Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp numbered fifteen, according to a 2011 study by the
Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas
The Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas (CSHRA, the 'Davis Group') was a University Human Rights Centers, university human rights center located at the University of California, Davis. The CSHRA was housed within UC Davis' Hemisphe ...
at the
University of California Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The instit ...
.
The U.S. State Department had publicly acknowledged twelve.
The US Department of Defense defined minors at Guantanamo as those below the age of 16, whereas they are defined as below the age of 18 in international law. Three juveniles aged below 16 were held in
Camp Iguana
Camp Iguana is a small compound in the detention camp complex on the US Naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Camp Iguana originally held three child detainees, who camp spokesmen then claimed were the only detainees under age 16 (the age at wh ...
, but others between 16 and 18 were put into the general population and treated as adults. These included
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Said Khadr ( ar, عمر أحمد سعيد خضر; born September 19, 1986) is a Canadian citizen who at the age of 15 was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for ten years, during which he pleaded guilty to the murder of U ...
, a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
citizen who was 15 when captured and one of the youngest detainees, 16 when transported to Guantanamo.
May 2008 report to the United Nations
On May 15, 2008 the
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
published a report that the
Bush Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
had submitted to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
Committee on the Rights of the Child
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is a body of experts that monitor and report on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The Committee also monitors the Convention's three optional protoc ...
.
[
] The report stated that the USA had apprehended 2500 juveniles—2400 of them in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. It said that a total of ten juveniles had been held in the
Bagram Theater Detention Facility
The Parwan Detention Facility (also called Detention Facility in Parwan or Bagram prison) is Afghanistan's main military prison. Situated next to the Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, the prison was built by the U.S. during t ...
in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and that eight juveniles had been held in the
Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
[
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List of known juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps
Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
documents acknowledge that at least fifteen children were at one time imprisoned at Guantanamo:
In addition, the UC Davis report lists six detainees who might have been 17 at the time of transfer to Guantanamo:
See also
*
Military use of children
Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures.
Children in the military, includ ...
Notes
External links
WikiLeaks and the 22 Children of GuantánamoAndy Worthington
Guantánamo: pain and distress for thousands of children
{{WoTPrisoners
War on terror
*
Juveniles
Juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp