Canadian Judge Rules that U.S. Violated International Human Rights Law
A Canadian judge ruled last month that the United States had violated international conventions on torture and the rights of refugees, Adam Liptak reports in his New York Times “Sidebar” column this week. Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, refugees fleeing persecution cannot seek asylum in Canada once they pass through the United States, and vice versa, on the assumption that refugees would receive equal treatment in either country.
In his 124-page opinion, Canadian Justice Michael L. Phelan criticized the Bush administration for not living up to the terms of the treaty, which requires compliance with international conventions on refugees and torture. For example, the judge cited a provision of the USA PATRIOT Act that prohibits asylum for persons who provided material support to terrorists - even if the support was provided under duress. "The U.S. does not meet the Refugee Convention requirements nor the Convention Against Torture prohibition (the Maher Ararcase being one example),” he wrote. Arar was a Canadian citizen who was mistakenly identified as a terrorist by the U.S. in 2002, and was sent to Syria where he was tortured. The judge also cited a 1-year deadline for filing U.S. asylum claims as recently being applied in such a way as to violate the Refugee Convention.