【09.12.2 The Global and Mail】Torture fallout and China

和解团结

【原文链接】http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/bureau-blog/torture-fallout-and-china/article1369436/

【作者】Jane Taber


【说明】
和中国有关的是第二部分，Afghan torture and the China connection。大体情况是加拿大去年时候把在阿富汗抓到的一些俘虏交给了阿富汗的情报机构，结果这些俘虏受到了折磨。作者引用了China Daily上面有一篇关于这个的文章（http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-11/19/content_9000902.htm），并且认为这对即将访华的加拿大总理斯蒂芬·哈珀来说是个“尴尬”的事情，会让加总理不好提人权问题。这个文章后面跟了10页的评论，我转载了第一页的。


【原文】
The morning buzz: What's making news on Parliament Hill
1. Lawrence Cannon defends Afghan detainee transfers. In Kabul, where he watched the inauguration of Afghan President Hami Karzai today, the Foreign Affairs Minister spoke with reporters, saying there has never been any “proven” evidence that Afghan prisoners were tortured. However, he said that Canada has been “responsive to allegations of abuse and has taken them seriously.”


Mr. Cannon was responding to explosive testimony given yesterday in Ottawa by Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin who said that Canada handed over prisoners to torture. He was warning government officials about this in 2006 and 2007. It wasn’t until May, 2007, that the government made changes to its transfer system. Yet the Harper government has never admitted it knew this was happening.


Said Mr. Cannon this morning in a telephone conference call: “Canada has been responsive to the allegations of abuse and has taken them seriously. When we’ve had specific allegations of abuse we’ve acted. And we will not tolerate proven evidence of abuse. You know, nothing has been proven here and we’ve changed the system. We have indeed cleaned up what was left to us by putting in a place a new regime.”


Mr. Cannon also told reporters that he met privately with President Karzai, who has “an immense task ahead.” Indeed, much of the commentary around the inauguration has been about the corruption in his government. Mr. Cannon did not touch on this specifically. Rather, he said Mr. Karzai made some “important and positive commitments,” such as a commitment to good governance and merit-based cabinet appointments. The President also spoke about accountability, Mr. Cannon said.


Meanwhile, Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae said this morning, in an email interview, that while Canada needs to be “more forthright publicly about the corruption issue, and about the need for reconciliation, which is one of our stated objectives.” He added that the government also needs to be “clearer about post-2001, and our efforts to play a political role.”


2. Afghan torture and the China connection. How much of a bind is Stephen Harper in when it comes to his upcoming visit to China? Here’s how much: David Mulroney is Canada’s ambassador to China now. But he has played prominently in the testimony by Richard Colvin. At the time of the time of Mr. Colvin’s allegations of torture of Afghan prisoners, Mr. Mulroney was the government’s senior point man on Afghanistan. According to Mr. Colvin, Mr. Mulroney did not want to hear the allegations.


Today in the Chinese media the headlines are not helpful for the Prime Minister and his visit next month, his first to the country: “Diplomat: Canada handed over Afghans for torture” reads the online China Daily. It will be difficult for Mr. Harper to raise human rights issues, given this testimony. And what makes it even harder is that the Harper government has been seen to have snubbed the Chinese over the last few years; Mr. Harper needs to succeed on this visit in order to re-establish good relations for potential trade.


According to a CBC report this morning, Ambassador Mulroney is so farrefusing comment.


3. Guns and politics. The Liberals were talking guns yesterday behind closed-door during their weekly caucus meeting, considering the merits of the long-gun registry amid a Tory bill that is calling for it to be scrapped. The issue is highly divisive within the Liberal caucus, exposing a rural-urban split. All this comes with the release of a new poll by Angus Reid that shows only 11 per cent of Canadians think the Canadian Firearms Registry has been successful in preventing crime - 32 per cent say it has had no effect and 46 per cent say it was unsuccessful.


“Even Quebeckers, who express high support for stricter measures throughout the survey, think the long gun registry has not been successful in preventing crime,” says the release accompanying the poll. The online survey of 1,000 Canadians was conducted between November 12 and November 13. The survey says that half of the respondents, 51 per cent, support getting rid of the long-gun registry; 34 per cent disagree and it notes that “support for abandoning the registry surpasses the 50 per cent mark in every Canadian province, with he exception of Quebec.”


Given this, perhaps Toronto Centre MP Bob Rae, who supports the registry, was correct yesterday in warning the Liberal caucus that this issue could seriously divide the party. He urged his colleagues to think hard about putting forward a lot of political capital to push forward amendments that had no chance of passing.


