Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin testified before a Commons committee on Nov 18 2009 that government officials were informed of widespread torture of detainees handed over by Canadian Forces to Afghan authorities.

By Errol Mendes

A courageous Canadian public servant and former diplomat in Afghanistan gave stunning testimony to a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, that while focused on the treatment of detainees transferred to Afghan authorities by Canadian forces revealed something else that if proven may ultimately demonstrate the undermining of the rule of law and democracy in Canada at the highest levels.

Richard Colvin asserted that Canada had, during 18 months in 2006-07, handed over many more detainees than either Britain (six times more in an equally dangerous region) or the Netherlands (20 times more) to the Afghan national security agency and other Afghan authorities. This was at a time when almost everyone in Afghanistan, including the UN, NATO allies and human rights organizations knew many of them would be tortured, with many likely to be innocent of any involvement in the insurgency. The torture included electric shocks, beatings, open flames, sleep deprivation and other brutal methods that would sometimes go on for months.

While Colvin was careful not to lay blame with the military police who were charged with transferring prisoners to the Afghan torturers, he asserted that there was an astonishingly loose framework created by the highest military and civilian ranks on the transfer of detainees that created the danger of Canada and Canadian officials becoming complicit in torture.

In comparison to the British and Dutch transfer framework, there was virtually no monitoring or even record keeping of who and where they were transferred. The public and media in these fellow NATO countries were kept informed, in keeping with their democratic values and legal obligations. In contrast, Colvin revealed that when the Red Cross tried for months to warn Canadian officials about the torture of detainees, no one would even take its phone calls.

The British and the Dutch in comparison reported all transfers to their national legislatures. In contrast, Canadian officials asserted such information would endanger operational security, even though the information was readily available from Afghan communities. It seemed that the information was really meant to be kept from the Canadian media and public.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Canada, Diplomat, NATO, Parliament, Red Cross, Richard Colvin, Rule of Law, US

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