In the 21st century, human rights have come to the forefront of Canada’s international policy issues, with peacekeeping initiatives being sent around the globe. These human rights initiatives are being met with wholly support from the rest of the world, as Canada is regarded “as a beacon for human rights in this troubled world” (Mcleod). With this in mind, it is perplexing that a man whose rights were egregiously violated by both the Canadian and American governments has met such fierce public opposition to a monetary settlement. Omar Khadr was a mere fifteen years of age when he was accused of throwing a grenade, killing U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer after the troop that Sgt. Speer was with attacked an Al-Qaeda compound (Kay). Subsequently, …show more content…
Khadr actually qualifies as a child soldier in the eyes of international law, therefore acquitting him of guilt in the crimes he allegedly committed. In 2007, a human rights treaty called the Paris Principles were passed after being signed by 95 countries, classifying a child soldier as “any person below 18 years of age who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity…” (Logan). According to this definition, Omar Khadr is a clear example of a child soldier. With this in mind, there has been vast precedent set against the prosecution of child soldiers. For example, the infamous child soldiers of Joseph Kony are often forced to commit severe acts of torture. However, once freed, these soldiers are then rehabilitated, involving “the rebuilding of personality by the repetition of one simple message: it wasn’t your fault.” (Storr). In addition, the Paris Principles also state that child soldiers who commit crimes “should be considered primarily as victims of offences” (United Nations). Regardless of this evidence, many maintain that Khadr committed “personal and deliberate actions” (Byrne). However, since Khadr’s father was a prominent member of Al-Qaeda and introduced Omar to working for them at the tender age of 11 (Kay), Omar has significant justification for his actions as a member of Al-Qaeda. Based on the age that Omar was told to work for Al-Qaeda, he likely did not have any choice in the matter of joining arms against Canada and the United States. Most children do not have many choices offered to them at the age of eleven, especially when the choice at hand involves joining a parent’s terrorist group thousands of kilometres away from home. Therefore, Canada cannot assume that Khadr was doing “deliberate” actions with Al-Qaeda, rather it is likely that he was coerced into doing so by his powerful father.
The person made the biggest impact on Canadians in 2017 are Omar Khadr, he was fifteen when he allegedly killed Christopher Speer, who was part of the US army, other soldiers were injured from the grenade in Afghanistan. I think that this is important to know because he now lives in Red Deer in Alberta and is going to Red Deer college. Some people agree with the 10 million dollars because his charter of rights were ignored and so the government gave him the money as an apology but others disagree because he killed and injured Us soldiers.So a bit about his life is that he is born in Toronto, Canada on the ninth of September in 1986. He has two sisters and four brothers. His father so-called brainwashed him in a way. His father had connections
On 26 September 2002, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who born in Syria, was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport while he was waiting for his flight . Mr. Arar was held in solitary confinement without any charges by United States authorities for two weeks without having access to a lawyer. The United States government suspected him of being a member of Al-Qaeda and deported him back directly not to Canada, but to his country of birth Syria, where he was tortured . Arar was held in Syria for nearly a year, and during that time he was tortured, until he returns back to Canada. The Syrian government later admitted that Arar was not involved in any terrorist activity and he was “completely innocent ”. The RMCP has admitted that it worked with the CIA during the Maher Arar affair. Ottawa authorities had demanded, keeping a lid on the fact that Canada was working with the CIA on the issue, arguing such affirmation would conflict with national security. There was no such remorse over referring to help with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, however the government chose the CIA, a surreptitious spy organization, merited more prominent assurance in view of its distinctive tenets of engagement .
The purpose of this act is to encourage and monitor the sharing of information between Government of Canada institutions in order to protect Canada against activities that threaten the security of Canada, but this bill not only fails to fix those flaws, it recreates and causes more underlying problems without adding any meaningful safeguards to ensure the expansive powers it grants will not be similarly abused. The bill allows information sharing across 17 government institutions for a wide range of purposes, most of which have nothing to do with terrorism. After the bill was passed, it has raised serious concerns regarding the potential impact is has on the basic civil liberties of all Canadians. The new legislation significantly expands CSIS’
Since the 9/11 attacks on U.S. soil at the outset of the twenty-first century, western states have enacted vast changes in the way that they deal with terrorist groups and terrorists. Due to the fact that civilian casualties have escalated as a result of terrorist acts, western polities have steered away from a punitive paradigm that criminalizes terrorist acts and aims at penalizing individuals who perpetrate such acts. Instead, there has been a dramatic shift towards a preventative approach in which terrorist acts are prevented prior towards any manifesting and inflicting harm on innocent victims. In Jonathan Shapiro’s “An Ounce of Cure for a Pound of Preventive Detention: Security Certificates,” published in Queen’s Law Journal in 2008, discusses the paradigm shift in Canadian foreign policy as it pertains to terrorism through a cogent discussion of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). The IRPA authorizes the government to detained suspected terrorists amidst deportation proceedings. However, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a decision that the Charter was provisionally violated by certain provisions of the Act, which is the central point of contention Shapiro has in this article. Indeed, he critiques the approach of the Supreme Court in the Charkaoi v. Canada decision, positing that the security certificate process violates several of the liberty and equality
Hamdi et al. v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. could prove the undoing of the Bush administration’s legal defense of the abuses at Guantanamo Bay. In this case, four British citizens are suing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a host of Army and Air Force Generals and policy apparatchiks for allegedly authorizing the use of torture in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The four were captured in Afghanistan, either by Americans or America’s ally, the Northern Alliance, and transported to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where they were held for over two years. Their status there was not as enemy combatant, which guaranteed them certain protections under the Geneva Convention, but rather as
