Harper ignores International Law….but all Dictators do

[prior-of-verity*shake-hands-with-your-devil]

OTTAWA — The Federal Court has ruled in favour of another United States war resister and has ordered Jules Tindungan’s case be returned to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

According to his lawyer Alyssa Manning, this is the 11th time since 2008 that the courts have ruled in favour of U.S. war resisters.

It’s the first time, however, that the courts have not simply been moved by evidence they wouldn’t get fair treatment in the U.S. thanks to an outdated military justice system and the fact that punishment tends to be tougher the more vocal and political the deserter. In this case, she said, the court was also compelled by evidence that the U.S. military has violated international conventions on warfare.

That said, Manning is not convinced the ruling will necessarily result in asylum for the dozens of U.S. war resisters who haven’t already been deported and subsequently imprisoned, but still remain in Canada at the mercy of either the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) or Citizenship and Immigration. She argues the Conservative government has made it clear that war resisters are criminals and she questions the independence of the arm’s-length IRB as a result.

“It’s definitely a good decision from the war resister’s perspective given the clear direction the court does provide to immigration decision makers and I think that legally, the evidence is very clear that these men and women meet the test for somebody who is entitled to refugee protection,” she said.

“That being said, unfortunately the Conservative government has made its position very clear and has even issued a directive to all immigration officers called Operational Bulletin 202 that has instructed them to consider persons such as Mr. Tindungan as criminals despite what international law says about a soldier’s rights, or even obligation, to refuse condemned military conduct.

“As long as there is clear instruction coming from, I guess the minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, that these people should not be given status, it’s going to be hard for them to win despite all of the evidence,” she added.

Full article: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/Federal+Court+Canada+rules+favour+deserter/7922553/stor...

[puckstopshere]

There are agreements between Canada and many countries that cover the extradition of "criminals".  The definition of criminals, in this case, is someone charged with a crime in another country, but not yet tried and/or convicted.  It is not up to this country to decide the guilt or innocence of the individual.  In the same regard, if a Canadian serial pedophile was wanted in Canada and arrested in the U.S., it would be up to the U.S. government to return that "criminal" under the extradition agreements.  We would want that individual back to answer to his charges.  It would not be expected that the U.S. would try to determine the merits of those charges prior to returning the individual, although sometimes hearings are held.

In the case of war resisters, their is an inate sympathy towards those individuals.  We therefore tend to look upon their cases differently.  People can resist war for many reasons: religion, political views or even cowardice.  If that person is charged in the U.S., they should defend their views in a U.S. court.  If the U.S. is violating international law by trying these individuals then the lawyers of those individuals can plead their cases before a U.S. court.  There is only one reason why Canada does not honor extradition agreements - the death penalty. 

I knew two war resisters during the Vietnam war.  They had come to Vancouver to escape the draft.  My father hired one, knowing that he was in Canada illegally.  For a while, this gentleman lived in our house.  When the Vietnam war ended, they both returned to the U.S. to face their charges.  They were American citizens and wanted to eventually be allowed to live in the U.S.