Statement to Reinstate NGO Observers Program at Guantanamo

SUMMARY

The City Bar, in consultation with our Military and Veterans Affairs Committee (Hon. Daniel Lewis, Chair) and International Human Rights Committee (Suchitra Vijayan, Chair), joined a statement with organizations approved as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) able to send representatives (NGORs) to the military commissions at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, requesting the immediate reinstatement of the NGO observer program. On February 6, 2025, the Office of the Military Commissions (OMC) stated that it was “unable to accommodate visitors from NGOs at this time.” More than one year has passed with no further information, despite the Department of Defense’s Procedures and Rules for NGO Representatives which state: “[T]he Office of Military Commissions recognizes the critical role of NGORs and supports their attendance at the proceedings at GTMO because of their respective missions to advance human rights and respect for the law. NGORs are encouraged to attend, observe, analyze, and report on the proceedings to promote transparency, understanding and dialogue.” The presence of NGORs, in person at Guantanamo, in part, allows the OMC to assert that the proceedings are “public” and “transparent.” “Public knowledge and understanding of the legal proceedings at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay are already severely limited by the physical location of the courtroom…. We request the immediate reinstatement of the NGO observer program to fulfil both the public trial requirement, and our obligation to be the ‘eyes and ears’ to the outside world.”

REPORT

Statement from Non-governmental Organizations:
“Immediately Reinstate the NGO Observers Program at Guantanamo”
16 March 2026

The organizations listed below have been approved as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) able to send representatives (NGORs) to the military commissions at the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

On February 6, 2025, we were notified that due to “constraints … the Office of the Military Commissions (OMC) is unable to accommodate visitors from NGOs at this time.” More than one year has passed with no further information, despite the Department of Defense’s Procedures and Rules for NGO Representatives which state:

[T]he Office of Military Commissions recognizes the critical role of NGORs and supports their attendance at the proceedings at GTMO because of their respective missions to advance human rights and respect for the law. NGORs are encouraged to attend, observe, analyze, and report on the proceedings to promote transparency, understanding and dialogue.

As NGOs committed to reporting on the proceedings of the Guantanamo military commissions, we concur. It is crucial that we can observe, in person, important upcoming hearings, for example:

• On March 23-27, 2026, in the 9/11 case, FBI Special Agent Stephen Gaudin is scheduled to testify about his knowledge of events that will be important to both the suppression of the defendants’ confessions to the FBI and to the public record of what happened in the CIA “black sites.”
• On June 1, 2026, the trial of U.S. v. Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu Al-Nashiri, the man accused of planning the USS Cole bombing, is scheduled to begin.

The presence of NGORs, in person at Guantanamo, in part, allows the OMC to assert that the proceedings are “public” and “transparent.”

Public knowledge and understanding of the legal proceedings at Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay are already severely limited by the physical location of the courtroom. NGO observers make the commitment to travel, despite formidable complexities, and report back to our respective organizations and to the public at large.

We request the immediate reinstatement of the NGO observer program to fulfil both the public trial requirement, and our obligation to be the “eyes and ears” to the outside world.

Signed,

American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International USA
Center for Victims of Torture
Georgetown Law Center on National Security
Human Rights First
Human Rights Institute, Georgetown Law
Human Rights Watch
Judicial Watch
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Institute of Military Justice
New York City Bar Association
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows