France calls for Dismissal of Khadr Trial; US Vetoes UN Gitmo Visit

By Jacob Leon Beier
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, North America

WASHINGTON, United States – France has recently urged the United States to cease its prosecution of Omar Khadr and treat him as a minor.  Khadr is a Canadian citizen who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002 at the age of 15 for throwing a grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer and injured three other people.

Pascale Andreani, the French foreign ministry spokeswoman commented, “We consider that any child associated with an armed conflict is a victim and should be treated as such…As a minor at the time of the events, Mr Khadr must therefore be given a special treatment, a point on which there is a universal consensus.”

The Preamble and Principle 2 of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child provides, “[T]he child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection … [t]he child shall enjoy special protection [and in] the enactment of laws for this purpose, the best interests of the child shall be the paramount consideration.”

The United States and Somalia remain the only countries to have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

A US military judge had previously dismissed the charges against Khadr.  But, a subsequent military review rejected the ruling on October 2nd, 2007.

France’s call for dismissal came on the same day that the Pentagon denied a request to allow a French UN expert on child soldiers attend Khadr’s next hearing which will focus on issues international law pertaining to child soldiers.

Kt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, Khadr’s lead military defense attorney, commented on the fact that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had yet to protest the military tribunal proceedings.  “It’s difficult to see how Prime Minister Harper can defend the military commission as an ‘appropriate judicial process’ when the US refuses to let the leading international experts watch.”

Breaking its silence with respect to another matter, Canada recently apologized for placing the United States on a list of countries that torture.  The product of a Canadian “torture awareness workshop”, provided the country’s diplomats with a list of specific countries that torture.  Canada commented on US torture, which included “US interrogation techniques” of “forced nudity, isolation, and sleep deprivation.”

Khadr’s next hearing before the US military commission is set for February 4th at the Guantanamo naval base.

For more information, please see:

AFP – France Urges US treat Candian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr as minor – 24 January 2008

AlterNet – Canada’s Child Soldier Problem – 24 January 2008

TheStar.com – UN observer can’t attend Omar Khadr hearing, Pentagon say – 24 January 2008

AFP – France Urges US to drop Guantanamo trial of Canadian – 23 January 2008

Canada.com – Pentagon vetoes Guantanamo visit by UN official – 23 January 2008