Reportedly under pressure from the U.S. ambassador -- [UN] decided it no longer needed an independent expert to monitor human rights in Afghanistan

Chicago Tribune: THE U.S. AND THE UN: "THE U.S. AND THE UN | See no evil | Bassiouni offends the U.S. by telling truth on abuses | By Douglass Cassel | May 29, 2005

Why did the United Nations fire its world-class human-rights inspector for Afghanistan?

Believers in the John Bolton school of international organizations might suspect that the fault lies in internal UN corruption or in political interference by some foreign tyrant.

They would be wrong. The answer lies closer to home.

Then came a one-year delay; evidently it was difficult to find an expert acceptable to the Americans, whose 18,000 troops remain the real power in Afghanistan. Finally, Annan selected DePaul law professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, who holds American and Egyptian citizenship. But Bassiouni's passport was not enough to shield him from Washington's pique.

During his 1-year term, Bassiouni traveled to Afghanistan twice, reviewed voluminous documents, and met with Afghan and international human-rights groups, officials of governments and UN agencies, and alleged victims.

He delivered two extensive reports, one to the UN General Assembly in October and a second to the commission this March. Both were sharply critical of the human-rights situation in Afghanistan--including alleged violations by U.S. forces, such as arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, and torture and murder of prisoners.

In April the commission held its annual meeting in Geneva. A consensus statement for the commission embraced, in general terms, most of Bassiouni's findings and recommendations.

But the statement omitted any mention of U.S. violations.

And the commission--reportedly under pressure from the U.S. ambassador in Geneva--decided it no longer needed an independent expert to monitor human rights in Afghanistan. Not only was Bassiouni in effect fired, but no one replaced him.
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Much of the problem, as documented in Bassiouni's reports, stems from the resumption of widespread drug trafficking. UN data report that Afghanistan's opium crop now accounts for 60 percent of its economy and nearly 90 percent of the world's opium production.

Not only does this fuel "widespread corruption," reports Bassiouni, it "has reached a crucial moment, when well-armed factional commanders, backed by huge drug profits, have increasingly taken on the characteristics of organized crime and present a significant threat to the new State."
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Reports of serious violations by coalition forces include "forced entry into homes, arrest and detention . . . without legal authority or judicial review . . . forced nudity, hooding and sensory deprivation, sleep and food deprivation, forced squatting and standing for long periods of time in stress positions, sexual abuse, beatings, torture, and use of force resulting in death."
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These allegations are difficult to confirm, Bassiouni admits, because the U.S. refused his requests to inspect military prisons, holds prisoners in field installations not visited by the Red Cross, and has classified last year's internal Pentagon investigation by Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby.