Amnesty International has urged the Canadian government to think again about a list of thirty wanted foreign men, residing in Canada, who have been labeled ‘war criminals’ by the authorities. The men, including Sri Lankans and Pakistani, face deportation once they are traced. Amnesty says these people should face justice rather than deportation.

By Richard Walker (RNW's International Justice desk) and Johan van Slooten (South Asia Wired)

The list was published on the website of Canada’s Border Services Agency (CBSA). It offers details such as names, birth dates and photos, but does not reveal any evidence against the men.

Clear message
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Vic Toews defended the ‘war criminal’ label, saying: "Our message is clear: those who are active or complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity can no longer hide in the shadows.”

The list includes two Sri Lankans (one of whom is listed as “Not in Canada”) and two Pakistani, one of whom has been apprehended since the list was first published.

Open letter
Canada’s branch of Amnesty International says that publishing a list of this nature alone is not enough. “It fails to ensure that [these men] will in fact face justice,” it wrote in an open letter to Canada’s government this week. “An official process of extradition (…) would ensure that individuals are going to be dealt with under criminal proceedings. Deportation does not.”

Amnesty is worried that these men, once deported, will not face any further investigation or criminal charges.

Allegations
The human rights organisation is also concerned that while the details of these men have now been published, nothing is known about the allegations or the evidence against them. “The fact that their names and faces have been widely publicised may harm them or their relatives.”

Criteria
Meanwhile, the CBSA has told RNW that the ‘Most Wanted List’ is compiled using strict criteria. “Individuals (must) have a removal order that is in force; have a Canada-wide warrant for arrest and detention for removal issued, and the CBSA has actively investigated the whereabouts of these individuals using all the tools at our disposal with no results.“

Janet Dench leads the Canadian Council for Refugees and believes the current policy is flawed.

“Technically speaking, people who are included on this list are people who could have been suspected of war crimes,” she told RNW, “but it could also be people who are in no way suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity, people who have nothing but an unfortunate association under Canadian legislation.”

There are many such associations which can be attached to an individual – having been in a police force in certain countries, for example – which will make a refugee undesirable under Canadian law.

'Bizarre'
Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney doesn’t seem to be impressed by the concerns of rights groups such as Amnesty. On his Twitter feed  he said: “It’s just bizarre that groups on the left like the Council for Refugees and Amnesty are opposed to our effort to deport war criminals.”

Earlier this week, he told Canadian newspaper National Post that “The notion that [a war criminal] enjoys the same privacy rights as a law abiding Canadian citizen is bizarre in the extreme.”