评论
Mortimer Da Luvly
11/19/2009 8:41:43 AM
It is no answer to say that the Liberals were just as bad as the Cons. If John Manley was involved in handing over detainees to be tortured, lets put him on trial right alongside Harpo, Sadsack MacKay and Hillier. I wouldn't mind seeing the "voice of corporate Canada" perp walked out of his Bay Street office. The prosecutions should not be a partisan affair.

Anthony S
11/19/2009 8:44:43 AM
He added that the government also needs to be "clearer about post-2001, and our efforts to play a political role."
________________________________________________


Jane, I think you mean "post-2010"

LittleRock
11/19/2009 8:52:26 AM
All pertinent topics today,the issues all high-lighted lead to the top of the Self-servative heiarchy Deceivin Stevin.Deceivin Stevin would'nt know his cheque book from ours.The guy seems to be burning through taxpayers dollars as if he was Imelda Marcos in a shoe store.Way I see it,he's devoting a lot of Canadian taxpayers money to fluff and nothing of substance.What Self-servatives need to do but seem incapable of is setting priorities to maximize the Stimulus money they are spending.Nothing about Deceivin Stevin and his Self-servatives have been open and transparent to Canadians.Every promise he has made he has had an excuse as to why it did'nt happen or failed(The Liberals didn't vote with it,the NDP hate my ideas,those Socialist or Seperatists Blah,Blah,Blah)It's always the same story with Deceivin Stevin and his Self-servative minions,pass the buck,blame previous governments,lie,obfuscate and 24/7 propaganda.Canadians deserve much more,time to make a change for the best.

CatherineWi​lkie
11/19/2009 8:55:49 AM
China is taking notice of Canada's human rights' record.

Harper has an interesting 'visit' with China in the near future.

He is in no position to lecture others about 'see no evil, hear no evil...'

Henry Bolingbroke
11/19/2009 8:56:33 AM
No, no. No evidence of torture at all. Just a Canadian diplomat, the international Red Cross - and the dozen or so actual Afghanis who say they were tortured.

Peter Kavanagh
11/19/2009 8:58:21 AM
This is why any inquiry into specific allegations should be dealt with behind closed doors until actual proof that the Afghans were abusing prisoners is documented .

All it takes is a little bit of hearsay and a lot of media sensationalism to hurt the support for the mission and Canada's reputation abroad .

This is why when Paul Martin sent our troops to fight in the south there should have been a public debate or discussion about what this was going to involve .

Most people are not even aware that it was the Liberals that agreed to an American request to go into combat because the announcement was made on the same day that Belinda Stronach crossed the floor .

The announcement was buried deep in the front sections of most newspapers .

It took western countries 1000 yrs to go from the Magna Carta to the modern justice system complete systems to protect our rights and freedoms .

Decades of war have pounded Afghanistan into the stone age . What were people thinking , that we could flick a switch , fight this war along side the Afghan government and every system of protection would be in place ?

The alternative was for the west to just sit back on defense and hope we could stop every terrorist attack .

Most of what's been prevented since 911 has been kept from the public . Maybe if Canadians had greater knowledge of the stakes , support for the mission would be higher .

mstyCoaliti​onCentrist
11/19/2009 8:59:31 AM
Cannon saying there has never been any “proven” evidence
------------------

CONs lie, its that simple

AnnieS
11/19/2009 9:01:10 AM
Holland brought every case before their parliament when they took a prisoner. Shows how far Canada has come from being a democracy under these boys.

CCFer
11/19/2009 9:02:04 AM
Norman Spector is right.

A public inquiry is necessary to look into the very serious issues that are arising re Afghan prisoner handling/treatment.

Only problem is, given Harper's track record,the inquiry might not report until 2013!

Senior Dude
11/19/2009 9:04:34 AM
Surely there are more important things for our government to be doing for Canadians than raising such issues in such a petty partisan way.

Let's face it! In the real world the people in Afghanistan and other countries in Africa, the Middle East, etc. life life to different standards than people in Canada.

Violence against women, religious factions fighting between themselves, Islamic sect versus Islamic sect, and even torture, etc. are part of their ways of life.

Our presence in their countries will not change that. When we leave they will revert to past practices.

So lets stop raising such issues in parliament and get on with governing Canada. We have enough problems here.

Lieberals raising such issues are doing us a disservice. Especially, when the Lieberals would do no different.