Editor:
Last week at the United Nations, Canada voted against the Goldstone Report. This was a fact-finding mission commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate events in the Gaza Strip from Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009.
The report found that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by both Israel and Palestinian armed groups. Their actions amounted to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity. For the Israelis these included: the bombing of civilian neighbourhoods, the use of flechette rounds and white phosphorus against civilians, the blocking of rescue parties from reaching the wounded and the killing of fleeing civilians carrying white flags. For the Palestinians these included the repeated launching of rockets and mortars into Southern Israel.
Justice Goldstone recommended that Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, conduct their own respective independent investigations of the evidence of human rights violations. If they do not do so within six months, the report urged the Security Council to refer their cases to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Canada voted against this report and its recommendations last Thursday -one week before Remembrance Day. Have we forgotten the men and women of World War One who sacrificed their lives to end all wars? International Law and the Charter of Human Rights are the tools we need for justice and peace to prevail. We voted against those last week.
Canada once had a reputation for being peace builders in the world. Alas no more. Instead of peacekeeping -we wage war in Afghanistan, our Canada Pension Plan invests billions of dollars in companies that build F16s and F15s; and we vote against recommendations that would hold war criminals responsible for their crimes against humanity.
Anita Couvrette
Gibsons
