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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group

Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles

March 2, 2024 - 2 mars 2024

75+ Canadian civil society organizations - including ICLMG - call on Ministers Joly, Hussen, and Miller to “Stop Genocide or Resign”

CJPME 22/02/2024 - In an open letter published today, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC), the Canadian Palestinian Social Association – London (CPSA) and over 75 other Canadian civil society organizations are calling on Ministers Joly, Hussen, and Miller to “Stop Genocide or Resign,” noting that Palestinians can no longer endure the policy failures of these Ministers and this Liberal government.

Amid Israel’s unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, the organizations claim that each of these Ministers has implemented policy decisions, possibly at the direction of the Prime Minister’s Office, that have exacerbated the crisis, causing further harm to those facing catastrophic levels of death and destruction. The organizations claim that these policy failures will continue to cost Palestinian lives on the ground, while contravening Canada’s responsibilities as a third-party state to the Genocide Convention and vis-a-vis the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures.

As the organizations write, “We cannot accept this to be Canada’s legacy amid the genocide unfolding before our eyes. If these Ministers are not able to step up in this moment of extreme crisis and redress these errors, they should step aside.” The open letter demands that the Ministers take the following actions or else resign from their roles:

1. Minister Joly must declare unequivocal support for the ICJ’s recommended emergency measures, demand that Israel comply with the court’s rulings to prevent genocide in Gaza, and take steps to ensure that Canadian policy is not contributing to genocidal acts. The first step must be the imposition of an embargo on Canada-Israel military trade;
2. Minister Hussen must immediately and unconditionally restore humanitarian aid to UNRWA, and double Canada’s existing funding commitments to UNRWA for the next three years;
3. Minister Miller must remove the arbitrary, discriminatory and ultimately racist barriers on family reunification visas for Gaza, and fast-track the process to bring loved ones out of harm’s way.

The organizations released the letter publicly today at an online press conference on Zoom. At the press conference, the speakers outlined their concerns with each Minister’s decisions. “Minister Miller has put up unnecessary barriers that complicate the ability of the loved ones of Canadians to flee a context of genocidal violence. This seems to be rooted in the notion that all Palestinians should be viewed as a security threat. In doing so, Miller is causing unnecessary harm and panic among Palestinian Canadians and their families,” said Majid Abudiya of the Canadian Palestinian Social Association - London.

“Not only has Minister Joly failed to take any measures to stop Israel’s murderous campaign in Gaza, but she has approved more military exports to Israel since October 7 than in any single year in three decades, accelerating the transfer of weapons into a context of genocide,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice-President of CJPME. “Making things worse, she has continued to deliberately mislead Canadians about the risk that these exports pose to human rights and international law. Despite Canada’s obligations under the Genocide Convention, Joly continues to permit corporations in Canada to profit off the slaughter of Palestinians. She lacks the moral authority to lead,” added Bueckert.

“Minister Hussen has suspended critical funding to a refugee population facing genocide, without seeing any evidence to back up Israel’s allegations. This was a purely political decision that put the lives of millions of people in danger. Hussen is defying the many warnings that cutting UNRWA’s funding will severely harm a population already facing famine, disease, and genocide. This eliminates the primary humanitarian agency and amounts to willful complicity in collective punishment of Palestinians,” said Dr. Yaser Haddara, Chairman of CMPAC.

Key signatories of the open letter include, but are not limited to: the Arab Palestine Association of Ontario (APAO), the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), the Canadian BDS Coalition, the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba (CPAM), the Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council (CMPAC), Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), Just Peace Advocates, Labour for Palestine (L4P), The Rideau Institute, United Jewish People’s Order, and World Beyond War (WBW). Source

NEW ACTION: Tell Ministers Joly, Hussen, and Miller to stop genocide or resign!

OTTAWA MARCH TODAY: Saturday March 2nd, 1pm, Human Rights Monument

ACTION: Tell Canada: Support the ICJ decision, end the genocide in Gaza!

Rideau Institute: UNRWA on the brink: Canada restore funding now!

