The refusal of entry into their airspace by European states for the Bolivian presidential jet on the basis of suspicions that Edward Snowden was on board was an astonishing manoeuvre that flies in the face of the EU’s commitment to democracy, human rights and international law.

The potential damage that this action does to both the reputation of the European Union and respect for international law within and beyond its borders cannot be understated. The forcing down and searching the Bolivian President’s jet was a clear breach of fundamental principles of diplomatic immunity and inviolability. Such principles are the bedrock of good international relations and customary international law.

The states involved in forcing down and searching the Bolivian President’s jet should be held to account while the EU should concentrate on protecting the fundamental rights of Europeans by putting an end to the unwarranted mass surveillance revealed by Edward Snowden.

Many European countries have a proud history of providing refuge to people facing prosecutions of a political nature. If they are to avoid the same international reputation for injustice that increasingly plagues their Transatlantic partner they should cease and desist in their efforts to apprehend Mr. Snowden, recognise his service to European democracy and guarantee him safe haven or passage.

Read the whole statement and see the signatories

Presented by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Amnesty International Canada, and the Center for Constitutional Rights

When: Wednesday, June 19, 2013, 7-9pm

Where: Octopus Books, 251 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario

What: The screening of the documentary followed by a discussion with J. Wells Dixon (CCR attorney representing men at Guantánamo), Abdullah Almalki (Canadian citizen who was tortured in Syria because of inaccurate information given by Canada), and Paul Champ (Ottawa human rights and national security litigation lawyer), and moderated by Hilary Homes (Amnesty International Canada).

Join us for this timely event, as the majority of the men at Guantánamo are on their fourth month of hunger strike in protest of more than 11 years of indefinite detention without charge or trial. 

*This event is free and open to the public* 

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More details here

Vanessa Redgrave reads letter from CCR GITMO client Djamel Ameziane (video)

Mr. Warren Allmand, representing ICLMG at the follow-up meeting to Canada’s Second Universal Periodic Review with civil society and Aboriginal organizations, raised important issues which had been overlooked in the countries’ recommendations to Canada regarding national security, including the lack of redress in the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin, the need to implement the recommendations from the Maher Arar/O’Connor Commission regarding the oversight of security agencies, the alarming behavior of the government regarding the use of information that may have been obtained through torture, the application of the US no fly list to Canadian flights, the existence of the UN1267 terrorist list, the presence of racial profiling and the lack of due process regarding those lists and the security certificate regime, and the recent and problematic re-introduction of the preventive detention and investigative hearing dispositions in the Criminal Code (Bill S-7), etc. The ICLMG is opposed to terrorism and supports actions against terrorism which are respectful of human rights and civil liberties. Measures that violate or undermine human rights standards here and abroad in the name of national security make Canadians unsafe, not safer.

Read our submission to the United Nations for Canada’s second UPR