FIDH and CCR Praise Bermuda Government for Stepping Up to Take Four Innocent Uighur Detainees from Guantánamo, and Urge Other Nations to Follow Bermuda’s Lead

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR, FIDH member organization in the United States) praise the people of Bermuda and Premier Ewart Brown for providing safe haven to four of the Uighur men at Guantánamo. The men had been cleared for release for many years but had no place to go because they faced the possibility of torture or persecution if returned to their native China and no other country had been willing to step forward to take them.

FIDH President, Souhayr Belhassen, declared, "No one disagrees with the fact that these innocent men have long deserved to be resettled in a safe country. By accepting and supporting the four Uighur men, Bermuda is defying unjustified prejudice and stereotypes unfairly associated to Guantanamo detainees. Bermuda is therefore showing the way for a sensible and human approach to the resettlement issues of innocent Guantanamo detainees who have nowhere to go. FIDH strongly urges European countries, such as Germany which has the largest Uighur community outside China, to follow Bermuda’s example and welcome the remaining Uighur men still held in Guantanamo, as well as the other men cleared for release, but stuck by governments’ inaction."

Said CCR Executive DirectorVincent Warren, "We are thankful to Premier Brown and the people of Bermuda for their compassion and generosity. The humanitarian action they performed by taking in these four men will long be remembered as an important act by a small country in the face of endless inaction by larger nations. We hope other nations will follow Bermuda’s lead."

Read more