[wvns] Is Canada failing Afghan captives?
See Amnesty report at:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA110152007
Canada dismisses Amnesty's Afghan torture claims
Steven Edwards
The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=e9eaea06-f4bf-4ca8-b6ed-352933a22f26
Canada joined NATO in dismissing new Amnesty International charges
that NATO forces in Afgha-nistan are effectively complicit in torture.
The rights group says in a 40-page report that the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) should suspend transfers of detainees
to Afghan authorities because of widespread reports that they face
torture.
"By transferring individuals to a situation where there is a grave
risk of torture and other ill-treatment, ISAF states may be complicit
in this treatment, and are breaching their international legal
obligations," says the report, released in London.
In a response echoing the one released by NATO in Brussels, the
Defence Department said the International Committee of the Red Cross
had helped develop ISAF's transfer policy, which "meets all
appropriate international standards."
Canada also endorsed NATO's statement that it has "no evidence" Afghan
authorities mistreat detainees handed over by ISAF.
The report comes just days after the Federal Court of Canada gave a
green light for Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil
Liberties Association to file a lawsuit claiming prisoner transfers
violate the Canadian Constitution because of the risk of torture by
Afghan authorities.
The new Amnesty report says there are persistent allegations that
prisoners face torture, particularly at the hands of Afghanistan's
intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS).
===
Is Canada failing Afghan captives?
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/276139
Have Canada's troops in Afghanistan turned over 40 captured insurgents
to the sometimes abusive authorities there? Or 200? Or even more?
Canadians don't know, and the military won't say.
Have many been tortured, or worse? Canadians don't know.
Are Canada's vaunted agreements with the Afghanistan government
working, in order to ensure that the Afghan security services respect
detainees' rights under the Geneva Convention and to ensure we can
monitor them? Again, Canadians just don't know.
While Canada's prisoner-transfer policy purports to make sure
prisoners aren't ill-treated, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's
government has cloaked our handling of detainees in such secrecy that
there is no way to tell whether or not it is working as advertised.
That damning allegation from Amnesty International, the respected
international rights group, applies to other allies as well, notably
the British, Dutch, Norwegians and Belgians. While North Atlantic
Treaty Organization officials insist there is "no evidence of torture
of detainees" who have been transferred, Amnesty warns that existing
monitoring protocols leave prisoners "at substantial risk of torture."
In Canada's case, despite troubling reports of abuses and efforts by
Ottawa to improve tracking and monitoring of prisoners, officials have
downplayed the number of transfers and have censored or suppressed
documents involving detainees. That makes it impossible for the public
to know whether claims of abuse are true or false.
As international and domestic concern grows, so must Parliament's
oversight. The House of Commons committees on foreign affairs,
national defence and security must hold the government to account.
In interviews with 15 people handed over by Canadian troops, Amnesty
says six said they were tortured or abused. The claims are not easy to
dismiss, given that the United Nations, Canadian diplomats and the
Afghan human rights monitor have heard reports that the National
Directorate for Security tortures prisoners.
All this has led Amnesty to demand that Canada and its allies stop
transferring detainees until international rights monitors are
assigned to Afghan jails, and until jailers understand that torture is
out.
Canadian officials claim it would be impractical to build camps for
thousands of detainees. But unless they lift the veil of secrecy, and
provide credible and verifiable assurances that detainees are not
being abused, pressure will grow for a moratorium on handovers.
The Harper government must not be complicit in torture. That would
betray the core values that Canadian troops are fighting for,
including democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
*********************************************************************
WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE
To subscribe to this group, send an email to:
wvns-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
Need some good karma? Appreciate the service?
Please consider donating to WVNS today.
Email ummyakoub@yahoo.com for instructions.
To leave this list, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:wvns-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:wvns-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
wvns-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
No comments:
Post a Comment