Gordon O'Connor

[Afghanistan, March 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to protecting the Afghan detainees. As I have said previously, we have recently entered into an agreement with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission which is undertaking to monitor the activities of the detainees. If there is any abuse, the commission will report it to us.

[Afghanistan, March 22nd, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I think I do follow that code and that is why I take responsibility.

However, let me remind the member that we will protect detainees within the Afghan prison system. We have recently made an arrangement with the Afghan Human Rights Commission. It has undertaken to supervise the treatment of detainees and that will give us some degree of comfort.

[Afghanistan, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I said in previous statements, my statements here in the House were made in good faith and based on the understanding that I had. I have taken action to ensure that our detainees are treated properly.

[Afghanistan, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, all that blather is not going to change the fact that we will make sure that detainees are treated properly. We have engaged the Afghan Human Rights Commission. It will go into the Afghan system and report anything wrong with respect to detainees.

[Afghanistan, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, our government is committed to ensuring that detainees are treated properly in accordance with military law.

For that we have engaged the Afghan Human Rights Commission that will go into the Afghan system and check to see how the detainees are treated. It will report back to us if there is any maltreatment.

[Afghanistan, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have recently signed an agreement with the Afghan Human Rights Commission. That commission will go into the Afghan system and monitor our detainees to see how they are treated.

Meanwhile, I was in Afghanistan last week with our hard-working troops. I met the Afghan human rights representative. He gave me his personal assurance that the Afghans can do what we ask of them.

[Afghanistan, March 21st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to ensure that detainees are treated properly in Afghanistan. That is why we have made a recent agreement with the human rights commission, which will go into the Afghan system and verify that detainees are treated properly.

[Afghanistan, March 20th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we had a very broad discussion and in that discussion the president pointed out how much cooperation he has received from the Canadian Forces and he appreciated all our efforts.

[Afghanistan, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier today, my understanding of the activities of the Red Cross with the handling of detainees was incorrect. When I made those statements it was in good faith.

[Afghanistan, March 19th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, we have engaged the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. It will monitor detainees within the Afghan system and it will report to us any abuses.