Canadian Arab Federation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2010
said Khaled Mouammar, CAF National President.
Harper government’s policies lead to loss of UN Security Council seat
Harper government’s policies lead to loss of UN Security Council seat
“The Harper government must take full responsibility for Canada losing the race for a UN Security Council seat. This is as a result of the misguided positions taken by the Harper government domestically and within such key international bodies as the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council that undermine human rights, environmental rights and global principles,” said Khaled Mouammar, CAF National President.
Since coming to power in 2006, the Harper government’s actions have set back or weakened crucial international human rights initiatives such as global protection of the rights of Indigenous peoples, protection of the human rights of the Palestinian people under occupation, protection against torture, the rights of women, the rights of children, and the rights of gays and lesbians.
Domestically, the Harper government has systematically undermined democratic institutions and practices, and has eroded the protection of free speech by cutting or threatening to cut funding to organizations that disagree with government policies as in the case of the Canadian Arab Federation, KAIROS, MATCH International, Alternatives, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, the National Association of Women and the Law, and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.
A glaring example is the government’s refusal to repatriate Omar Khadr to Canada, after the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that found Canada is responsible for continuing violations of Omar Khadr’s human rights, a stand that has shamed Canada on the world stage.
Domestically, the Harper government has systematically undermined democratic institutions and practices, and has eroded the protection of free speech by cutting or threatening to cut funding to organizations that disagree with government policies as in the case of the Canadian Arab Federation, KAIROS, MATCH International, Alternatives, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, the National Association of Women and the Law, and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.
A glaring example is the government’s refusal to repatriate Omar Khadr to Canada, after the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada that found Canada is responsible for continuing violations of Omar Khadr’s human rights, a stand that has shamed Canada on the world stage.
"By denying the Harper government a seat on the UN Security Council the international community has signalled its displeasure with the government’s performance on the world stage. Canadians lament Canada's loss of influence in the world and deserve a government that does not tarnish Canada’s reputation internationally and that does not seriously threaten the quality and health of democratic life in Canada,”
For more information please contact:
Khaled Mouammar
CAF National President
416-879-6766
CAF National President
416-879-6766
America All But Disappeared in Maneuvering by Portugal, Brazil, and Cuba
By BENNY AVNI, Special to the Sun October 12, 2010
UNITED NATIONS — Canada’s increasing ties with Israel and its defense of Jerusalem have cost it a seat on the United Nations Security Council, diplomats here are saying after days of maneuvering by Arab countries, Brazil, and Cuba in which the United States had nearly disappeared.
Canada’s failure to capture a seat on next year’s Security Council will break a tradition in which America’s northern neighbor has been elected to the most prestigious United Nations body in every decade since 1948. Diplomats here say Brazil was instrumental in handing defeat to Prime Minister Harper in an international contest that pitted Canada, a traditional U.N. power house, against one of the European Union’s least powerful countries – Portugal.
Canada withdrew its candidacy in today’s election for five available council slots after it realized that Portugal had sewn up enough General Assembly votes in the secret ballot to win the only contested seat.
Several sources told me that members of a powerful voting bloc in the 192-member assembly – the 57 countries of the Organizations of Islamic Conference – were united in voting for Portugal over Canada, mostly because of Mr. Harper’s record of supporting Israel.
In addition to the OIC, anti-Western countries like Cuba and Venezuela have been active in opposing Canada’s candidacy. Mr. Harper’s right-of-center government, which had originally tried to stay above the fray, increased its efforts in the final weeks, mounting a world-wide campaign to capture the council seat.
But a diplomat familiar with the behind-the-scenes horse trading that marks the annual General Assembly vote tells me that top diplomats from Portuguese-speaking Brazil became particularly active in the last few weeks, convincing Muslim countries that “Canada’s vote on Israel-related issues will be no different than that of the United States, while Portugal would be more balanced.”
The U.N.-based correspondent of Canada’s National Post, Steven Edwards, reported yesterday that foreign ministry officials in Ottawa criticized the timing of a Tel Aviv visit by the country’s international trade minister, Peter Van Loan, in which he announced Sunday – on the eve of the U.N. vote – his intention to tighten Canada’s trade relations with Israel even further.
“That’s no way to win friends and influence people at the U.N.,” one diplomat here said today. While blocs that included the African and Latin American countries were largely thought to have split their vote on the contested seat, the Arab countries and the OIC were largely believed to have voted en-bloc to bar Canada entry to the council.
Mr. Harper’s government has become one of Israel’s more forthright defenders in organizations like the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, where members like Cuba and Libya often single Israel out and garner enough votes to condemn its human rights record.
Only a few years ago, the American ambassador here would have made a public issue in defense of Canada. But in the maneuvering leading to today’s vote, American diplomats were all but absent.
Conversely, Israeli diplomats who habitually count heads before the votes at international bodies do not see Portugal as a reliable ally among the members of the European Union, which often joins the majorities or abstains after attempting to “soften” anti-Israel votes.
