July 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations called on the U.S. to shut secret detention facilities and faulted the Bush administration for human rights abuses including failing to allow the Red Cross access to prisoners held in the war on terrorism.

The U.S. ``should immediately abolish all secret detention and secret detention facilities'' as well as ``grant prompt access'' by the International Committee of the Red Cross to prisoners, said the 12-page report, published today. The U.S. must also stop transferring prisoners to countries where there is a risk they will be tortured and ``acknowledge the applicability'' of international law for individuals.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement it was ``disappointed'' with the findings of the report and the committee ``loses perspective and credibility'' by spending more time criticizing the U.S. than ``countries with no civil and political rights'' such as North Korea.

The report also cites human rights violations such as discrimination and ``racial disparities'' in criminal prosecutions and executions within the U.S. as well as the lack of evacuation and treatment facilities for African Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year.

``There are international rules and treaty laws, we didn't just whip that out of a hat,'' Christine Chanet, who chaired the panel, told reporters in Geneva after hearing the U.S. response to her report. ``What were they expecting? To be given full marks in the field of human rights? Perhaps they were expecting something less severe.''

Accusations

The report follows accusations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency secretly transported terrorist suspects through other countries to detention facilities. The European Council of 46 nations said in June that the U.K., Italy, Germany and four other European states cooperated with the illegal air transfers.

The Bush administration said July 11 that all military detainees will be treated in compliance with the Geneva Conventions, including accused al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters held in the U.S. war on terrorism. That decision followed a Supreme Court ruling last month that President George W. Bush lacks Congressional authority to try Guantanamo Bay inmates before military tribunals.

The court said that the tribunals used to try prisoners violate U.S military law, which affords such protections as the right to be present at trial and to call witnesses, and which the court said may give detainees the same rights as U.S. citizens facing military prosecution.

U.S. Response

A separate UN panel, which monitors compliance with the Convention Against Torture, said in May that it ``regrets'' the U.S. decision that the convention doesn't apply to its campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and that secret U.S. detention facilities aren't accessible to the Red Cross.

The State Department said today's report on implementation of the human rights covenant doesn't apply to its behavior outside the U.S., that cruel and degrading treatment or torture is already prohibited by its citizens everywhere under domestic law, and violations have been held accountable.

``The U.S. is not the only country to have such an interpretation'' of whether the covenant applies abroad, Chanet said. Many countries ``regard themselves as the owners of the treaties without realizing that it's a contract with other states.''

Higher Standards

The U.S. is being unfairly held to a higher human rights standard than other countries, Mark Lagon, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, told reporters on a conference call from Washington. He said other reports on Syria, North Korea and Democratic Republic of the Congo were only half as long as the committee's conclusions on the U.S.

``We do expect something better from the U.S. than we expect from a developing country that has suffered internal turmoil,'' Ivan Shearer, a member of the UN committee that produced today's report, told reporters in Geneva.

Sandra Hodgkinson, deputy director of war crimes issues at the State Department, said the U.S. will examine the report.

``We obviously take with seriousness all of the recommendations, despite the fact that the committee didn't take into consideration all of the material supplied to it,'' she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Warren Giles in Geneva at wgiles@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 28, 2006 09:57 EDT