Amnesty Intl: Canada sucks on human rights

The Globe and Mail:

Canada has lost its standing as a world leader in pressing for human rights, in part by taking a one-sided view on Middle East rights issues, Amnesty International says.

That judgment, according to Amnesty’s global secretary-general Salil Shetty, is the cumulative effect of several moves in recent years, including a reluctance to sign new UN rights declarations, avoiding accountability for the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan, and a failure to stand up for the rights of Canadians accused abroad, such as Omar Khadr, the Canadian detained in Guantanamo Bay.

The report marks a shift: Groups like Amnesty, which once viewed Canada as a paragon of their rights agenda, pushing initiatives like an international criminal court and protections for child soldiers, now see it as lacklustre.

“Globally, Canada’s reputation as a reliable human-rights champion has dropped precipitously,” Amnesty concluded.

Among other things, Canada’s shift in the Middle East has included “unflinching refusal” to raise concerns about Israel’s rights records, and the government has stifled or defunded agencies that “promote the rights of Palestinians,” it said.

And Mr. Shetty said that shift led Canada to “dither” in supporting Egypt’s pro-democracy movement, out of concern that the departure of Hosni Mubarak could lead to a government less friendly to Israel. “I think it certainly blurred their thinking,” he said.

Continue reading here.