ACTION: Tell Minister Hussen: Reverse the UNRWA cuts, don’t punish Gaza!

Immigration Canada says it has yet to approve a single application two months after the special Gaza program was enacted

Palestinian-Canadians protest on Parliament Hill for three days to plead for family reunification

ACTION: Save This Gaza Family: Palestinian Refugees Must be Allowed to Bring Loved Ones to Canada

ACTION: Demand Immediate Release of Mansour Shouman from Israel Government and IDF

ACTION: Canada Must Issue Permits to Leave Gaza for 4 Grandchildren of Canadian Family

ACTION: Please support the Alhalees and other Canadian families with loved ones in Gaza

Cops crashed my talk on Palestine (and proved my point about colonialism)

How anti-Palestinian racism led to a ‘crisis’ at TMU’s law school: Some recent media coverage of a petition in solidarity with Palestine portrayed student support as ‘pro-terror’

‘Don’t Give Up’: Community Groups Discuss Suppression Of Pro-Palestinian Voices

Coalition of Palestinian and Jewish Groups to Intervene in Sarah Jama Censure Case

NEW ACTION: Meta: We Need to Talk about Genocide

ACTION: Drop the Charges against the ‘Peace 11’ Indigo Protestors!

ACTION: Ottawa: Drop the Fines: Don't Silence Palestinian Voices!

City of Ottawa: In Clear Double Standard, No Fines or Arrests After Convoy Supporters Confront Police and Shoot Fireworks

NEW ACTION: Stand Up Against Harassment of Toronto Star Columnist Shree Parakdar

Meet The Billionaire-Funded Pro-Israel Group Influencing Media: Honest Reporting Canada

Conflating criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism is dangerous

ICLMG ACTION: Canada Must Oppose Genocide in Gaza and Defend Free Expression at Home! + Share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Arms exports to Israel must stop immediately: UN experts

OHCHR 23/02/2024 - Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately, 42 UN experts* warned today.

“All States must ‘ensure respect’ for international humanitarian law by parties to an armed conflict, as required by 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law,” the experts said. “States must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition – or parts for them – if it is expected, given the facts or past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law.”

“Such transfers are prohibited even if the exporting State does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law – or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way – as long as there is a clear risk,” they said. The experts welcomed the decision of a Dutch appeals court on 12 February 2024 ordering the Netherlands to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The court found that there was a “clear risk” that the parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, as “there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases”.

The Dutch court pointed to the extensive civilian casualties, including thousands of children; the destruction of 60% of civilian homes and extensive damage to hospitals, water and food supplies, schools and religious buildings; widespread severe hunger; and the displacement of 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. It also highlighted evidence of the prolific use of imprecise “dumb bombs”; deliberate, disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks; failures to warn civilians of attacks; and incriminating statements by Israeli commanders and soldiers. Over 29,313 Palestinians have been killed and 69,333 injured in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the majority being women and children. “Israel has repeatedly failed to comply with international law,” the experts said.

The experts noted that States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty have additional treaty obligations to deny arms exports if they “know” that the arms “would” be used to commit international crimes; or if there is an “overriding risk” that the arms transferred “could” be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law. European Union member states are further bound by EU arms export control law. “The need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the International Court of Justice’s ruling on 26 January 2024 that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then”, the experts said. The Genocide Convention of 1948 requires States parties to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide in another state as far as possible. “This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances”, the experts said.

The experts welcomed the suspension of arms transfers to Israel by Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the Japanese company Itochu Corporation. The European Union also recently discouraged arms exports to Israel. The experts urged other States to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel, including export licenses and military aid. The United States and Germany are by far the largest arms exporters and shipments have increased since 7 October 2023. Other military exporters include France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.

The experts noted that arms transfers to Hamas and other armed groups are also prohibited by international law, given their grave violations of international humanitarian law on 7 October 2023, including hostage-taking and subsequent indiscriminate rocket fire. The duty to “ensure respect” for humanitarian law applies “in all circumstances”, including when Israel claims it is countering terrorism. Military intelligence must also not be shared where there is a clear risk that it would be used to violate international humanitarian law. “State officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes, crimes against humanity or acts of genocide,” the experts said. “All States under the principle of universal jurisdiction, and the International Criminal Court, may be able to investigate and prosecute such crimes.”

