UNITED NATIONS, Feb 16: The United Nations on Thursday called upon the United States to shut down its detention centre at Guantanamo Bay “without further delay.”

In a prompt reaction, the US rejected the demand made in the 54-page report released by the UN simultaneously from Geneva and New York.

The UN also urged the US to bring all the prisoners held at the prison to trial or release them and stop subjecting them to abuse.

The Human Rights Commission report charged Washington with violating international human rights treaties.

“The United States government should close down the Guantanamo Bay detention centre and to refrain from any practice amounting to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” the report said.

“Attempts by the United States administration to redefine ‘torture’ in the framework of the struggle against terrorism in order to allow certain interrogation techniques that would not be permitted under the internationally-accepted definition of torture are of utmost concern.

“The confusion with regard to authorized and unauthorized interrogation techniques over the last years is particularly alarming.”

Kevin Moley, the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, responded that the investigation had taken little account of evidence provided by the US and that the authors had turned down an invitation to visit Guantanamo.

“It is particularly unfortunate that the special rapporteurs rejected the invitation and that their unedited report does not reflect the direct, personal knowledge that this visit would have provided,” he said.

The Amnesty International in a statement said that Guantánamo Bay had become a symbol of injustice and abuse in Washington’s “war on terror”. It must be closed down.

The AI said the unlawful detention of ‘enemy combatants’ at the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay had now entered its fifth year.

Hundreds of people of around 35 nationalities remain held in a legal black hole, many without access to any court, legal counsel or family visits.

Many of these detainees say they have been subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. In desperation, some detainees have attempted suicide. Others have gone on prolonged hunger strikes, being kept alive only through painful force feeding measures, the AI noted.

AFP adds: The US rejected demands that it should close the Guantanamo detention centre.

With new challenges to be made to the US Supreme Court this week and new war crimes trials about to get under way at the camp this month, the White House insisted that the 500 detainees were treated humanely and that they remained a threat.

“These are dangerous terrorists that we’re talking about that are there,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. “The military treats the detainees humanely.”

Mr McClellan said that ‘nothing’s changed’ in the US opinion of whether the Guantanamo camp should close. He suggested that allegations of abuse amounting to torture at the camp were propaganda by militants trained to make such charges.

“We know Al Qaeda detainees are trained in trying to disseminate false allegations,” he said. “Some of this, from the reporting I’ve seen, appears to be a rehash of some of the allegations that have been made by lawyers for some of the detainees.”

Mr McClellan said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had full access to the camp.

The ICRC says it visits the camp every two-to-three months for six weeks and helps detainees remain in contact with their families.

“We have complete access,” said Simon Schorno, an ICRC spokesman in Washington, and added that recommendations were made to the camp commanders and the authorities in Washington but these were kept confidential.

A US State Department official reiterated that it was holding the inmates “in full compliance with international law and obligations.”