Doing The Right Thing
"To me it doesn't actually seem like something that's super hard for us to do as a country. We only have 33 of them -- 18 of them are kids, there's only six men over there [held by the Kurdish Syrian Defence Forces]. So the number of prosecutions that would be involved in serious criminality would be minimal. And we're doing nothing."
"I think we would have the ability to take a leadership role or at least to be at the table providing opportunities for solutions if we were to do the right thing. But we can't."
Leah West, international security expert, lecturer, Carleton University Norman Paterson School of International Affairs
An estimated 40,000 to 50,000 foreign fighters are held in Syria by the government of Kurdistan and the government of Syria. Of that total a tiny fraction are Canadians. Far many more are European citizens. But neither Europe in general nor Canada in particular are taking action to repatriate their nationals who chose to travel abroad to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in their caliphate to become murderous jihadists. An estimated 60 Canadians have returned quietly of their own volition, being tracked by Canada's intelligence and policing agencies but no action taken against them.
The back story is that the horrendous atrocities committed by Islamic State took place in countries abroad, Syria and Iraq and evidence must be secured to prove in a court of law in Canada that returnees were involved in ISIL crimes against humanity before legal action can be undertaken. That they left Canada for the express purpose of joining ISIL, fighting alongside other terrorists for the greater glory of a conquering Islamist caliphate is deemed insufficient to find them guilty of such crimes.
Under the previous Conservative government legislation was brought into law to deprive anyone with dual citizenship of their Canadian citizenship if they were involved in terrorism or conflict threatening Canada.One of the first actions taken by the incoming Liberal government in 2015 was to piously state "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian", reversing that legislation, restoring citizenship to among a few others, the leader of the Jihadi 18 group out of Toronto, who had conspired and trained to commit mass murder in Canada in 2006; among their targets the-then prime minister, military installations and crowded civilian areas, for maximum impact.
Four individuals who had returned to Canada have been convicted of offences related to terrorism once they returned to Canada voluntarily. An estimated 180 Canadian became foreign fighters when they had left the country for Syria, and while 60 have since returned, none of them were brought back under government auspices; they returned on their own with the self-assurance there would be no penalty accorded them; as citizens of Canada merely returning after a stay abroad.
"It's clear that the United States and Germany have been more aggressive in bringing returnees to prosecute them in domestic courts", noted Kyle Matthews, executive director of he Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. There has been very little formal action on repatriation in Europe in general; most of those who have been repatriated are women and children. Germany plans to repatriate 100 ISIL-linked children. Kazakhstan committed to returning 500 of its nationals, mostly women and children, processing them for reintegration into society.
When France refused to repatriate eleven of its nationals, Iraq sentenced them to hang, following nominal trials. Sweden proposes to set up an international tribunal which eleven countries including France, the U.K. and Germany discussed, when a meeting took place in Stockholm in June. For the most part countries have limited their responsibility in relation to their citizens as terrorists. Both Britain and Australia revoke citizenships of foreign fighters.
It is a problem, to be sure. Leaving Canadian citizens to stew in the juice of their own choices does give a lot of satisfaction. On the other hand, it's an action that shuffles responsibility on to others who have to bear the cost and the effort to ensure that these vicious malefactors are kept imprisoned when they're dealing with the nationals of other countries. Canada, under the current Liberal government has in the near past returned nationals and then compensated them, as in the infamous instance of Omar Khadr the al-Qaeda recruit by apologizing for his ordeal captured by the U.S. military and compensating him for his agony of experience to the tune of $10 million in taxpayer-funded award.
"The government is aware of some Canadian citizens currently detained in Syria. There is no legal obligation to facilitate their return."
"We will not expose our consular officials to undue risk in this dangerous part of the world".
Statement, Public Safety Ministry, Ottawa
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| An Islamic State militant waves an ISIS flag in Raqqa, Syria. In December, Ottawa estimated the number of Canadian extremists abroad at about 190. (REUTERS) |
Labels: Canada, Citizenship, Islamic State, Jihadis, Repatriation
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, August 21, 2019
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