The experts stressed that the duty to “ensure respect” additionally requires all States to do everything reasonably in their power to prevent and stop violations of international humanitarian law by Israel, particularly where a State has influence through its political, military, economic or other relations. Measures could include:

- Diplomatic dialogue and protests;

- Technical assistance to promote compliance and accountability;

- Sanctions on trade, finance, travel, technology or cooperation;

- Referral to the Security Council and the General Assembly;

- Proceedings at the International Court of Justice;

- Support for investigations by the International Criminal Court or other international legal mechanisms;

- National criminal investigations using universal jurisdiction and civil suits; and

- Requesting a meeting of the parties to the Geneva Conventions.

Most of these measures are also relevant to fulfilling the duty to prevent genocide.

Arms companies contributing to the production and transfer of arms to Israel and businesses investing in those companies bear their own responsibility to respect human rights, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. “They have not publicly demonstrated the heightened human rights due diligence required of them and accordingly risk complicity in violations”, the experts said.

“International law does not enforce itself,” the experts said. “All States must not be complicit in international crimes through arms transfers. They must do their part to urgently end the unrelenting humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.” Source

German lawyers representing Gazan families have filed a criminal complaint against German officials for supplying Israel with weapons that aid and abet genocide

Actes génocidaires perpétrés contre le peuple palestinien dans la bande Gaza – Obligations du Canada

‘Israel Arms Embargo Now’: Protesters Launch Coordinated Blockades Of Canadian Manufacturers

Stephen Harper’s firm pours $350M into developing military tech for Israel

NEW ACTION: Canada: stop arming Israel’s military

UPDATED ACTION: Canada must stop arming genocide

ACTION: End Canadian Assistance to Military Committing Genocide

Israel Kills 104 Palestinians Waiting for Food Aid as U.N. Expert Accuses Israel of Starving Gaza

DemocracyNow! 29/02/2024 - In Gaza City, at least 104 Palestinian refugees were killed Thursday when Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd waiting for food aid. “This isn’t the first time people have been shot at by Israeli forces while people have been trying to access food,” says the U.N.'s special rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fakhri, who accuses Israel of the war crime of intentional starvation.

This comes as reports grow of Palestinians resorting to animal feed and cactus leaves for sustenance and as experts warn of imminent agricultural collapse. “Every single person in Gaza is hungry,” says Fakhri, who emphasizes that famine in the modern context is a human-made catastrophe. “At this point I'm running out of words to be able to describe the horror of what’s happening and how vile the actions have been by Israel against the Palestinian civilians.” [...]

Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza are coming under fire from Israeli forces in Gaza as acute hunger and severe malnutrition are spreading. In the latest attack earlier today, over a hundred Palestinians were killed and more than 700 wounded in Gaza City when they came under fire from Israeli tanks and drones.

Over half a million people in Gaza are on the cusp of starvation, while virtually the entire population of 2.3 million people is in desperate need of food as a result of the continued Israeli bombardment, ground attacks and ongoing siege. According to the United Nations, the amount of aid reaching the Palestinian territory dropped by 50% in February compared to the previous month. [...]

Every single person in Gaza is hungry right now. A quarter of the population, so that’s a half a million people, are starving. And famine is imminent. We’ve never seen an entire population, 2.2 million people, made to go hungry this quickly and this completely. And people’s health is rapidly declining. What’s really concerning now is we’re starting to hear reports of children dying from dehydration, malnutrition and starvation. We’ve never seen children pushed into malnutrition so quickly. In the almost five months of war, there have been more children, more journalists, more medical personnel, more U.N. staff killed more than anywhere else in the world in any conflict.

