Friends of the Lubicon
PO Box 444 Stn D,
Etobicoke ON M9A 4X4
Tel: (416) 763-7500
Email: fol (at) tao (dot) ca
www.lubicon.ca
April 20, 2006
Amnesty International has set up a website with short profiles of human rights concerns in countries that are standing for election to the new UN Human Rights Council.
The election of the first members of the new UN Human Rights Council will take place on 9 May 2006. Each of the 47 members must achieve an absolute majority of the votes at the UN General Assembly in order secure a seat on the Council.
In order to assist Member States in assessing the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights, Amnesty International is making available brief summaries of its recent research findings into the human rights situation in candidate countries to assist countries in their deliberations.
Canada normally relies on its self-image as a protector of human rights to gain a presence on these international bodies. But the entry on Canada contains the following line:
"Canada's inadequate protection of the land and resource rights of Indigenous peoples is highlighted by the failure to provide a just and timely resolution to the Lubicon land dispute 15 years after the UN Human Rights Committee first pressed Canada to do so."
Canada’s credibility on human rights is clearly not being helped by its continued failure to abide by two UN Human Rights Committee decisions on their treatment of the Lubicon Lake Indian Nation.
The website can be accessed here.
fol-request at masses.tao.ca