The Geneva Convention on the treatement of prisoners of war provides:
1) that prisoners cannot be forced to give information beyond their own identities (name, rank and serial number);
2) that they shall have accommodations as good as the soldiers guarding them;
3) that they shall have access to religious leaders and ceremonies;
4) that they shall be able to communicate with friends and family outside the camp;
5) and that neutral organizations such as the Red Cross will have access to them to assist them and ensure that the provisions of the treaty are kept.
The United States is a signatory to this convention, yet it is only allowing the Red Cross restricted acces to Guanatanamo and not allowing it to report on its findings.
The Red Cross has been in to see the prisoners in Guantanamo but, they have not said "No problem." Rather they have agreed to take problems privately to the American Government, rather than airing them publicly. They only go public if the government does not seem to be responding to their private concerns. For the most part, they are only going public about people being held without any charges being laid against them and without access to their lawyers.
As an aside, asking the Red Cross to keep complains private may be a mistake. Keeping information secret, as governments are wont to do, is a two-edged sword. Governments are fond of secrecy because they believe that it lets them hide their sins - they get away with a lot. But the danger is that it lets the public imagine the worst, leading people to believe that the government is even worse than it actually is. Most of what the government wants to hide is petty venality and clumsiness. People end up believing in nightmare conspiricies.
I am not aware that the Red Crescent, or any other neutral organization has been allowed into Guantanamo to monitor it´s adherence to this treaty.
It is suspected that the United States is trying to extract information about Al Qaeda from the prisoners; that the prisoners are being kept in chain-link cages; that they are being denied the opportunity to communicate with others outside the prison; and that they do not have free access to religious leaders (though they probably are allowed to pray and engage in reasonable religious ceremonies).
The American government´s position is that the people captured in the war are not prisoners of war because most of them did not wear uniforms. However, the Geneva convention does not apply only to soldiers - it also applies to civilian contractors and other civilian citizens who are taken into custody during an armed conflict. If the government is correct that the detainees are not POWs, then the American criminal code, which provides for far more rights for prisoners, should apply. The government does not want that, either.
Thus, the government is clearly violating the Geneva convention.
On a personal note for the record, I believe:
1) that the destruction of the World Trade Center was an act of war, not just against the United States, but against Western civilization;
2) that Afghanistan was supporting that act of war;
3) that the war against Afghanistan was justified; and
4) that prisoners captured in Afghanistan should be questioned about Al Qaeda.
Thus, I have some (though not total) sympathy for the position of the American government on this matter, but that does not change the objective fact that the American Government, lead by George Bush, is violating the Geneva Convention. (And I have a lot less sympathy for Bush´s invasion and occupation of Iraq, but that´s another topic entirely).
For the compulsive, I include some relative sections of the Convention. Others have cited different articles. In fact, the United States Government is violating just about the whole thing.
-----------------
Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Adopted on 12 August 1949, entry into force 21 October 1950:
Article 17:
No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.
Article 25:
Prisoners of war shall be quartered under conditions as favourable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power who are billeted in the same area. The said conditions shall make allowance for the habits and customs of the prisoners and shall in no case be prejudicial to their health.
Article 33:
[C]haplains while retained by the Detaining Power with a view to assisting prisoners of war, shall not be considered as prisoners of war. They shall, however, receive as a minimum the benefits and protection of the present Convention, and shall also be granted all facilities necessary to provide for the ... religious inistration to, prisoners of war.
They shall continue to exercise their ... spiritual functions for the benefit of prisoners of war, preferably those belonging to the armed forces upon which they depend, within the scope of the military laws and regulations of the Detaining Power and under the control of its competent services, in accordance with their professional etiquette. They shall also benefit by the following facilities in the exercise of their medical or spiritual functions:
(a) They shall be authorized to visit periodically prisoners of war situated in working detachments or in hospitals outside the camp. For this purpose, the Detaining Power shall place at their disposal the necessary means of transport.
Article 34:
Prisoners of war shall enjoy complete latitude in the exercise of their religious duties, including attendance at the service of their faith, on condition that they comply with the disciplinary routine prescribed by the military authorities.
Adequate premises shall be provided where religious services may be held.
Article 71
Prisoners of war shall be allowed to send and receive letters and cards. If the Detaining Power deems it necessary to limit the number of letters and cards sent by each prisoner of war, the said number shall not be less than two letters and four cards monthly, exclusive of the capture cards provided for in Article 70, and conforming as closely as possible to the models annexed to the present Convention. Further limitations may be imposed only if the Protecting Power is satisfied that it would be in the interests of the prisoners of war concerned to do so owing to difficulties of translation caused by the Detaining Power´s inability to find sufficient qualified linguists to carry out the necessary censorship. If limitations must be placed on the correspondence addressed to prisoners of war, they may be ordered only by the Power on which the prisoners depend, possibly at the request of the Detaining Power. Such letters and cards must be conveyed by the most rapid method at the disposal of the Detaining Power; they may not be delayed or retained for disciplinary reasons.
Article 72
Prisoners of war shall be allowed to receive by post or by any other means individual parcels or collective shipments containing, in particular, foodstuffs, clothing, medical supplies and articles of a religious, educational or recreational character which may meet their needs, including books, devotional articles, scientific equipment, examination papers, musical instruments, sports outfits and materials allowing prisoners of war to pursue their studies or their cultural activities.
Article 125
Subject to the measures which the Detaining Powers may consider essential to ensure their security or to meet any other reasonable need, the representatives of religious organizations, relief societies, or any other organization assisting prisoners of war, shall receive from the said Powers, for themselves and their duly accredited agents, all necessary facilities for visiting the prisoners, distributing relief supplies and material, from any source, intended for religious, educational or recreative purposes, and for assisting them in organizing their leisure time within the camps. Such societies or organizations may be constituted in the territory of the Detaining Power or in any other country, or they may have an international character.
The Detaining Power may limit the number of societies and organizations whose delegates are allowed to carry out their activities in its territory and under its supervision, on condition, however, that such limitation shall not hinder the effective operation of adequate relief to all prisoners of war.
The special position of the International Committee of the Red Cross in this field shall be recognized and respected at all times.