(REBLOGGED) Omar Khadr – the Child Soldier Turned Adult Prisoner: Abuse and Neglect by the US and Canada

On 27 July 2002, 15-year old Khadr became the youngest prisoner since the Second World War to be prosecuted for war crimes by a military tribunal. Detained and tortured at Guantanamo Bay,  Fynn argues Khadr was abandoned by Canada, contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Supreme and Federal Courts Rulings, and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Khadr was returned to Canada on 29 September 2012 to serve the reminder of his sentence after pleading guilty. Fynn examines the Khadr case as an illustration of the uneven and ad hoc nature of law in the so-called “War on Terror,” where one child (Khadr, born into what has been frequently characterised as a “Muslim terrorist family”) is underserving of state protection while another (e.g. former Sierra Leonean child soldier Ishmael Beah) warrants sympathy and compassion. In such cases, Fynn asks, is the phrase “all are equal under the law” a myth or fact? CONTINUE READING

WELCOME HOME OMAR KHADR

Irrespective of his skin colour, religious background or political view, Omar Khadr will always have a very special place in my heart - simply by virtue of being a child soldiers who became vulnerable to the "schemes" of adult. He is the only person I have blogged about twice. My most heart wrenching sounds of Khadr is when sobs as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service notoriously use duress to siphon information out of this young 15 year old in support of alleged war crime acts perpetuated by the US. This video was only released on 23rd May 2008 after the Supreme Court of Canada orders disclosure records pertaining to interviews with Khadr.

Wait a minute! The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom states: 

s7: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

s15: Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

Does it surprise you that a country, such as Canada (mostly the Executive Branch), claims to be so civilly advanced and democratically controlled yet has the audacity to disregard the Highest Court of Canada decision in violating Khadr's rights for almost a decade. Well, the moralistic part of me wants to say BULLSHIT! JUST CUT THE CRAP!!! FOR MANY THERE IS NO EQUALITY, JUSTICE...BLA BLA BLA - IF YOU ARE SEEN AS A "MUSLIM TERRORIST" WITH FAMILIAL LINKS IN EGYPT, PAKISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN! Yeah right whatever...as if our Catholic Priests haven't done likewise. Unlike the Catholic Priests, Khadr was caught up on a battle front where there was combat exchange. In humanitarian law (the Geneva Conventions), it is called war. So, to capture an unarmed, wounded soldier, no matter his age and charge him with murder - seems to me a travesty of international humanitarian law. Hence, the rules will always be different for some - especially when one American soldier is killed against all others in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Libya.

NOTE: For those ignorant yappers who will not lift a lid to ingest critical knowledge, according to the Optional Protocol to the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child (see the preamble and Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4), Omar Khadr was under 18 years, and thus by virtue of this Convention - which Canada ratified on 17 July 2000 (but of course the hypocrite United States of America is NOT) - he was a child soldier.

Nevertheless, the hopeful part of my being says, what about Khadr's lawyers, professors, friends, and real people who care about true justice? They are the reason, I have hope for Khadr today. Sadly, we do have to contend with perverts of justice, Stephen Harper, Jason Kenney, and Vic Toews. Regardless, there is a small jubilation here. After a decade in Guantanamo Bay, on 26 September 2012 - youthful Khadr - all grown and sophisticated - return to this place he calls home. I can only hope that his inner strength and will power to survive and be resilient takes the better part of him. Having gone through war myself, I know what it means to hurt and be traumatized especially when you're so young, innocent but yet vulnerable to all kinds of abuses due to absolutely no fault of your own.

WELCOME HOME KHADR and I look forward to your million dollar lawsuit in the near future against the Canadian Government. Too bad the perverts of justice will not be around then.

SILENCE? IGNORANCE? - INDEED A KILLER: PERSPECTIVES OF KONY 2012

When a video goes viral it becomes the talk of the "Internet town". Critical minds and ignorant people alike flood in to watch, comment and "spread the disease". I had the opportunity to watch the video two days ago. My initial instincts were very different. Before you start "hating", put on your thinking cap, reflect for a bit and allow yourself to be rational just for the moment and space in time. OK, here we go...

I would like to start off with a comment I scooped from Yahoo News: "Kony 2012 backlash begins with Acadia student's blog" in response to Grant Oyston's critique of Kony 2012. I first must acknowledge Grant's bravery and insight - we actually need more 19 year olds of this sort gracing our planets. The comment reads: 

So what he is saying basically is there are more problems in Uganda than just Kony? Go figure. Argue, Debate, Discredit but get Kony's name out there

Well, I'm sorry, unless we accept that our minds are robotic (vis-a-vis controlled by others), gone are the days when we (especially Africans) can only passively ingest Western media garbage. This is high time the world wakes up to the dawn of critical self-learning at no cost by virtue of the so-called Internet technology revolution.

Regarding the above comments, it baffles me how, despite access to rich knowledge and information in this part of the world, we can still somehow manage to allow ourselves to be ignorant. Or we are just good at being selective in deciding which and who rights should be advocated for. The last time I checked, Article 3 (1) and (2) of the Optional Protocol to the Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC) states:

States Parties shall raise the minimum age for the voluntary recruitment of persons into their national armed forces from that set out article 38, paragraph 3, of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, taking account of the principles contained in the article and recognizing that under the Convention persona under the age of 18 years are entitled to special protection.

Each State Party shall deposit a binding declaration upon ratification of or accession to the present Protocol that sets forth the minimum age at which it will permit voluntary recruitment into its national armed forces and a description of the safeguards it has adopted to ensure that such recruitment is not forced or coerced

Evidently, the United States is conveniently not a State Party (including not being State Party to Conventions on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) a great advocacy that could go VIRAL) but certainly Canada is. Where am I going with this argument? Well, I'm thinking about double standards and hypocrisy. Take a look at these three examples: Kony 2012; Omar Khadr and Ishmeal Beah - do you see what I see? How can we claim to be in a civilized era of human rights yet we can still manage to peck rights in order of what lies the media tell us? How is justice and equality for Omar Khadr any different from justice for Ishmeal Beah and Jacob in Kony 2012? It is obvious to me that a child's right as enshrined in the CRC (and any other legal instruments) means a child's right - irrespective of whether he or she was born in Africa or raised by parents who support terrorism. The fact here remains, they are all at-risk children needing the same amount of "VIRAL" advocacy such as seen in Kony 2012.

OR

When it comes to Africa, it has to be romanticized, sympathetic and sensationalized by those who claim privilege to power, control and authority? How about if we changed the so-called International Criminal Court (yet again, the US is not a signed member to the Rome Statute - another excellent advocacy strategy for American world changers) list filled with "African monsters" (the irony) to something more realistic as in those complicit of war crimes (George Bush, Tony Blair, Stephen Harper, Benjamin Netanyahu and their cronies)? At this juncture, my only frustration is not only with the complete lack of positive leadership amongst African leaders, it is also with the positive correlation between continuous and selective ignorance and increase in information technology which leads to over dominance of one group yet persistent human rights violations of another group. 

All the best with Kony 2012, but I refused to allow my person including my brains to be manipulated when I can think critically to foster my ability to be a better advocate for children's rights.

SHALOM