In early October, when this war began, myself, amongst other independent U.N. human rights experts, immediately called for a warning of a risk of genocide, asking that there be an immediate ceasefire to prevent genocide. Unfortunately, what’s happened is the war has gotten worse. Israel’s attacks against civilians has continued and expanded. And I think it’s safe to say this is a genocide. And now we’re in the situation where we’re seeing starvation, and we’re seeing the denial of humanitarian aid and the destruction of the food system itself in Gaza. Read more - Lire plus

Israel defying ICJ ruling to prevent genocide by failing to allow adequate humanitarian aid to reach Gaza

NEW ACTION: Israel: Ensure Humanitarian Aid Delivery to Gaza

Gaza Ceasefire Could Save 75,000 from Death: Report from London School of Hygiene & Johns Hopkins

NEW ACTION: Urge Governments to Invoke the Genocide Convention to Stop the War on Gaza

Law for Palestine Releases Database with 500+ Instances of Israeli Incitement to Genocide – Continuously Updated

“What I Saw Wasn’t War — It Was Annihilation,” Says U.S. Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza Hospital

More Than 50 Countries Argue Before World Court Against Israeli Occupation of Palestine

Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate: Israel Is Targeting Media in Gaza to Hide Its Atrocities from the World

The Anti-Palestinian Origins of The War on Terror

FOREVER WARS 28/02/2024 - Let's start with a passage from REIGN OF TERROR: 

In October 2002, rallying in Washington to support Israel's violent suppression of the second Palestinian intifada, [evangelicals] portrayed Israel's fight as indistinguishable from America's. "We are in a war on terrorism," said Gary Bauer, the conservative Christian activist. "We are trying to limit and lessen the number of terrorist nations. So under no circumstances should we create a new terrorist nation of Palestine." Texas congressman Tom DeLay, the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, bluntly asked the crowd if it wanted "Israel to look more like the Middle East, or do we want the Middle East to start looking more like Israel?" Seeking to cement its ties to an American community that enjoyed overwhelming political influence, Israel was happy to portray itself as the tip of the spear in the War on Terror. For decades GOP politicians had marveled at Israel's ability to subjugate Muslims, often using euphemisms like DeLay's. It didn't matter that Bush had declared war on terrorist groups with global reach, which even the most aggressive Palestinian resistance was not.

A new and profoundly valuable report goes back further than the timeline of my book to show how "antiterrorism law has been structurally anti-Palestinian from its inception." The very origins of U.S. counterterrorism laws, the foundation stones upon which the War on Terror was built, had Palestinians in mind, not militant groups targeting the United States. Many of those laws came into being with the aid of Zionist organizations in the United States, guiding lawmakers toward conceptions of counterterrorism that targeted Palestinian finances, associations and freedoms. 

The report is called "Anti-Palestinian at the Core: The Origins and Growing Dangers of U.S. Anti-Terrorism Law," written by Darryl Li and published jointly last week by Palestine Legal and the Center for Constitutional Rights. It arrives as American Zionist organizations, particularly on college campuses, aggressively suppress supporters of Palestinian lives, safety and freedom. To those organizations, it doesn’t matter that some being suppressed are Jewish, like Columbia University’s chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace, since Zionism's relationship with Jewish safety is contingent and transactional, but that's a longer conversation for another time. As I reported in October for The Nation, the Anti-Defamation League is trying to get Students for Justice in Palestine baselessly investigated for material support for terrorism, one of the most important tools of the War on Terror. This history is highly relevant. 

Li knows his stuff when it comes to the War on Terror: He's also the author of The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity, which is on my own bookshelf. I asked him if today we're watching the War on Terror revert to its original form—or if, instead, it's just doing, perhaps more conspicuously in this moment than in others, what it always has. "In one sense, I think it's the latter," Li tells FOREVER WARS. "Because, we've had all these debates over the past two decades around the high-visibility, high-spectacularity incidences of violence—think of Guantanamo, the drone assassination program—and the standard liberal response has always been to say, 'let's go back to the rule of law.' This repeated mantra. This report highlights how that liberal baseline, that foundational ‘rule of law’ part of the War on Terror is irremediably tainted by anti-Palestinian animus. And that's also important because the debates over the high-visibility forms of violence have kind of faded, so people might be lulled into thinking like, 'Oh, you know, we're past that now…' Clearly, that's a narrative that we need to push back on." 

