Posted: Thursday, 20 May 2010

The Canadian Labour Congress is challenging sanctions being applied against Abousfian Abdelrazik, a Canadian citizen whose name remains on a United Nations Security Council watch list.

The list bans Abdelrazik from air travel and paid work and he has had his assets frozen. The CLC is challenging those sanctions by hiring Abdelrazik to work for one week. His task will be to document his story. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will also each hire Abdelrazik for a day.

“The UN’s watch list relies on questionable state intelligence and the use of racial profiling, as well as guilt by association,” says Hassan Yussuff, the CLC’s secretary-treasurer. “This casts an unjust shadow over entire sections of the population.”

Abdelrazik’s name was placed on the watch list in 2006, while he was visiting family members in Sudan. He was cleared by both the RCMP and CSIS in late 2007, and the federal government’s official position is that Abdelrazik’s name should be removed from the UN list. The government, however, has refused to take the steps needed to free Abdelrazik from his sanctions.

Dave Ritchie, Canadian general vice-president of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, says: “The IAMAW is proud to be a part of this campaign especially because Mr. Adelrazik is a machinist by trade.” Ritchie adds: “The labour movement knows all too well how innocent people can be swept up and have their rights trampled. We are demanding an end to the mistreatment of a fellow worker, machinist and citizen of Canada.”

Hassan Yussuff adds, “We have seen similar action in our history, with the internment of Japanese Canadians during the WWII, and the targeting of many individuals including labour activists during the Cold War era.”