Review Saudi use of Canadian armoured vehicles: groups
OTTAWA — Human rights and arms-control groups are demanding that the federal government launch an independent investigation into reports Saudi Arabian forces used Canadian-made armoured vehicles against civilians last year.
The call comes after Global Affairs Canada conducted its own review that determined that there was “no verified, credible information” to suggest Canadianmade Terradyne Gurkha vehicles were used to commit serious human rights abuses in July 2017.
In a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Amnesty International Canada, Project Ploughshares, Oxfam Canada and others say that probe was flawed, which is why an independent review is required before more such weapons are exported.
“We issue this call because it is our view that the internal government report on the allegations … reveals shortcomings both in the investigation of the allegations and in interpretation of Canadian obligations under international law,” the letter reads.
“These shortcomings suggest that a thorough review concluded by an independent and impartial expert is now required to adequately address the serious questions and concerns that remain unresolved.”
Among their concerns is that Canadian officials believed what Saudi counterparts told them at face value, and that the officials played down the country’s poor human-rights record while emphasizing its economic importance.
The demand is the latest twist in what has become an enduring controversy: the sale of Canadian arms to Saudi Arabia, whose record on human rights has been raising questions for years about the export of such weaponry.
Most of the attention has been focused on a $15-billion contract signed in 2014 that has seen Canada provide a steady stream of light armoured vehicles from the General Dynamics Land Systems plant in London, Ont., to Saudi security forces.
But Ottawa has also approved the export of other arms such as Gurkhas, which are manufactured by Terradyne in Newmarket, Ont., and described as modified Ford F550s that have been armoured and can accommodate machineguns and other weapons.
Some of those Gurkhas were deployed during a security operation in the eastern town of Al-Awamiyah in July 2017, whose predominantly Shia population has harboured long-standing grievances against the Sunni government in Riyadh.
Video and witness interviews have been used to support allegations that the Gurkhas were used to surround the town.
According to the allegations, weapons on the vehicles were fired into populated areas, killing several civilians.
Freeland ordered Global Affairs Canada officials to review the incident after allegations became public, but the final report, which was concluded in October 2017 and released to the public in May, found a lack of evidence to support the allegations.
In their letter, however, the NGOs say the sources cited by Canadian officials in that report “are unnamed, redacted or far from independent,” such as the Saudi National Society for Human Rights, which receives funding from the Saudi government.