The United States will allow delegation from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to visit the US military prison on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within the next week, an OSCE spokesman said Thursday according to dpa. The upcoming visit is aimed at determining "US commitments on international standards on the rule of law and fair trials, "particularly for terrorism suspects, Thomas Rymer told dpa. The US in June also offered a visit to the Russian Federation, apparently in connection with concerns expressed by Russia about ongoing hunger strikes by Guantanamo inmates. Few outside observers have been allowed to visit Guantanamo, the source of continuing criticism around the world for detaining hundreds of terrorism suspects for years, mostly without charges. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has made routine visits since the facility opened in 2002. The ICRC has access to the detainees and their prison conditions but provides its confidential reports only to the detaining authorities.
