The Role of NGO Observers who travel to Guantanamo Bay to monitor U.S. Military Commissions Court cases against the ELITES.

The Role of NGO Observers who travel to Guantanamo Bay to monitor U.S. Military Commissions Court cases against the ELITES.



NGOs traveling to Guantanamo Bay to monitor hearings may have a range of substantive interests, political or ideological perspectives, and types of operations. But, surely, principal motivations of all those NGOs include to seek to ascertain if U.S. and / or international law are being complied with, and for some of the NGOs, to advocate on issues.

All NGOs, as far as we can tell, are interested in justice, integrity, the rule of law, and the right to a fair trial for stakeholders (though different NGOs may prefer to look after the rights of particular categories of stakeholders and not all stakeholders). No NGO representative has ever stated otherwise to me.

Ideally, each NGO will provide its NGO observer representative with a set of objectives – a Terms of Reference – to inform the observer of what they are expected to do or accomplish at Guantanamo Bay (or Ft. Meade or other viewing site). If the NGO does not inform the observer what is expected of its observer, how will the observer know what to do before, during and after their mission? How will the observer know what is expected of them?

Standard Terms of Reference for Guantanamo Bay missions might include a requirement that the NGO observer: (1) Attend; (2) Observe & Be Observed; (3) Analyze; (4) Critique; and (5) Report, as follows:

1. Attend Hearings and Trials – One can’t simply go to your local airport and board a plane to Guantanamo Bay and show up at the courtroom ready to observe. NGO observers must deal with multiple layers of logistics and other hurdles before they are able to attend hearings, including signing a sizeable stack of official Department of Defense forms (some samples / templates of which are provided in the Appendix to this Guide. Observers attend so that they can observe and be observed, analyze, critique, and report – see below. All these reasons for observers to attend are important, but it should be emphasized that observers attend so the observers can be observed by other stakeholders, who need to know that the proceedings are not being held in secret, and have representatives of the public present.

2. Observe Hearings and Trials and other activities at Gitmo; and Be Observed – Observing involves more than sitting in the courtroom during hearings. Effective observation requires the observer to possess certain traits, and requires the observer to take certain actions. First, observing requires an independent, objective, open mind. 
Second, observing requires substantive preparation, so you will know what you are looking for factually, and why, and the rules of law that govern he proceedings, so you can ascertain whether the proceedings comply with law. The flip side of observing is being observed. Observers should be able to be seen by other stakeholders, so those stakeholders know that the public is present, helping to contribute to transparency, and to help ensure that those involved with the proceedings are more likely to comply with the law. In a nutshell, observers should not only observe, but they should be in positions to be observed.
Observers should be seen. This does not mean that observers should be the center of attention. It means that having transparency and openness demands that people involved in the Guantanamo Bay process have the opportunity to know and see the observers.

3. Analyze Hearings and Trials – You should understand the specific law governing the right to a fair trial (as described in the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual and elsewhere), and the range of rights and interests of stakeholders, and what is required for rights and interests to be realized for all the stakeholders. You will
be more effective at analyzing the proceedings if you have this background in mind, and employ an appropriate analytical framework. You need not be a lawyer to analyze what is going on!

4. Critique Hearings and Trials – As you are analyzing and after you analyze what you witness, you will form judgments as to whether you believe all at Guantanamo Bay is operating smoothly, whether rights of all Guantanamo stakeholder are being fully afforded to them, whether the right to a fair trial is being honored. Your critique can be positive or negative, or somewhere in between. But you should be able to opine based on the law and the facts you witness on the ground.


5. Report on Hearings and Trials – As an NGO observer / monitor, you necessarily contribute to transparency and openness by being present at Guantanamo – so you can observe what is going on, and so that you can be observed by other stakeholders who are present. But being present at Gitmo is not enough. Transparency and openness is furthered when you as an NGO observer disseminate information to the outside world about what you observed, analyzed and critiqued while at Gitmo.

At the very least, it is strongly suggested that you submit a Final Observation Report to your sending NGO, whether or not your NGO expressly requires you to do so. You are encouraged to publish widely about your Guantanamo Bay experiences on blogs, in law reviews or newspapers, as op eds, or otherwise.
You can play a critical role in helping to ensure that what happens at Guantanamo Bay does not stay at Guantanamo Bay. Your comments about Guantanamo might echo praise, disapproval, skepticism, support, or you may not have formed solid opinions about critical aspects of what you witnessed. Writing about your experiences might help you to sharpen your views.

NGO Observers are the eyes and ears of the outside world as to what happens at Guantanamo Bay.
NGO Observers have a unique responsibility to share their experiences, insights and conclusions with the
world outside of the remote Naval Base in Cuba.


https://gitmoobserver.com/know-before-you-go/