UN rights chief says Canada top court may need to revisit deportation ruling News
UN rights chief says Canada top court may need to revisit deportation ruling

[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, formerly a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, said Monday in an interview that the Canadian high court will likely have to revisit a 2002 deportation ruling that may conflict with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [text], banning the deportation of suspects to countries where they face a real risk of torture. Three years ago the high court ruled in Suresh v. Canada [text] that such deportations could nonetheless take place in "exceptional circumstances." The ruling did not define such circumstances and it has yet to be tested. Canada has been under pressure from human rights groups and the UN committee on torture to revisit the decision. Arbor was party to the ruling and refused to call the decision a mistake, but said that the legal approach many countries adopted following the September 11 attacks is "evolving," and stated "the more distance we now have from September 11, the more I hope we'll be able to have a rational, cool-headed judgment on what is required and what is appropriate." Canadian Press has more.