The US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is a clear violation of human rights and a clear example of American hypocrisy on the subject.

This is a thesis statement that we are going to try and test during today's session and, all being well, by the end of the lesson you will be able to state how far you agree with this statement and provide evidence to back up your viewpoint.

The first thing to do is to hit the sources... you won't have time to look at all these sources in the lesson but hopefully, as a class, we should be able to cover most bases. You have 40 minutes to look at any of the sources you want - of course, you do not have to use just these sources if you would rather find your own. After 40 minutes, we will regroup and attempt to decide to what extent we agree to to the statement above.

Q&A on Guantanamo from the Guardian newspaper in the UK - a very good introduction to the issue - the link is here

Wikipedia entry for Guantanamo Detention Camp - obviously, read this with the usual caveats related to bias etc - but it does address some of the key issues. Many of the sources at the end of the article will be extremely useful to kick start your reading. The link is here

This article, from Vanity Fair magazine, discusses the use of solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay and presents the argument that this is a clear breach of human rights. Some of the article is slightly disturbing reading. You can find the link here

This website is produced by a group of 'lawyers, journalists, retired military personnel and concerned citizens ' (their own words) with the simple aim of getting the US government to close down Guantanamo Bay. The link is here

As you would expect, several INGOs have a lot to say about Guantanamo Bay. You can check out Amnesty International's page here and Human Rights Watch is right here

Here's an interesting article from CNN which argues that Guantanamo Bay should remain open and provides an interesting'other side of the argument' from many of the sources. You find out more here

Here's another article, this time from the New York Times, arguing that 'Gitmo' should remain open... mainly due to a lack of alternative. Well worth a read and you ca find the article here