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Amnesty raps Canada for treatment of natives

May. 28 2009 - CTV.ca News Staff

Amnesty International's annual report on human rights is criticizing Canada for its failure to protect native girls and women who are killed or go missing.

The survey also slams the Harper government for stalled native land claims, and for cutting funds to groups that advance women's rights.

As well, it knocks Canada's handling of foreign captives in Afghanistan and its refusal to intervene in the U.S. detention of Canadian Omar Khadr at Guantanamo Bay.

And once again, this year's report criticizes the use of Taser stun guns by Canadian police forces, noting last year's deaths of at least six Canadians who had been jolted by one of the guns. The North American total of Taser-related deaths is now at least 366, Amnesty says.

On the issue of missing and murdered native women, the Native Women's Association of Canada recently reported that 520 native girls and women have been killed or have vanished since 1970. About half the cases occurred in the last nine years.

Almost one-quarter of the total number of women are still missing. Among the 348 victims who were murdered, no one has been charged in 150 confirmed cases.

The federal government has said it is responding to the problem by spending $5 million on the Sisters in Spirit research campaign, and is also working on a second phase.

As for the issue of land claims, Ottawa says it has committed $250 million a year for the next 10 years to speed smaller native land-claim settlements. But Aboriginal leaders say the government isn't holding up its end of sweeping deals, such as the Nisga'a agreement in British Columbia.

The Supreme Court of Canada refused last week to hear arguments that Canadian troops in Afghanistan should apply the Charter of Rights in their dealings with prisoners. Its dismissal of the case essentially upheld Federal Court rulings that foreign captives in Afghanistan must rely on international legal protections, not the Canadian Charter of Rights.

That leaves it to the Military Police Complaints Commission to investigate whether foreign captives delivered to Afghan custody by Canadian troops are routinely tortured. Amnesty International has repeatedly raised the concern in court.

Internationally, Amnesty International Report 2009 warns that the global economic downturn has aggravated human rights abuses and distracted attention from others.

The 400-page report looking at 157 countries notes that for many recent years, human rights have been trampled on in the name of security. "Now, in the name of economic recovery they are being relegated to the back seat," =Amnesty International's Secretary Irene Khan said in a statement.

"Ignoring one crisis to focus on another is a recipe for aggravating both. Economic recovery will be neither sustainable nor equitable if governments fail to tackle abuses that drive and deepen poverty, or armed conflicts that generate new violations," she added.

In china, for example, millions of migrant workers drawn to cities from the countryside have been thrown out of work by the collapse in exports. The group says that Chinese authorities continue to harass or imprison those trying to challenge government policies.

In Latin America, Amnesty said the "already critical" situation of many indigenous groups risks being exacerbated by the crisis.

And in Africa, the rising cost of living in countries such as Mali, Cameroon, Tunisia, Somalia, Zimbabwe has sparked protests across the continent -- only to be met by violent repression.

Amnesty International Canada spokesman Alex Neve says while Canada does have the dismal human rights record of such countries as China or Sudan, we have more work to do.

"There are real issues of real concern in Canada when it comes to human rights protection. While we have much to be proud of, we are far from perfect. We owe it to the people whose rights are at stake to do better."

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Click here to get a copy of the
Amnesty International Report 2009

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From CBC.ca

Rights report targets Canada over missing women, land claims

May 28, 2009

Canada's handling of aboriginal land claims, missing women and foreign captives in Afghanistan are among several issues singled out for criticism in Amnesty International's annual report on human rights.

Although Canada is one of the least-offending of the 157 countries profiled in the 400-page report released Thursday, the organization does point out a handful of causes of concern.

A number of issues concerning aboriginal people made the list, including "the failure to ensure prompt and impartial resolution of disputes over land and resource rights." The report points to concern about plans to construct a gas pipeline through lands in Alberta claimed by the Lubicon Cree.

"The Alberta Utilities Commission ignored these concerns when it approved the project in October," said the report.

It also takes aim at a complaint over alleged funding disparities for aboriginal child protection agencies and what it says is slow progress implementing recommendations from the 2007 Ipperwash inquiry report into the 1995 police shooting of aboriginal protester Dudley George.

On the issue of women's rights, the report calls on Canada to "remedy the deficiencies in the system" with respect to missing or murdered women and takes the Conservative government to task for cutting funds to groups that advance women's rights.

'Credible' reports of Afghan torture: AI
The report knocks the country's handling of foreign captives in Afghanistan after published reports detailed accounts from Afghan prisoners who say they were tortured.

Irene Khan, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said the report looked at the behaviour of NATO troops in Afghanistan.

"We've been very concerned about the handover of prisoners to the Afghan authorities who simply don't have a system to take care of them properly," said Khan.

"There have been reports, credible reports, of torture and ill treatment of prisoners who have been handed over."

Canada was also singled out for its refusal to intervene in the detention of 22-year-old Canadian Omar Khadr at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and police use of stun guns that have been linked to the deaths of at least four Canadians in the past year.

Khadr has been detained at the prison since 2002 after he was involved in a battle with American troops in Afghanistan where he allegedly threw a hand grenade that killed a U.S. soldier.

Alex Neve, the secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said the report doesn't put Canada in the same league as notoriously abusive regimes in China, Sudan or Colombia. But he adds there are issues of real concern in Canada when it comes to human rights protection.

Internationally, the report warns that the almost tunnel-vision focus of world leaders on economic woes is abetting human-rights abuses on a horrific scale.

The report also highlights:

• Increased food costs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
• Growing ranks of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• The delay by Burma's government to deliver aid to those affected by Cyclone Nargis in April 2008.
• Increased repression of human rights defenders, ethnic minorities, lawyers and journalists by China's government.
• The U.S.'s extraordinary rendition program run by the CIA, in which suspected terrorists are taken to prisons in countries with no laws against torture.
• Excessive police violence in Brazil.
• Political persecution in Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia.