Pax Christi USA joins major interfaith call for closure of Guantanamo Bay

Jan 11th, 2026

Source: Pax Christi USA

Pax Christi USA has called for the closure of the Guantánamo Bay prison since it was established decades ago. Now on the 24th anniversary of the prison's opening, we are proud to be one of 115 organizations that have signed this statement led by the Center for Victims of Torture and the Center for Constitutional Rights which reaffirms that it must be closed, without repurposing it for any future detention regime, and that there must be redress for individuals who were held and whose rights were violated.

January 11, 2026 is the shameful 24th anniversary of the opening of the military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. We, the undersigned 115 US-based and international non-governmental organizations - working on a range of issues, including international human rights, immigrants' rights, racial justice, and combatting anti-Muslim discrimination - again call for its closure.

For two decades, we have advocated for closing Guantánamo and for accountability for post-9/11 US policies that evade due process and condone torture. The Guantánamo detention facility - built on the same military base where the United States unconstitutionally detained Haitian refugees in deplorable conditions in the early 1990s - is the iconic example of the abandonment of the rule of law. The detention facility was designed specifically to evade legal constraints, and Bush administration officials incubated torture there. Since 2002, nearly 800 men have been detained at Guantánamo's military detention facility, all of them Muslim, and the majority having never been charged with a crime.

Today, 15 men remain indefinitely detained, including three who have long been cleared for release by US national security agencies. Many of them were tortured by the CIA or the US military after 9/11 and now, two decades on, are aging and presenting complex medical conditions that DOD officials have acknowledged Guantánamo cannot manage. The interminable military commissions have failed to deliver any measure of justice for 9/11.

The failure of past administrations to close Guantánamo continues to cause escalating and profound harm to the men who still languish there. It has also enabled what many feared, and against which we and others repeatedly warned: the repurposing of Guantánamo to detain others unlawfully.

Since February 2025, over 700 immigrants - most transported from the United States - have been temporarily detained at both Guantánamo's Migrant Operations Center and Camp 6, part of the military detention facility. These individuals have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including prolonged isolation, denial of legal counsel, and degrading conditions. Additionally, many were sent to other countries without individualized assessments whether they might face torture and persecution.

It is precisely due to the lack of accountability for post-9/11 US crimes that this is happening. The Trump administration's reprehensible decision to hold immigrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, unlawfully in a facility notorious for human rights abuses is made possible by the systematic erosion of the rule of law in the name of national security by Democrats and Republicans alike. A longstanding culture of impunity has facilitated the Trump administration's efforts to militarize immigration enforcement through wartime authorities and counterterrorism policies; to invoke Guantánamo's horrific legacy; and to leverage the United States' reputation as torturers to terrorize and vilify immigrants.

As organizations committed to human rights and the rule of law, we reaffirm a unified and unequivocal call:

Transfer without delay the six men who are not charged with a crime; end the failed military commissions and resolve pending cases; permanently close Guantánamo, without repurposing the facility for any future detention regime; hold perpetrators of US crimes accountable; and provide redress to those whose fundamental human rights the US has violated.

Signatures

Adrian Dominican Sisters
Advokato
Afghans For A Better Tomorrow
Alliance of Baptists
Almonqith organization for Human Rights
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Amnesty International USA
Antigone
Arab American Family Services
Asian Classics Institute
Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
CAGE International
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Victims of Torture
Centre Action Sociale Réhabilitation et Réadaptation pour les Victimes de la Torture et de la guerre
Church Women United in New York State
Citizen's Gavel Foundation
Close Guantanamo
Coalition for Civil Freedoms
Coalition to Stop Trident
Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, U.S. Provinces
Consortium des Associations de Jeunes Pour la Défense des Victimes de Violences en Guinée (COJEDEV)
Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Cross Cultural Foundation Thailand
De Novo Center for Justice and Healing
Defending Rights & Dissent
Demand Progress
Ensaaf
FEDERATION DES FEMMES POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT INTEGRAL AU CONGO
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Government Information Watch
Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA-JPIC
Hope Knows No Borders Network
Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace
International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture victims (IRCT)
InterReligious Task Force on Central America
Irídia - Human Rights Defence Center
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights
Just Detention International
Just Neighbors
JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF)
Kenya Human Rights Commission
Khmer Health Advocates
L.I.Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives
Lebanese Centre For Human Rights (CLDH)
Liberia Association of Psychosocial Services
LIncoln Park Presbyterian Church
Listening and Assistance Center, LAC
Marjorie Kovler Center, Heartland Alliance International
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Maryknoll Sisters
MPower Change Action Fund
Multifaith Voices for Peace & Justice
Muslim Advocates
Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC)
Muslim Counterpublics Lab
Muslim Justice CenterMuslim Justice League
Muslims for Just Futures
Mutual Aid Immigration Network
Mwatikho Torture Survivors Foundation
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition
Oasis Legal Services
Omega Research Foundation
Pax Christi Florida
Pax Christi Massachusetts
Pax Christi USA
Peace & Planet News
Peace Action
Peace Action New York State
Peace Catalyst International
Peace, Earthcare and Social Witness Committee of Strawberry Creek Meeting
Peacemakers of Schoharie County
Physicians for Human Rights
PRAWA
Program for Torture Victims
Provincial Council Clerics of St. Viator
Reprieve US
ROADDH/WAHRDN
Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre-RULAAC
Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition
Schoharie County Peacemakers
September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign
Sisters of St. Francis
Sisters of the Presentation, Dubuque IA
Social Justice Guild, First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta
Sojourners
T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Tea Project
The Interfaith Center of New York
The May 13 Group
United for Peace and Justice
West African Human Rights Defenders Network
Western States Legal Foundation
Win Without War
Witness Against Torture
World BEYOND War
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Yelef Initiative