The novel “Three Day Road” intertwines the story of a young soldier during the First World War and the experiences of his aunt growing up in pre-20th century Canada. Though at face-value this seems to have little relation to the study of the Criminal Justice system, the two narratives tackle important issues. With the soldier’s experiences, the reader contemplates the place of law and justice on the battlefields and the effect of these actions once the war is over. As we learn about the life of the soldier’s aunt, we are made aware of the wrongs done to Native American people in Canada’s history and how this is still having repercussions. By reading “Three Day Road,” people involved in the justice
A crime against the state is seen as a violation of the rule of law, while crime against people is seen as a violation of human rights, and both conditions lead to the punishment of the offender befitting the crime. In this process of achieving justice, those highly impacted by these wrong actions are often ignored; the battle between the offender and the Crown often makes the victim, a mere spectator. The Canadian Criminal Justice System is continuing to do its best in addressing the dissatisfaction victims feel towards the authorities. However, study of literature shows that although victim rights have come a long way and are continuing to develop further, they are not successful in addressing the concerns of the victim. The article, “Crime
One of the people who take this stance is a forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner. He has argued that Khadr, a child soldier in Guantanamo should not be given amnesty since he has killed a U.S soldier and spent years in prison being influenced by other radical jihadis. However, child soldiers should still be given amnesty since they have been forced to fight, and have only been taught by terrorists, and the U.S should take time to help those child soldiers because they are only children and have endured fighting in wars which even many adults choose not to
In the opinion piece, A sorry state? Written on 2nd of august 2007, Professor Janice Stevens opposes in an alarmed and critical tone that the treatment of David Hicks in Guantanamo Bay is a violation of human rights and that Australia’s response only shows that other citizens should be scared of themselves being held in such a state. In a sophisticated style the article addresses at an educated adult audience, or to those who are concerned about the treatment of their fellow citizens.
Are you aware that right now, at this very moment, there is a group of young boys ages 8-13 who are clenching a gun being ordered to kill against their will? It’s understood that others opinions about the dangers of child soldiers being free are only because they don’t want to risk anything but, isn’t life all about taking risks? You risk your life leaving the house, and breathing. Also, countries should not prosecute child soldiers for the crimes they committed during wartime. There also should not be an international minimum age of criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Here are three reasons why they should not be prosecuted or held responsible. Also that there should not be an age limit. One. Children are afraid, young, and clueless. Two. Children are 99.99% of the time drugged, forced, and brainwashed. “Children are often brainwashed and drugged before they are forced to fight. Their vulnerability can allow warlords to make them into cold-blooded killers” (O'Neill 1 ). Three. Children are independent, lonesome, and they want/need a family. One that gives them love.
Security mechanisms used to protect the entirety of the Canadian state at the behest of certain ethnic and religious categories become legitimized through violence acts towards political institutions or figures (Bell 155). These ethnic and religious categories that experience biopolitical racial profiling by the security state are typically Middle Eastern or Islamic in appearance or action. These groups of people are increasingly being viewed as connected to terrorist activities in Middle Eastern countries. Critics arguing the Canada’s security regime breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because of the possible use of surveillance and security provisions against Canadian citizens who are members of these ethnic and religious groups (Shaffer 200). Racial profiling in the surveillance provisions of these security acts against politically unpopular groups should not be underestimated” (Shaffer
The repercussions of subjecting a person, especially an innocent one, to certain harmful coercion techniques are serious. Individuals that have been put through torture techniques are often faced with deep psychological and, not to mention, physical health issues as a result of their experiences. One notable case that demonstrates the effects of torture on the mind is the case of Omar Khadr. Khadr, who is now 23, was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay at the age of fifteen. Khadr is a Canadian citizen who was born in Toronto. Ethnically, he is Egyptian and Palestinian. Born into a family that was heavily involved in terrorism and fundamentalism, he had seen and taken part in some questionable activities, albeit, oblivious as he lacked a good moral compass due to his young age and his upbringing. During a four-hour firefight with militants in Afghanistan, American soldiers
Canadian citizens understand genocide to be a terrible thing that other countries have done, or are doing. The eradication of an entire population of civilian women, men, and children along with their culture and national sovereignty is something we condemn in our media. When we see genocide happening elsewhere, we debate when we should step in with economic sanctions or military action when it is time to put a stop to a crime against humanity. Rarely, if ever, do we examine our own history long enough to understand that Canada was created by people who committed genocide against the people who were already living here.
“ a secondary place among policy priorities” (Barratt, 2008, 121). It was only under Axworthy that the Canadian “gave an added boost to the status of human rights” (Barratt, 2008, 122). The use of aid to promote human rights is aligned with Canada’s mission to promote “human security goals” (Barratt, 2008, 130). In most cases, “certainly human rights have played a role in punitive aid measures against specific aid recipients” (Barratt, 2008, 132). As in all areas of foreign aid, Canada has made “attempts to steer a middle course between many competing policy imperatives” (Barratt, 2008, 160).
Also I found that there was a sort of absolution of the responsibility for the Canadian government. There is repeated stressing that the Americans were responsible for Arar’s deportation and tribulation due to the fact that the Americans deported him from their own soil despite the fact that he was a Canadian citizen. It goes on to talk about how he was still on the American no-fly list despite the fact the Canadian government cleared him of any wrongdoing and offered him a settlement.