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Children’s rights groups ask Harper to reconsider his stance on the repatriation of Omar Khadr May 13, 2008 The International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association and a group of organizations dedicated to the protection of the rights of the child have sent a letter to Stephen Harper calling on the Canadian government “to intervene immediately in the case of Omar Khadr and request his repatriation to Canada without further delay.” Canada led in the adoption of the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and Security Council Resolutions on Children and Armed Conflict, says the letter, which was signed by UNICEF Canada, Peacebuild, Plan Canada, Amnesty International Canada, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights, War Child Canada, La Ligue des droits et libertés du Québec, and several other groups. “It is in the interests of everyone, including Canada’s military, that these laws are upheld. They are designed to end the use of child soldiers. How Canada deals with the Omar Khadr case will set a precedent for other countries and greatly affect the reputation and influence of Canada on matters related to peace, security and human rights. It will either undermine or reinforce the importance of upholding international norms to end the use of child soldiers.” The military commission that is handling Khadr’s case recently ruled it has no obligation to take into consideration the fact that Khadr was a child of 15 when he was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002. It will make him the first child soldier to be tried for war crimes since the Nuremberg trials against the Nazis, wrote CTV. Writing in the Toronto Star, columnist Thomas Walkom noted Harper’s hypocrisy on this issue. While his government bent over backwards to repatriate Brenda Martin, who was recently found guilty of Internet fraud by a Mexican court, he refuses to lift a finger for Khadr, even though the military trial he faces has been exposed as hopelessly flawed and designed to produce guilty verdicts. “The evidence against Khadr is dodgy and the tribunal he is to appear before demonstrably unfair. Yet, from Ottawa, there is nothing. No high-profile visits. No pleas from Harper,” wrote Walkom. “But then, like Makhtal and Abdelrazik, Omar Khadr is no Brenda Martin. For one thing, no reasonable court has ever found him guilty of a crime.” You can read the new joint letter to Harper here. You can send a letter to Harper demanding he bring Khadr home by clicking here.
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