Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights calls on Canada to halt military exports to Israel
The coalition said that under the current circumstances, issuing export permits for military goods and technology to Israel violates both Canadian and international law. On Jan. 28, it gave the federal government fourteen days to confirm it had ceased any such exports, after which the coalition said it would “consider its legal options.” The coalition consists of CLAIHR, a West Bank-based NGO, and two individuals.
“We’re simply asking Global Affairs Canada and the federal government to uphold their own laws,” says Henry Off, CLAIHR board member.
Under ss. 7.3-7.4 of the Export and Imports Permits Act, when deciding whether to issue a permit on “arms, ammunition, implements or munitions of war,” the Minister must consider whether their export would “contribute to peace and security or undermine it” and whether they could be “used to commit or facilitate” a “serious violation” of either international humanitarian law or international human rights law, “an act constituting an offence under international conventions or protocols relating to terrorism,” and “serious acts of violence against women and children.”
The coalition argues that exporting military-related goods to Israel would run afoul of the statute, due to the “substantial risk that they could be used to commit serious violations of international law and serious acts of violence against women and children.” On Jan. 19, UN Women released a report finding that of the 24,620 Palestinians killed in Gaza at that point, 16,000 were women or children.
In 2022, Canada exported $21.3 million worth of military goods to Israel, according to Global Affairs Canada’s “Report on the Export of Military Goods.”
The coalition consists of CLAIHR; Al-Haq, a human rights NGO based in Ramallah, West Bank; Ayman Oweida, a Palestinian-Canadian living in Quebec; and a confidential Palestinian asylum seeker from Gaza.
