April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

child soldier

Harper Still Ill Informed & Not a Leader

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child_soldier

If anyone still needed proof of Harper’s lack of understanding of the realities of war, disregard for human rights and general inability to empathize with those of us who are not robots, Harper has just provided that proof.

“My understanding of international law is, to be a child soldier, you have to be in an army,” he said in the pre-taped interview.

Well obviously Mr. Harper’s understanding of international law is sorely lacking.

The international Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers and UNICEF have broader definitions than Harper does of what it means to be a child soldier.

The coalition acknowledges on its website there is no “precise definition.”

The international group, however, considers a child soldier to be anyone under 18 “who is a member of, or attached to, government armed forces or any other regular or irregular armed force or armed political group, whether or not an armed conflict exists.”

UNICEF also defines a child soldier as anyone under 18 “who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity,” including cooks, porters, messengers, and minors forced into marriage or recruited for forced sexual purposes.

The disregard that Harper shows for this young man who has already served 7 years for a crime he has not even been proven to have committed is shameful and chilling and should serve as a warning to us all.

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Mourn for Justice

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khadr.jpgNot only has the Canadian government not petitioned for the release of Omar Khadr, they have helped the U.S. to try to retrieve information from this child. Yes at the time this all started he was a child. A youth of 15, a child soldier.

This is a government that is bringing forth a bill (the sneak anti abortion laws in the back door bill) that claims to recognize crimes against children yet unborn. Yet this same government cannot find any compassion for a child already born. Already dragged through war, already a witness to death and a victim of torture.

This was Canada’s response to Khadr;

He also claims that Canadian diplomats and intelligence officers who later questioned him at Guantanamo refused to help him.

Instead, he says in the affidavit, they questioned him about his late father, Ahmed Said Khadr, who’s been accused of being a founding member and financier of al-Qaeda.

Khadr says he was also interrogated about Maher Arar, the Canadian who was deported to a Syrian prison over alleged links to al-Qaeda. An inquiry later cleared Arar of any links to terrorist organizations.

Khadr says he was also shown photographs of about 20 people and asked to identify them.

He says he ripped off his shirt and showed the Canadians his injuries. He also says he told them he had lied to his American interrogators and told them whatever they wanted to hear because he was scared and wanted them to stop torturing him.

Khadr says they accused him of lying, and passed information from their interviews to U.S. officials.

The Supreme Court has reserved judgement on whether those documents must be released to Khadr’s defence attorneys. Having learned well from their Rovian masters the Canadian government defended against such an action by saying;

[…] Khadr’s demand for documents is a fishing expedition that could compromise sensitive intelligence information. Government lawyers also said a Canadian court is no place to pass judgment on U.S. detention and trial practices.

Take note of this governments behaviour and dismal of the notion of justice. It starts with the Khadr’s but soon catches up with the Joneses.

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