obligation to provide detainees in its custody an effective opportunity to challenge the reliability and adequacy of diplomatic assurances.117 Moreover, neither U.S. policy nor the immigration law requires the executive to reject as inherently unreliable assurances from governments in countries where torture is a serious human rights problem or where specific groups are routinely targeted for torture and ill-treatment and a person subject to return based on assurances is a member of such group. Under current U.S. law and policy, the government could transfer or remove a person at high risk of torture or ill-treatment based on the simplest and vaguest of promises from governments that routinely violate the law. Legislative Initiatives The Abu Ghraib torture scandal, the Arar case, “renditions” to torture, and revelations of torture and ill-treatment by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo Bay have given rise to a public debate about the U.S.’s obligations under international law and the imperative to halt and prevent torture and ill-treatment at home and abroad. In this context, some lawmakers have proposed new legislation to address the prohibition against torture, including the absolute ban on returning a person to a place where he or she would be at risk of torture or ill-treatment. Several key proposals have addressed the ban on transfers to risk of torture and the issue of whether or not diplomatic assurances are an effective safeguard against torture and ill-treatment. 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act In September 2004, the Republican party leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill titled “9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act (H.R. 10),” intended to implement the recommendations of the U.S. 9/11 Commission. The bill would have authorized the U.S. government to deport non-citizens who it labeled as national security threats or criminal aliens to countries where they would be at grave risk of torture, in clear violation of the U.S.’s obligations under the Convention against Torture. Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, strongly opposed the bill, stating that it would violate the U.S.’s Convention against Torture 117 Association of the Bar of the City of New York and Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, Torture by Proxy: International and Domestic Law Applicable to “Extraordinary Renditions,” October 2004, p. 89 [online] http://www.abcny.org/pdf/report/Torture%20by%20Proxy%20%20Final%20(PDF).pdf (retrieved March 9, 2005): “This obligation [to afford procedural guarantees] is grounded in Convention against Torture Article 3 (prohibiting torture and CID) and Article 2 (requiring state parties to implement judicial and administrative measures to prevent torture); and ICCPR Article 7 (prohibiting torture and CID) and Article 2(1) (interpreted by the Human Rights Committee as requiring state parties ‘to respect and to ensure’ ICCPR protections through prevention and provision of judicial or administrative review).” Ibid. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D) 40