Shunpiking Online Vo.4 No.3 POW abuse in Afghanistan - Canada's hypocrisy compounds the war crimes By STEVE RUTCHINSKI

October 28, 2006 Day of Action Against the Occupation of Afghanistan

LAST MONTH, February 2007, Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association filed an application in the Federal Court seeking a judicial review of Canada's practice of turning over detainees to Afghan Security Forces. The case will raise constitutional issues, arguing that Canadian soldiers fighting abroad are legally bound by the Geneva Conventions.

Canadian troops allegedly handed over prisoners in Afghanistan knowing they would be abused on at least 18 occasions. There are also numerous allegations of abuse of detainees - prisoners of war - directly at the hands of Canadian forces. Three witness to one such allegation, dating back to April 2006, have been disappeared from the custody of Afghan Security Forces.

In response, the Harper government has launched a disinformation operation to whitewash the crimes the Canadian occupation of Afghanistan is committing as part of the NATO deployment. Even as the Canadian Armed Forces have launched their own internal investigation designed to examine procedures to determine whether there are problems with the "system," not only is the inquiry secret but even before reaching any conclusions Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor visited Afghanistan last week for a photo op of himself shaking hands with Abdul Noorzai, local director for Kandahar of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).

Prior to arriving, Defence Minister O'Connor told the press he intended to ask Mr. Noorzai for assurances that the Commission will monitor and report to Canada on treatment of detainees handed over to Afghan Security Forces by Canadian troops. "I want to look the man in the eyes and I want it confirmed that they are going to do what they say they are going to do."

After meeting with Mr. Noorzai, Canada's Defence Minister said: "I'm reasonably confident they will (be able to do the job). I guess some of the proof will be if down the line they find something wrong in the Afghan system. We will wait to see what they tell us."

Such a fraud! The Honourable Minister of the "new government" of Canada actually believes this is all that is required to wash the blood of innocents off his hands and whitewash Canada's flagrant violation of human rights and international law in its role of as occupier of Afghanistan.

From the outset, by joining this US/NATO-led war and occupation of Afghanistan, Canada became a rogue state acting with impunity outside the rule of law. The US-led war on Afghanistan was and is a crime against the peace. Regime change is illegal under the UN Charter. Canada, like the US, declares its actions are not subject to scrutiny under the 1949 Geneva Convention when it comes to the Treatment of Prisoners of War. Canada, like the US, says Taliban and other detainees accused of being Taliban are classified as "enemy combatants" and are not entitled to protection under the Geneva Convention as prisoners of war.

But just saying it does not make it so!

What are the relations between the Canadian Forces and the US? This photo shows military personnel escort three detainees early Monday, Jan. 21, 2002, as they arrive at the airport in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Canadians did not think they should be handed over to the Americans who were known to be sending them to torture. It was an urgent matter given the rapidity with which events were unfolding. Before the matter could even be absorbed and deliberated upon by the public, it became known that on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2002, Canadian Defense Minister Art Eggleton identified the soldiers escorting the prisoners in this photo as members of Canada's secretive JTF-2 unit working with US and British forces in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister, Jean Chretien at the time, did not even know about it. Then, before this information could be absorbed, let alone deliberated upon, news flashed on and off the radar about a secret memo which had been signed between the Canadian Minister of Defence, Art Eggleton at the time, and whatever American institution was dealing with Special Ops. According to the memo, Canada's Special Forces were put under the direct command of the Americans. This was done not only behind the backs of the Canadian people and their government, but without the knowledge of the Prime Minister himself. Photo: Dario Lopez-Mills/AP

From day one, Canada has acted with impunity with respect to treatment of detainees captured by Canadian forces in Afghanistan. The first "Taliban" detainees taken by Canadian forces were handed over directly to US military authorities - a violation of international law. They were sent to Guantanamo Bay were they were illegally detained, brutalized, tortured, even killed, by American Forces.

The Canadian government signed an agreement in December 2005 with the Afghan government to turn over detainees captured by Canadian occupier forces directly to Afghan Security Forces.

This practice too was illegal. The Afghan Security Forces were well known to independent United Nations bodies and investigations to commit murders, torture, beatings and rapes. Article 3 of the UN Convention Against Torture states: "No State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

Yet the government of Canada made no arrangements in the December 2005 agreement to follow up or monitor the treatment of detainees Canadian forces handed over to the Afghan authority. That itself was a violation of the Geneva Convention for treatment of POWs. The government of Canada in fact had no intention of fulfilling its responsibilities and duties as an occupier, as defined by international law. The agreement was a fig leaf to deceive Canadian and world public opinion.

Cover up and deception is what led the Canadian government to reach an agreement in February 2007 to have the Kandahar office of the AIHRC monitor the treatment of detainees turned over to Afghan Security Forces by Canadian troops.

Defence Minister O'Connor said Canadians and the government of Canada will just have to wait and see whether the Kandahar office of the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission can adequately monitor what happens to detainees handed over to Afghan authorities.

The very same day, March 15, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published an interview with Dr. Sima Samar, head of the AIHRC. Asked about violation of human rights by foreign forces based in Afghanistan, Dr. Samar said: Yes, we have recorded some violations by the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. ... similar to the Iraq prison abuse. We sent a letter to coalition forces in Kabul, but unfortunately they did not reply nor let us have access to the coalition detention centres in Afghanistan."

The AIHRC was created by the Afghan authority on the direction of the occupation forces. It has no budget. It has no authority to gain access to occupier detention centres in Afghanistan!

The "new government" of Canada headed by Stephen Harper is continuing on the same path as the previous Liberal governments who joined the illegal war of aggression on Afghanistan. No amount of prettifying the violation of international law will change the facts.

Canadians stand for the rule of law, for the peaceful settlement of problems in international relations. They are determined to hold Canada responsible.

* Steve Rutchinski is the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada candidate for Nickel Belt.