Canada is failing to set a strong example in a world on the "knife-edge" of what could be a dramatic shift in the advance of human rights, freedom and justice, Amnesty International said Thursday on the eve of the organization’s 50th anniversary.
The startling Arab Spring gains in Egypt and Tunisia could be offset by the forces of official repression now at work in countries like Syria, China, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, Amnesty warned in a media briefing in London Thursday.
"The human rights revolution now stands on the threshold of historic change," said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty.
The youth-led, technology-aided popular forces are "sending a signal to repressive governments that their days are numbered," he said.
"But there is a serious fight-back from the forces of repression. The international community must seize the opportunity for change and ensure that 2011 is not a false dawn for human rights."
The remarkable role of social media during the Arab Spring shouldn’t be viewed with rose-coloured glasses, Amnesty warned.
"A critical battle is underway for control of access to information, means of communication and networking technology as social media networks fuel a new activism that governments are struggling to control," Shetty noted in his report.
"As seen in Tunisia and Egypt, government attempts to block Internet access or cut mobile phone networks can backfire – but governments are scrambling to regain the initiative or to use this technology against activists."
The London-based organization, which listed in its annual report a number of ongoing rights concerns in Canada, questioned whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s new majority government is in a position to set any examples on rights issues.
"In 2010 progress (in Canada) on key concerns was disappointing," Amnesty International Canada Secretary General Alex Neve said in a statement. "The year was marked by failing leadership by Canada on human rights issues."
The Amnesty report said WikiLeaks has played a key role in exposing the complacency of western governments in the face of repressive governments in the Middle East and Africa.
"Some of the documents made clear that countries around the world were aware of both the political repression and the lack of economic opportunity, but for the most part were not taking action to urge change," Shetty wrote in the report’s introduction.
"One leaked cable showed that the then-Canadian envoy, the U.S. ambassador and the U.K. ambassador all acknowledged that the Tunisian security forces torture detainees; that diplomatic assurances that the government will not torture detainees sent back to Tunisia are ‘of value’ but unreliable; and that the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) does not have access to detention facilities run by the Ministry of Interior."
The report said Canadian aboriginals face "ongoing, systematic violations of their rights."
Amnesty also warned that the Harper government’s proposed legislation to crack down on illegal migrants "could result in the prolonged detention of asylum-seekers."
The report noted the launch of a national group in Canada, called Voices/Voix, to counter federal cuts and other measures that "impeded civil society advocacy in such areas as women’s equality and the rights of Palestinians."
On the specific issue of native rights, the report lists concerns about inadequate government spending on child and family services in First Nations communities, about federal government inaction in dealing with violence against aboriginal women, about police handling of missing and murdered women – many aboriginal – in Vancouver, and about aboriginal land rights issues in B.C. and Alberta.
In March, in the midst of the Canadian election campaign, Amnesty issued a far more harshly-worded assessment of Canada’s performance.
Neve said Thursday that Canada is not taking "anywhere near enough" action to set a positive example in a world where infant democracies are struggling to get established.
Despite its optimistic tone the annual report documents free-speech restrictions in at least 89 countries, points to political prisoners in at least 48 countries, documents torture and other forms of ill-treatment in at least 89 countries, and unfair trials in at least 54 countries.
The U.S. comes under criticism once again for its use of the death penalty, while European countries were slammed for imposing legal restrictions on women wearing full-face veils, and for sending migrants back to countries where they face persecution.
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