By Arthur Shaw

Article 13 of Inter-American Convention To Prevent and Punish Torture says, in part, that:

“Extradition shall not be granted nor shall the person sought be returned when there are grounds to believe that his life is in danger, that he will be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or that he will be tried by special or ad hoc courts in the requesting State.”

Ecuador signed the Convention May 20, 1986 and ratified it September 30, 1999.

The US-operated concentration and prison camps in Iraq, illegal US-operated concentration or prison camps on stolen Cuban territory, numerous media reports of torture by US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan. US congressional hearings on the use of enhanced interrogation, etc. provide “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” and he may be subjected to torture or enhanced interrogation.

So, under Article 13, Ecuador is duty bound not to extradite or turn over Julian Assange to the UK authorities.

However, this argument has a slight difficulty in it.

Presently, the UK is the first requesting State, not the US.

The recent record of the UK regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries. After all, Assange himself has spent some time in a UK jail without being killed or tortured

Sweden is a second subsequent requesting State.

Similarly, the record of the Sweden regarding the use of torture is not as brazen as the record of some other countries.

The USA, a hideous regime which tortures and degrades people, is the third subsequent requesting State in this case.

The USA, UK and Sweden may contend that under Article 13 of the Inter-American Convention and a similar provision of the UN Convention on Torture , Ecuador can only consider the recent record of the UK on torture, a record that may not be as bad as some other countries.

Question: Can the extraditing State [in this case, Ecuador] take into consideration “grounds to believe that his [Assange’s] life is in danger” or that he will be subjected to enhanced interrogation by one of the subsequent requesting States … in this case, the rogue US regime?

Obviously, the answer is yes, because Article 13 requires only “grounds to believe.”

This case in fact provides reasonable “grounds to believe.”

Everything now depends of the ethical and democratic will of the Ecuadorian people.

The Government of Ecuador promises the world a decision on the Assange case either upon or soon after the conclusion of the Olympics Games in London.

The glorious Ecuadorian People and their heroic and honorable elected representatives will, I believe, show the rotting capitalist world what ethics and democracy are all about.

A public letter to the Government of Saskatchewan
July 31, 2012

Communist Party: Reject the questioning of Labour’s rights

Members of the Communist Party in Saskatchewan point out that you are questioning the entire range of rights enjoyed by the labour movement and all workers, the majority of people. Too many workers have died in the struggle for the rights you are questioning for this matter to be ignored.

Do Saskatchewan’s labour laws need to improve? Yes, they do. Basic improvements include:
• shorten the work week to 32 hours, with no loss in take-home pay;
• ban compulsory overtime;
• significantly increase the minimum wage;
• extend labour rights and protections to foreign “guest” workers;
• strengthen job and pay equity legislation;
• strengthen the right to organize; stronger penalties for employer interference;
• ban scabbing

But it is obvious that the intention of your review is to attack labour rights. Your questions are a thinly-veiled effort to set the stage for a massive attack on unions and workers’ rights, just like the anti-worker attacks under the pretext of “austerity” by right-wing, pro-corporate governments across Europe and many jurisdictions in North America, such as Minnesota or Ohio.

The only solution is for unions and other popular organizations to defeat these right-wing governments and their anti-labour, anti-people agendas.

Your questions are just a tactic to keep workers fighting defensive battles and prepare a corporate wish list where to weaken unions and boost profits. Your government has never campaigned for the expansion of laws that protect the working majority of Saskatchewan.

It is time to mobilize for a fight that will defeat your government and its corporate backers. Saskatchewan unions will have the solidarity of workers across the land, and you will lose.

You cannot justify attacking rights used by working people to improve their lives, the lives of their families and their communities.

Attacking workers and their families only makes it clearer that capitalism is failing to provide hopeful or stable living conditions for the majority of people in Canada and around the world. The wars Canada is helping start are another sign of crisis for global capitalism.

Your corporate backers would be astonished to hear you explain to the workers of Saskatchewan that the purpose of your review was to improve labour laws.

On the other hand, we believe the time is right to question the entire range of rights enjoyed by the big corporations and banks in Saskatchewan, including why they should exist at all.

If you ask questions, everyone should ask questions. Your questions are limited by narrow, selfish corporate interests.

Broader questions can only help working people get out of the mess you are creating in an economy built on the strength of other countries (resources), injustice to Aboriginal peoples, lowering wages and impoverishing people, killing the family farm, limiting access to education, and catastrophic miscalculations about the environment.

You may not like this line of questioning, but the majority of people in Saskatchewan –Aboriginal peoples, workers, farmers and small businesses – will appreciate that such questions would be fair and even necessary.

Yours Truly,
Darrell Rankin,
For the Trade Union Commission, Communist Party of Canada

Information: Darrell Rankin
Manitoba office, Communist Party of Canada – (204) 586-7824; cell (204) 792-3371
Email: cpc-mb@changetheworldmb.ca  ; Website: www.communist-party.ca