Canada must heed international court’s ‘reminder’ on Afghan detainees: Amnesty
By April Lim, For Postmedia News April 29, 2011
A suspected insurgent stands with bound hands next to a Canadian soldier at the Canadian base at Sperwan Ghar, Afghanistan in this April 18, 2010 file photo, after Canadian troops found the man and another man allegedly in possession of an AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition.
Photograph by: Ethan Baron, Postmedia News
The International Criminal Court has issued Canada a strong “reminder” about the legal responsibility to investigate accusations of human-rights abuses, Amnesty International officials said.
The human rights watchdog was commenting on a statement the ICC chief prosecutor made in a documentary about how Canadian soldiers handled detainees in Afghanistan.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he is willing to probe possible war crimes violations, if the federal government will not.
“We’ll check if there are crimes and also we’ll check if a Canadian judge is doing a case or not ... if they don’t, the court has to intervene,” Moreno-Ocampo told filmmaker Barry Stevens in his documentary called Prosecutor.
Treatment of detainees has long been a contentious issue in Canada. Parliamentary hearings were convened in 2009 but closed after Conservative members boycotted the panel.
The government refused to turn over documents until faced with a contempt of Parliament motion. The documents were then vetted by a committee of MPs but sealed until after the election.
Alex Neve, Amnesty International Canada secretary general, slammed the government for keeping the information from Canadians, saying they are using heavy-handed approaches to avoid accountability.
“That doesn’t sit well alongside the prosecutor’s reminder of how Canada should be handling a crucial human rights issue like this,” he said, responding to Moreno-Ocampo’s comments on Friday.
Sukanya Pillay, Canadian Civil Liberties Association national security program director, said it’s Canada’s responsibility to ensure that everybody knows what their obligations and duties are.
“I think it’s going to be incumbent on whoever is in power following the election to take clear steps to look into precisely what happened with respect to the Afghan detainees and to address any issues relating to torture,” Pillay said.
Neve said Amnesty International would like to see the government call a full public inquiry where there would be proper accounting regarding the transfer of Afghan detainees.
Amnesty International, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, and other human rights advocates have asked the government to halt the transfer of detainees to Afghan forces.
“It’s clear that there have not yet been the kinds of reforms in Afghanistan that would give us confidence that transferred prisoners no longer face a serious risk of being tortured,” Neve said.
Spokespersons for both the Department of National Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The ICC was established to prosecute serious crimes that concern the international community, such as war crimes and genocide. The documentary is expected to be aired on the Ontario channel TVO.
Published On Thu Apr 28 2011 , Michelle Shephard and Richard J. Brennan
Moreno-Ocampo could not be reached for further comment about the case Thursday when attempts were made by the Star.
Officials at the Department of Justice and Department of National Defence were unable to comment Thursday and said they had not seen the film.
Some legal experts have suggested the Canadian government’s dismissal of calls to launch a judicial probe into the allegations has left the door open for outside scrutiny.
There is no question that there has been a deliberate refusal of our domestic judicial system to have it examined,” said Stuart Hendin, a University of Ottawa scholar specializing in armed conflict and human rights, noting that Canada is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and UN Convention Against Torture.
Hendin argued there is “sufficient information” that Canadians, including senior military personnel authorizing and implementing the transfers of detainees, knew there was a substantial risk of torture and abuse.
“That being the case there is very real and credible exposure to prosecution,” he said.
Parliamentary hearings probing the allegations were shut down in 2009 after Conservative MPs boycotted the proceedings. Earlier this month, the justice department went to court in a bid to limit the findings of an independent report by the Military Police Complaints Commission, probing whether the military police knew that detainees transferred to Afghan custody faced a substantial risk of torture.
The government had refused to turn over military and other government documents dealing with the detainee case until threatened with contempt of Parliament. Those documents were subsequently vetted by a judicial panel and ad hoc committee of MPs, but still remain secret, their release on hold because of the election.
Parliamentary debate has at times been dominated or paralyzed by the Afghan detainee affair but discussed only in the abstract during the election campaign — usually to underscore criticism about the Conservative government’s indifference for parliamentary democracy.
“It’s clear that Canada is not dealing with the issue and the ICC can look at the issue on its own,” said Paul Champ, the lawyer representing Amnesty International and the B.C. Civil Rights Association, which launched the complaint with the MPCC.
Stevens’ film made its debut at the Amsterdam documentary film festival last fall but will air for the first time in Canada on May 11. It’s an intimate portrayal of the somewhat maverick Moreno-Ocampo, tracing his path from Argentina’s Trial of the Juntas to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the ICC’s first prosecutor.
Moreno-Ocampo says in the film that he has been monitoring reports of alleged crimes in Afghanistan, including those committed by the Taliban.
Stevens said he raised the Canadian reference when confronting the prosecutor about criticism that the court is “white man’s justice,” concentrating only on African nations.
“Just from a personal filmmakers’ point of view, I didn’t like the kind of ivory tower human rights attitude in the West, where we look like countries like the Congo and fail to look critically at our own behaviour,” Stevens said in an interview.
There are three ways in which a case is referred to the ICC — (1) by a member country directly (both Afghanistan and Canada are members), (2) at the behest of the UN Security Council (as is the case with Libya), or (3) if the prosecutor initiates the investigation after determining the host country has failed to the job.
Moreno-Ocampo has already taken that initiative, issuing summons last month for six Kenyan government officials accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s post-election violence in 2007-2008. But targeting NATO countries in Afghanistan would be politically fraught and few believe Moreno-Ocampo would go that far.
Stevens said that some of Moreno-Ocampo’s remarks could be viewed in the context that the prosecutor believes part of his job involves being a human rights promoter.
“Even if he doesn’t open an investigation into Afghanistan, and even if he never went after the Canadian issue, he still sees that as part of his job to remind Canadians that they are subject to the same law.”
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ICC
issued Canada a strong reminder about the legal responsibility to investigate accusation of human rights abuses allegedly taking place in Afghanistan.
(i) about how Canadian soldiers handled detainees in Afghanistan – abuse, and
(ii) there should be proper accounting regarding the transfer of Afghan detainees to Afghan forces – concern that the transferred prisoners will face a serious risk of being tortured.
Canada
Parliamentary hearing was boycotted by conservative members in 2009
Government refused to make public documents
the justice department went to court in a bid to limit the findings of an independent report by the Military Police Complaints Commission
A deliberate refusal of Canadian domestic judicial system to have it examined
Applicable laws
Geneva Conventions + UN Convention Against Torture
White man’s justice
Few believe that Moreno-Ocampo would to that far to target NATO countries in Afghanistan
slam _ for _ ; sit well alongside with ; heavy-handed approach ; incumbent on whoever is in power following the election ; call a full public inquiry ;
that being the case … ;
an intimate portrayal of
