It’s funny how the Tories will talk the good talk of defending children when it suits their ideologically narrow world view only to turn around and actively exploit even more vulnerable children by having them guard our military assets and killing machines. It’s of course, not ‘ha ha’ funny, but rather more on the sardonic side. If this is what protecting children means to the Conservatives, I’d hate to see their definition of not protecting the children.
An excerpt from an article by Thomas Walkom in today’s Toronto Star:
“Back in 2002, Canada signed on to an international treaty aimed at rehabilitating child soldiers.
In fact, Canada was the first to ratify the so-called Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty that requires signatories to give special consideration to captured enemy fighters under the age of 18.
The treaty says they are to be segregated from adult combatants. As well, those who capture children must make every effort to reintegrate them into society.
[...]
Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, and Andy Knight, a University of Alberta political scientist, make the case that, in Afghanistan, Canada is running afoul of the very treaty it once championed.
I first heard the pair on CBC Radio’s The Current. Yesterday, I phoned them up. Attaran, who has been a vocal critic of Canada’s detention policy in Afghanistan, points out that government documents released in a court case last fall show that Canadian troops in Kandahar indeed capture child fighters, only to turn them over to Afghan security forces for what is usually a brutal interrogation.
That, he says, is a clear violation of Canada’s international obligations and – depending on how the children are treated by the Afghans – almost certainly a crime under Canadian law.
Citing press reports, Knight told me that there is also some suggestion of Afghan teenagers being used, with NATO co-operation, to guard military facilities.
A national defence spokesman told me yesterday that the Canadian Forces hand over suspected child insurgents to the Afghan authorities who incarcerate them in a juvenile wing at Kandahar’s main prison.
But the two human rights experts say this isn’t sufficient. They say that when Canadian troops capture children, they should hand them over to UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. It operates a rehabilitation centre in the country for former child soldiers and so far has successfully demobilized 7,400.
Confidential documents released as part of a court case brought against the government by Amnesty International point out that Ottawa is well aware of the UNICEF project. Yet none of the minors captured (and thanks to the ongoing federal court case, we know there have been at least three) has ended up there.
[...]
“Canada was once at the top of the heap in this regard,” says Attaran. “Now we’re keeping company with those at the bottom.”
As a Marxist, I’m obviously not prone to quoting from the Bible, however one quote does spring to mind: It’s the Biblical definition of the hypocrite outlined in Matthew 7:4:
“cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then
thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
Citing press reports, Knight told me that there is also some suggestion of Afghan teenagers being used, with NATO co-operation, to guard military facilities.
Recently, I was surprised to hear the death of a teenage boy mentioned in the reporting of an attack on Canadian troops. I found it odd and then remembered the above.
Is Canada using child soldiers?
Cheers,
Coffee
Walkswithcoffee – I suggest you read the article.
Isn’t the US holding a Canadian “boy” soldier in Cuba. And as we speak military authorities are attempting to try him on charges of terrorism and others for supposedly killing a US soldier involved in the invasion of Afghanistan several years ago. A few years ago, when Canada said “no thanks” to US efforts to recruit us to join into the Iraq war, I was never so proud of this country. In recent years, the pride has been turned on its head. I realize that during a war, almost anything can and does happen. Some of those things aren’t so pretty. But we aren’t in a war. We are currently attempting to help Afghanistan stand on its own feet. So why the hard-assed attitude toward combatants?
I suggest the entire Defense Cabinet be nominated for this award…www.MediocreCanadian.com
Also, in a lead up to the hilarity that is Jim Prentice, on Question Period CTV, he actually said that the Conservatives’ $1200 taxable child benefit was his government’s best plan to eliminate child poverty in Canada.