The Rendition Project
IN FOCUS, 4 Jun 2012
Rendition Research Team, University of Kent – TRANSCEND Media Service
Researching the Globalization of Rendition and Secret Detention
Welcome to The Rendition Project website. This site is the product of a collaborative research project between Dr Ruth Blakeley at the University of Kent and Dr Sam Raphael at Kingston University, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Working closely with Reprieve, a legal action charity which has led the way in investigating secret prisons and representing victims of rendition and torture, the Rendition Project aims to bring together and analyse the huge amount of data on rendition and secret detention in the US-led ‘War on Terror’.
In the years after the declaration of the ‘War on Terror’ in September 2001, the United States Government led the way in constructing a global system of detention outside the law, illegal prisoner transfers (rendition), and interrogation practices that in some cases involve torture. Overall, this system has involved the detention and torture, in secret, of hundreds of detainees, in scores of detention sites around the world. Many of these detainees have been secretly transferred (rendered) between detention sites in a range of countries, using a variety of aircraft and other vehicles owned by military and intelligence services, as well as by private contractors. States allied to the US (including several European states) have been actively involved, or passively complicit, in the crimes committed.
The global rendition and detention system has also proved to be dynamic: key aspects have evolved over time, and many features from the first years of the ‘War on Terror’ no longer exist. However, we can also map continuities in the system over time. While the Obama administration closed down some features in 2009, there are some significant ways in which the US and its allies continue to detain and treat prisoners outside the law.
Our work
Building upon the ground-breaking research of other organisations and individuals, we are developing a database of all known victims of rendition and secret detention in the ‘War on Terror’ and its aftermath, as well as the facilities in which they have been held. We are also compiling the largest publicly available database of flight records for those aircraft associated with rendition. In this effort, we are indebted to Reprieve, who have provided access to large amounts of data, as well as guidance and advice on public source materials.
The Rendition Project is on-going, and the data and analysis presented here is just the first stage in the dissemination of our findings. Work will continue throughout 2012, and the site will eventually host extensive material on all the countries involved in US-led rendition and secret detention, the aircraft and companies involved in renditions, and profiles of many of the detainees themselves. Ultimately, we hope that the website will become a key resource for other researchers, as well as for journalists, lawyers, activists, students and the public.
For the full scope of the final website, see Aims of the Website.
For more on the broader project’s aims and scope, see The Project and The Issues.
We are also indebted to the team of interns who have worked on the project throughout 2011-2012, as well as to those other organisations and individuals that have led the way in investigating rendition, representing detainees, and informing the public.
Go to Original – therenditionproject.org.uk
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