OTTAWA - Conservative wavering on the world stage has risked Canada's reputation as a human-rights champion, Amnesty International says in a report released Monday.
The report -- Canada and the International Protection of Human Rights: An Erosion of Leadership? -- slams the federal government on several fronts.
It cites Ottawa's sudden refusal last month to fight the death penalty in all cases; its vote against a United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous people; the short shrift given to abuses in Colombia; and how the Tories played down reports earlier this year that Taliban suspects handed over to Afghan authorities were later tortured.
"There's no question that the concerns we've highlighted are things we've seen in the last 18 months or so,'' since the Tories took power, says Amnesty spokesman Alex Neve.
"It's not that we're trying to make this a political issue,'' he said in an interview. "But we are taking note of the fact that this government is pursuing policies and adopting positions with respect to some crucial human-rights issues that ... we believe risks selling Canada's long-established leadership short.''
The Conservatives countered by stressing efforts to protest abuses in Iran, rebuild and restore security in Afghanistan, and impose sanctions after the Myanmar regime cracked down on peaceful demonstrators -- many of them monks.
"We are acting to promote human rights, the rule of law and democracy all across the globe,'' Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told the House of Commons.
Liberal MP Irwin Cotler challenged Bernier to make the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region Canada's top foreign policy focus. More than 200,000 people have died and some 2.5 million have been displaced since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003.
Yet, "Darfur is nowhere a priority for this government,'' Cotler said of the "mass atrocities'' being committed there.
Canada has so far provided $286 million to the African Union Mission in Sudan. Moreover, Bernier noted that the human-rights monitoring group UN Watch rated Canada in its 2006-07 scorecard "at the very top -- in both the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly -- for its record of consistent support for positive initiatives, and solid opposition to malicious measures.''
The report also noted, however, "that Canada falls short in its failure to speak out often or strongly enough for victims of most of the world's worst regimes.'' Ottawa was silent, it says, when it came to notorious abuses in China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.
Neve credits the federal government for working toward a more assertive human-rights policy regarding China, for example. Ottawa has also raised the delicate matter of violations in Russia.
"While those sorts of occasional examples are obviously welcome, in our view they're more than overshadowed by the numerous areas ... where we're seeing quite the contrary,'' Neve says.
"Some of this absolutely is a stepping back. It's not even that it's just that we'd like to see Canada do more. We're seeing instances where Canada has stepped back from positions of leadership.
"That conveys a very strong message to the rest of the world.''
Especially alarming was Canada's refusal in September to support the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people, Neve said.
Canada was one of just four countries to vote against the non-binding document, citing potential conflict with Canadian laws that critics said were unsubstantiated.
"What was most disheartening was the failure on the part of the government to recognize how desperately necessary this declaration is for the rest of the world,'' Neve says.
"There are so many countries where indigenous people have absolutely nothing to turn to.''
