Afghanistan committee  I certainly have responsibility to give advice, as I mentioned, with respect to advice to commanders on domestic and international laws respecting international operations, which clearly would include issues such as this with respect to the handling and treatment of the detainees

Afghanistan committee  Again, my involvement with this file is subject to solicitor-client privilege. I believe there are other witnesses who are better situated to give you a far more comprehensive answer to your general question about where these go.

Afghanistan committee  That is correct, sir.

Afghanistan committee  It's a fair statement in terms of the reporting. There is a reporting chain within the military in terms of advising on what is done. The commander will make a decision, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, based on the information from DFAIT and other government departments and

Afghanistan committee  It is a fact that in May 2007 additional obligations were added to the agreement, a reinforcement, for instance, of access. That is a fact.

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Hawn, I can't speculate--

Afghanistan committee  Sir, that would be way outside my line of--

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Wilfert, again, you're getting into asking questions that, because of my involvement in the file as legal counsel, are subject to solicitor-client privilege.

Afghanistan committee  Mr. Wilfert, again, you're asking me to answer a hypothetical question. You've brought it back to the transfer of prisoners again. I can certainly tell you that in my capacity I provide advice on military law, and I have lawyers who provide advice at various levels in the chain o

Afghanistan committee  In general terms, keeping away from the specifics of this case, illegal acts can come to the attention of the chain of command in any variety of ways. The police may in fact learn of it on their own and commence an investigation. The chain of command may become aware and ask for

Afghanistan committee  The key question would be, sir, with respect to what we're talking about. With respect to the criminal side—and I just want to highlight this—as in the civilian justice system, there is a separation from a political aspect, and that's why there are independent actors in the syste

Afghanistan committee  Yes, sir, I could. The Amnesty case, in fact, reinforced that it is Afghanistan that's responsible. The case dealt with non-Canadians. They're responsible for the acts that take place in their country. The fact that it's characterized as a non-international armed conflict, in fa

Afghanistan committee  Madame Lalonde, you talked about the arrangements from December 2005. I might just start with that.

Afghanistan committee  Right. As I mentioned, the law that applies is international humanitarian law, and the provisions found in there, such as providing access to the ICRC and such, are patterned after what the law says with respect to Geneva Convention Common Article 3 for detainees. For instance

Afghanistan committee  If I could just take two seconds in response, the addition of Canadian authorities' monitoring is not something you will find under international humanitarian law. It's something additional that the government has put into place. With respect to the question of the jurisdiction,