April 1999, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the possibility of expulsion by Canada of a person to a real risk of torture and expressed concerns about the implementation of CCPR rights and about the legal remedies relating to them. ICCR understands that the United States has incorporated into its law article 3 of the Convention against Torture which prohibits expulsion when there is a real risk of torture. Canada should undertake at least comparable incorporations. Family separation, a focus of UN concerns, has been a theme at consultations among Canadian, Mexican and US church bodies known as the North American Church Consultation. We urge governments to respect children's rights by adopting policies to protect family life, especially spouses and children.
Western countries interdict asylum seekers.
Sometimes this forces others to accept the responsibility for them in counter-productive ways. Canada should set a different course towards a higher standard of international cooperation when family members are involved. Church bodies at the Fort Erie North American Church Consultation in October 1999 suggested a measure to allow family reunification, avoid costly detention and avoid duplication of examination of refugee status claims. The measure would allow a spouse or child of a refugee claimant already being considered in Canada, who are intercepted in the US en route to Canada, to enter Canada to be processed together as a family. There have also been international church concerns about immigration detention.