The Candian Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected U.S.war resister Jeremy Hinzman's claim for refugee status in Canada on March 24. Hinzman and his lawyer, Jeffry House, immediately announced that they would appeal the decision to the Federal Court of Canada.
Unfortunately the IRB had refused to allow him to present a crucial part of his case: the illegality of the US invasion of Iraq. House said "We are confident that the Federal Court will correct this and overrule the IRB decision".
Speaking on behalf of the War Resisters Support Campaign, Lee Zaslotsky expressed disappointment at the decision. "The technicalities of the refugee process The Martin Government seems to be is dithering over what to do about US war resisters who come to Canada. were allowed to obscure the justice of Jeremy's case. But we will continue to campaign to get the Government of Canada to open our doors to all U.S. Iraq War resisters"
The War Resisters Support Campaign, which was launched in early 2003, took the position from the beginning that U.s. war resisters should not be sent back to face incarceration or even a possible death sentence for refusing to participate in an illegal war.
"Canada must not become an enforcement arm of the U.S. military, handing over to certain punishment courageous young men whose only offense was to follow Canada's own example," said Carolyn Egan, a campaign spokesperson.
Hinzman is the first of seven US war resisters who have applied for refugee status in Canada. The others are still waiting for their hearings to be scheduled. "Canadian law requires that each refugee claim be considered on its own merits" said House. "We will pursue the other claims every bit as vigorously as Jeremy's claim.
The Martin Government seems to be is dithering over what to do about US war resisters who come to Canada. But this issue will just not go away.
"It is simply wrong to leave them in limbo, facing either jail terms or long term uncertainty. Pierre Trudeau was proud to offer access to Canada as a refuge from militarism' during the Vietnam War. Paul Martin should do likewise for those who cannot in good conscience take part in the Iraq War," said Zaslofsky.
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One of the strongest appeals we heard was from people in Batman and the nearby ancient city of Hasankeyf. The Turkish government seems to be reviving its plans to build the Ilisu Dam across the Tigris, to drown the city of Hasankeyf, and to forcibly remove the inhabitants of the town and other villages in the valley.
Hasankeyf, which has been designated as Heritage Site by UNESCO, is a place of stunning beauty with a ten thousand year history, and we found it hard to understand how anyone could seek to justify drowning it for a maximum seventy years' worth of electricity in a coun try which could so easily develop solar and wind power for its extra electricity requirements.
A strong international campaign stopped them last time round - we need to do the same again.
When we asked whether anything has changed since Turkey got a date for starting accession negotiations on December 2004, the answers varied. Some people felt that things are the same as before, others that they have got worse again.
But the universally expressed view we heard was that the changes that have been made have only been done to facilitate Turkey's accession to the EU, and that the mentality of the people who run Turkey has by and large not changed.
We believe that this underlines the need for continued careful monitoring of the human rights situation during Turkey's EU accession process, and for there to be no complacency in Europe about the pace or depth of change within Turkey.
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G8 leaders: their gettogether, our protest