Portugal ended up winning 122 votes in the first round of today’s General Assembly ballot – just short of the 127 needed. Canada got only 114 votes in the first round, and eventually withdrew in the second round, after which Portugal received 150 votes. The balloting is often marked by small bribery in the form of trinkets. Vials of Canadian Maple syrup — an ambrosia unequaled on the planet for its deliciousness — were found by ambassadors as they arrived at their seats before the vote.
There are 10 elected seats at the Security Council, of which five new members are chosen once a year for a 2-year stint according to regional affiliation. The group of democracies known as the Western European and Others Group fielded three candidates this year for the two available seats that were vacated by Turkey and Austria. Germany won easily, which left Canada and Portugal.
Three other regional groups sent one candidate for each available council seat. Colombia replaced Mexico, India replaced Japan, and South Africa – which has amassed a remarkable anti-Western and anti-Israel voting record in its last council stint – replaced Uganda.
On January 1, the five new members will be seated at the famous horseshoe-shaped table alongside the five countries that were elected last year – Bosnia, Brazil, Gabon, Nigeria, and Lebanon – as well as the five permanent council members, Communist China, Russia, Britain, France, and America.
Siddiqui: World passes judgment on Harper’s foreign policy
October 14, 2010
Haroon Siddiqui
Canada’s failure to get elected to the Security Council has been described as “a shocking development,” “a disaster,” “a diplomatic fiasco,” “a colossal failure” and “a dark day for Canada” that brought us “humiliation” and “shame on the world stage.” Those are apt descriptions of this development — the first time in the 64-year history of the United Nations that Canada has failed to win a council seat, unlike in our six earlier bids. Our next bid cannot be for another 10 years.
The Harperites are reacting with their usual dishonest double-talk.
It’s no big deal not to have won a seat in a dysfunctional organization, they say. If so, why did we run?
It is a big deal but the loss is all Michael Ignatieff’s fault, having badmouthed our bid. If so, how come nobody outside of Canada has ever heard of him?
Or, it is the fault of the Europeans. They must have voted as a bloc. What else can explain the win by Portugal, not even a member of the G20, let alone the G8, and an economic basket case to boot? But Europe has less than 30 votes, whereas Arab and Muslim nations have 57 and Africa 51 votes, the two blocs with good reasons to oppose us.
“I don’t think this was a repudiation of Canada’s foreign policy,” said Lawrence Cannon (in New York with Peter Kent, obviously expecting to win). But if Stephen Harper’s foreign policy played no role in the defeat, why is his office arguing, “We did not barter our principled foreign policy?”
Dmitri Soudas, communications director for Harper, added: “Canadians have values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and those values were not bartered.” Canadians do have those values but it is Harper’s violation of them that cost us the council seat.
It’s not just his pro-Israeli stance that made Canada a pariah at the UN. He:
• Sabotaged the UN climate accord.
• Decried the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
• Downgraded UN peacekeeping — to 160 Canadian soldiers out of 105,500 worldwide, placing Canada 57th, behind Yemen and Uganda. (Tuesday, the day we lost the vote, was the anniversary of Lester B. Pearson’s Nobel Peace Prize for inventing peacekeeping.)
• Diminished our role at the UN and its agencies.
• Diverted Canadian funds from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to the Palestinian Authority, to boost Mahmoud Abbas against rival Hamas.
• Thwarted a probe into the alleged torture of Afghan detainees.
• Left Omar Khadr to rot in Guantanamo Bay, while defending the policy of indefinite detention as well as the American military’s kangaroo courts.
In many of the above policies, Harper copied George W. Bush. Whereas America has shaken them off, the Prime Minister is still pursuing them.
As for being pro-Israeli, that’s no sin. Most of us are, but not blindly.
Harper called Israel’s 2006 invasion of Lebanon “a measured response”; justified Israel’s war on Gaza and the deadly Israeli raid on the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza; barred George Galloway from entering Canada, an action overturned by the Federal Court, with Justice Richard Mosley repudiating Ottawa’s trumped up reasons as well as its dishonesty; presided over an upheaval at Rights and Democracy, the Montreal-based human rights agency, principally because it had given two small grants to one Israeli and two Palestinian groups to probe human rights violations; and slashed funding from the Canadian Arab Federation, Kairos and others deemed to be anti-Israeli.
Harper’s foreign policy is a far cry from Canada’s historic commitment to human rights, including pioneering the doctrine of responsibility to protect civilians; the treaty banning landmines; the curbs on blood diamonds; and the International Criminal Court.
Long before the world passed judgment on us this week, and well before Ignatieff expressed reservations about our Security Council bid, Robert Fowler, Canada’s former top diplomat, said last year:
“I’m not sure that Canada deserves to win this election, for we no longer represent the qualities which we Canadians have long insisted that candidates for the council should bring to such responsibilities . . . The world does not need more of the kind of Canada they’ve been getting.”
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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