WASHINGTON — An international human rights watchdog is taking up the case of Canadian teenager Omar Khadr at the request of supporters who want his U.S. military trial suspended at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for suspected terrorists.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, affiliated with the Organization of American States, will hear arguments at a closed-door hearing next week and could decide to recommend a delay if it finds the murder trial scheduled to resume next month would cause irreparable harm to Khadr.

But the U.S. administration has ignored all of the respected commission's urgent directives on Guantanamo detainees so far. Even the American University legal clinic involved in Khadr's fight said there isn't much reason to think this one, if it's issued, would prompt a different response from authorities.

Still, it would serve as another "clarion call'' on Khadr's treatment, said student lawyer Sheku Sheikholeslami, who will tell the commission Monday that U.S. authorities aren't following global standards for juvenile justice.

Charged with murdering a U.S. army medic in a 2002 grenade attack and aiding al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, Khadr was captured when he was 15 years old and sent to Guantanamo that October, just after he turned 16.

Most of his time has been spent in isolation and his lawyers contend he's been frequently tortured and constantly interrogated.

His trial, they said, is setting a dangerous precedent as the first for war crimes allegedly committed by a juvenile.

"Children are deserving of special protection,'' said Sheikholeslami.

"These military procedures are inherently unfair and lacking in all due-process standards. But it's especially egregious when applied to a child.''

What's more, she said, the military singled out Khadr for abuse among other youths who were provided with education and special services at Guantanamo. Several were released.

If the OAS commission does issue a so-called precautionary measure to the U.S. government, it will be the sixth related to Guantanamo since March 2002, although the first dealing with an individual.

And it would be one more high-profile rejection of the much-criticized military tribunal process and the prison camp established in January 2002, mostly for people captured in Afghanistan in the U.S.-led war on terror.

Last month, the White House rejected a scathing United Nations report that said the prison, located at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, should be shut down and authorities should either release all the detainees or put them on trial.

Britain, France, Germany and other countries have been highly vocal in their agreement. Amnesty International has called it the Gulag of our times, reminiscent of Soviet prison camps.

But Canada hasn't taken a position on closing Guantanamo and has remained mum on Khadr's case.

"We have been very surprised at the Canadian government's silence on Omar's treatment because its so blatantly in violation of international law and obligations that Canada has adopted,'' said Sheikholeslami.

"The United States and Canada should not fail him.''

Only a handful of some 500 Guantanamo prisoners, including Khadr, have actually been charged and have made appearances at tribunals.

At a hearing in January, Khadr asked for a different military lawyer and said he wants a Canadian to join his defence team. He's scheduled to face more hearings in April.

The chief prosecutor at Guantanamo has called the teen a dangerous terrorist who deserves to spend his life in prison.

Authorities could have sought the death penalty but didn't because of his juvenile status, he said.

The Khadr family has provoked intense debate in Canada. Each of the five siblings, all of whom are Canadian citizens, has at one time or another been separately accused or investigated for alleged links to terrorism.

Their father, Egyptian-born Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, was an accused al Qaeda financier killed in a battle with Pakistani forces in 2003.