PO
Box 11795, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19101, US. Tel: (215) 848 1120 Fax: (215) 848 1130
30
November 2004 Re.
Jeremy Hinzman, US conscientious objector seeking asylum in Canada, whose
Immigration and Refugee Board hearing begins Dec 6. We
write in support of Mr. Jeremy Hinzman, and call on the Immigration and
Refugee Board to grant him refugee status. We join with almost 8000 people
around the world who, as of today, have signed an international petition
to demand the Canadian government give sanctuary to war resisters such as
Mr. Hinzman (see www.petitiononline.com/resister/petition.html).
Mr.
Hinzman, who deserted the US Army and fled to Toronto with his wife and
young child, faces certain persecution from the US military – including
the threat of long imprisonment– if forced to return (also, the death
penalty still applies in the US for this “offence”).
His desertion is justified under international law,
established in the Nuremberg Tribunals, which holds that it is the duty of
a soldier, and indeed of all of us, to refuse illegal orders. Praise and
support, not punishment, are called for.
Handing him over to US authorities would be an outrage. It
is the Bush administration which has acted illegally, violating many
international laws, including the Nuremberg principles which define as a
crime against humanity the "planning, preparation, initiation or
waging of a war of aggression … in violation of international treaties,
agreements, or assurances." The US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and
elsewhere are war crimes, and soldiers such as Mr. Hinzman who served in
Afghanistan and who has spoken out about what he experienced there and
during his military indoctrination, are crucial witnesses and must be
protected – not sent back into the hands of murderers. As
you must know, Mr. Hinzman has taken every measure available to him within
the bounds of US military law to stay true to his conscience, including by
seeking conscientious objector (CO) status. The US Army
claimed they had lost his first CO application.
He reapplied and was shipped off to Afghanistan, where finally he
was given a hearing, but denied CO status on the grounds that he did not
agree he would never defend himself if attacked. Legal
Action for Women, which has a long history of fighting for the rights of
asylum seekers in England, has found that many asylum seekers who flee the
persecution and decimation of war are also fleeing military conscription.
Mr. Hinzman is no different in this respect. It is long past time to
recognize that even without a universal draft the US military conscripts
the majority of its soldiers by promising money, college education,
healthcare, etc., which otherwise are out of reach. Mr.
Hinzman also speaks for the many thousands of US soldiers now forced to
stay in the military beyond their contracts and, despite physical
disability and ill-health, doing back-to-back tours of duty. They are
being denied time off even for family emergencies in order to keep up
military operations that have now been exposed as including murder, rape
and other torture and brutality, including of non-combatants, even
children. Mr. Hinzman has made it easier for soldiers now in Iraq to speak
out, as they surely must after the massacre and destruction in Fallujah,
the horrible dimensions of which are slowly becoming known: over a
thousand civilians killed,
many more wounded, cluster bombs and chemical weapons dropped on populated
areas, doctors forced out of hospitals at gunpoint, mosques invaded and
worshippers killed, Red Crescent and Red Cross emergency medical aid
refused, and an entire city without water, food, or electricity for weeks.
Over
100,000 Iraqi people and over 1000 “Coalition” soldiers have lost
their lives so far. In this war, as in the first Gulf war, civilians and
soldiers alike have suffered and will suffer from “Gulf War Syndrome”,
as vaccinations, depleted uranium and other pollutants are once again
massively used. Veterans have protested against these conditions and many
whose health and peace of mind have been wrecked are living testimonies of
the horrors created by modern war. Iraqi women have told us how the war and occupation of Iraq have subjected women and children in particular to the most horrendous living conditions, including lack of protection against sexual and other violence. Food, water, medical care, electricity, phone service and other public services destroyed by the war and prior US sanctions, are still not accessible not only in Fallujah but to the great majority of the people of Iraq. Other soldiers and their family members have also spoken against the US-led occupation. US Army Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia, who was sentenced in May to a year in prison for refusing to return to Iraq, said “I have witnessed the suffering of a people whose country is in ruins and who are further humiliated by the raids, patrols, curfews of an occupying army.” Many
millions of people, including in Canada and the US, have demonstrated
their total opposition to what they see as a war waged by the US
government against not only the Iraqi people, but also the rest of the
world, including most of us in the US who have to pay for the US military
– half the world’s trillion dollar annual military budget – through
cutbacks in welfare, schools, healthcare and other community services. During
the Vietnam War, more than 50,000 draft-age Americans made their way to
Canada, refusing to participate in an immoral war. Earlier this year, in
the case of Russian conscript Andrey Krotov, the English court of appeal
ruled that refugee status could be available to a conscript who refused to
serve when the service would require him to violate basic rules of human
conduct as defined by international law. These are important
precedents that need to be considered in assessing the refugee claim of
Mr. Hinzman. If
you deny Mr. Hinzman refugee status and thus force him to return to the
United States, you will be helping silence a powerful voice in the
movement to reverse these killing priorities. Iin granting asylum and thus
recognizing Mr. Hinzman’s right to refuse to take part in genocide, you
materially support the immense contribution such soldiers are making,
valuing that over any sanction the US government may impose. In other words, you value stopping the US war over letting yourself be
coerced into going along with it. In this you will be in agreement with the great
majority of Canadians and the people of the world. Sincerely, Eric
Gjertsen Payday/US, Ben
Martin Payday/UK |