We write to you regarding Omar Khadr, the 22-year-old Canadian national slated to be tried by military commission at Guantanamo for crimes allegedly committed when he was aged 15. If the trial, now scheduled for January 26, 2009, is allowed to go forward, Omar Khadr will become the first person in recent years to be tried by any western nation for war crimes allegedly committed as a child.

Human Rights Watch and partner organizations write to Secretary Gates ahead of the February 4 appearance before a military commission of Omar Khadr, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since he was 15 years old. Human Rights Watch notes the United States' failure to incorporate juvenile detention and juvenile justice in military commission proceedings standards, and urges the US to not compound these violations by prosecuting Khadr before a military tribunal that is not equipped to meet these standards as well as other fair trial requirements.

Human Rights Watch and partner organizations write to Prime Minister Harper ahead of the February 4 appearance before a military commission of Omar Khadr, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since he was 15 years old. Consistent with its commitment to the rule of law, international juvenile justice standards, and the rehabilitation of former child soldiers, Canada should formally request that unless the US government will prosecute Khadr in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards, the United States should promptly release Khadr and repatriate him to Canada for rehabilitation.

Human Rights Watch joined with Amnesty International to urge the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security to identify extra dates for public hearings on Bill C-3. The groups criticized the Committee for announcing public hearings and then closing the witness list just two days later, leaving many organizations and individuals with expertise on security certificates and in other relevant areas no opportunity to present evidence.

In February 2007, the Canadian Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act as unconstitutional. The provisions permitted the use of secret evidence against foreign national security suspects subjected to "security certificates" and threatened with deportation, many to places where they would be at risk of torture. Bill C-3 proposes a system of "special advocates" to review sensitive national security-related evidence in security certificate cases. Human Rights Watch's commentary raises concerns that the bill does not rectify the constitutional deficiencies identified by the Canadian Supreme Court and should not be passed until amendments are made to it.

I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch regarding your government’s response to activity by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Canada’s Tamil community, and to share observations and recommendations based on developments since your government’s listing of the LTTE as a terrorist entity in April of this year.

Dear Chief Blair,

I am writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch regarding the response of the Toronto police force to activity by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Canada’s Tamil community, and to share observations and recommendations based on developments since the Canadian government’s listing of the LTTE as a terrorist entity in April of this year.

In 2002, the United States reportedly transferred Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, to Syria after having detained him in New York as he was en route from Tunisia to Montreal. On November 4 in Ottawa, Arar publicly asserted that, while held in Syrian prisons for 10 months, he was repeatedly tortured by being whipped with a thick electric cable and threatened with electric shocks. Human Rights Watch and other concerned groups are pressing the U.S. government to investigate Mr. Arar's case and the larger category of so-called "extraordinary renditions."