegations of abuse of detainees in U.S. custody in Afghanistan, Iraq, and at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, and to assess what actions, if any, the U.S. government has taken in response to credible allegations, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First have jointly undertaken a Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project (DAA Project). 

The Project tracks abuse allegations and records investigations, disciplinary measures, or criminal prosecutions that are linked to them. This briefing paper does not discuss allegations of torture or abuse at secret U.S. detention facilities in other countries, or allegations of torture following illegal rendition or other informal transfer to other countries. It presents the Project’s preliminary conclusions based on data collected as of April 10, 2006. It also highlights a number of individual cases that illustrate various key findings.