RCMP Taser use draws Amnesty International's ire

May 28, 2009
Canada.com

An international human rights report fingers the RCMP use of Tasers, noting that the controversial stun guns are the subject of a public inquiry in Canada and that six people died last year after being stunned by police.

The Amnesty International report, assessing the state of the world's human rights in 2008, also cites Canadian foreign policy on several fronts, including a failure to protect Afghan detainees from being transferred to local authorities at a risk of torture, refusing to repatriate Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr, and declining to seek clemency for a Canadian killer on death row in Montana.

The two-page section on Canada's failures was part of a broader 387-page critique of 157 countries, which accuses the international community of relegating human rights "to the back seat" as countries focus on the economic recession and national security.