WarCriminalsWatch Events

....at the 2014 Spirit of Hope Benefit for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Lawyers Against the War is calling for a stop to this illegality.

George W. Bush plans to come to Toronto next month in defiance of the United Nations Committee against Torture report that Canada's duty to prosecute foreign nationals suspected of torture applies to everyone entering Canada however temporarily.

CANADA HAS THE DUTY UNDER THE CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE TO EITHER BAR BUSH FROM CANADA OR ARREST AND PROSECUTE HIM ON ARRIVAL.

Prior to 2012 Canadian officials took the position that Canada’s duty (under the Convention against Torture, the Criminal Code of Canada and the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act) to arrest and prosecute OR to extradite for prosecution any foreign national suspected of torture upon entry to Canada, applied only to suspects living in Canada and not to those—such as G.W. Bush—visiting temporarily. In 2012 the Committee against Torture ruled that Canada has a duty to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over EVERY torture suspect including those temporarily in Canada. (See recommendations) Concluding Observations of the Committee against Torture Canada, June 2012.

The Committee made this ruling in response to submissions from Lawyers against the War (LAW) and the Canadian Centre for International Justice (CCIJ) that Canada was violating the Convention against Torture by giving safe haven from prosecution to G. W. Bush. The UN Committee against Torture agreed and ruled that.

• LAW - Canada’s Failure to Bar or Prosecute George W. Bush for Torture
• CCIJ - The State Immunity Act and Canada’s Failure to Fulfill Its Obligations under the Convention Against Torture

14. The Committee recommends that the State party take all necessary measures with a view to ensuring the exercise of the universal jurisdiction over persons responsible for acts of torture, including foreign perpetrators who are temporarily present in Canada, in accordance with article 5 of the Convention. The State party should enhance its efforts, including through increased resources, to ensure that the “no safe haven” policy prioritizes criminal or extradition proceedings over deportation and removal under immigration processes.

29. The Committee requests the State party to provide, by 1 June 2013, follow-up information in response to the Committee’s recommendations related to: (a) ensuring or strengthening legal safeguards for detainees; (b) conducting, prompt, impartial and effective investigations; and (c) prosecuting suspects and sanctioning perpetrators of torture or ill-treatment, as contained in paragraphs 12, 13, 16 and 17 of the present document.