Li continues: "The other thing about this idea of going back to the early days of 9/11 that gets overlooked is, for me, the point of comparison is not so much 9/11, it's the outbreak of the Second Intifada in the fall of 2000, a year before 9/11. Because that was when I saw liberal elites engage in the open celebration of violence and colonialism and racism that became more generalized after 9/11. And if you think of that year, starting with the outbreak of the Second Intifada, building through that violence, the ascension of George W. Bush, and then finally the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, which was of course extremely controversial in the United States because of its endorsement of anti-Zionism and its use of apartheid as a framework, was kind of this moment where so many of these critical antiwar, anti-apartheid energies came together. And then, just a few days later, 9/11 happened, and that was memory-holed so quickly. So in a way, I feel like this report is part of this broader exercise of reconstructing memory, or re-remembering: reconnecting to aspects of the past that kind of got erased or overlooked in all of the urgency of the past 20 years." 

BECAUSE I USED TO HATE IT when newsrooms didn't do this when the shoe was on the other foot, I should also mention that I got beat covering Li's report. You should read Alice Speri's day-one coverage of it in The Intercept and Amy Goodman's coverage of it for Democracy Now. In my defense, the day the report came out, I had a fever that ended up spiking to 103 degrees. Digging through Li's report yields a foreboding feeling of prologue to something awful. And that's high praise here at FOREVER WARS, since it's the vibe I was chasing in REIGN OF TERROR. The first terrorist group ever designated by the United States as such was the Palestine Liberation Organization, in 1987. Why 1987? Because that was when the First Palestinian Intifada ignited. It's tempting to call that ironic, but in reality it was simple ignorance: The PLO very famously was nowhere near Gaza, the site from which the First Intifada emerged, and played no role in the uprising. But the point was to punish the available symbols of Palestinian resistance for demanding freedom.

Three years later, in 1990, Congress nestled counterterrorism within immigration law for the first time, making terrorism a basis for deportation or exclusion from entry. That seems sensible enough at first blush, but—and see the prologue of REIGN OF TERROR for more on this—the ban didn't require the commission of any actual act of violence, simply membership in a banned organization. Any "officer, official, representative, or spokesman" of the PLO would be considered a terrorist by default. It was redundant, since PLO members had already been banned from entering the United States for over a decade, but again, the point was punishment, not consistency. 

Then came the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), a result of the creation of so-called Material Support legislation, known formally as 2339A and 2339B. 2339B, the major one, and the one that Li focuses on in his paper, emerged from the 1996 law passed after the Oklahoma City bombing. Readers of REIGN OF TERROR are well aware that that law did not criminalize associations with white supremacist terrorism of the sort that murdered 168 people in Oklahoma City, but instead associations with, well, Foreign Terrorist Organizations. And which Foreign Terrorist Organizations? You already guessed it, but Li answers: "The first list of FTOs was announced in October 1997 and consisted of 28 groups—of which eight were opponents of Israel (seven Palestinian factions, plus Hizballah)." 

I'm a broken record on this—it's kind of my thing—but the current crucible in which Israel has placed Palestinians is yet another reminder of the ongoing dangers of the War on Terror. 

"I think of the United States as a deeply distressed hoarder of Chekhov's Guns. Like a cat lady of Chekhov's Guns," Li says. "As I learned from reading your newsletter, the legal basis that Biden invoked for expanding the war to the Red Sea to support Israel's genocide, is the 2001 AUMF. So just as these anti-Palestinian terrorism provisions were kind of the off-the-shelf, ready-to-go tools after 9/11, you have a post-9/11 instrument that's an off-the-shelf, ready-to-go tool for supporting Israel. So it really is a reminder of the symbiotic nature of the two states' agendas." Read more - Lire plus

US Senate approves $14B in military aid; Biden to send more weapons to Israel

Jewish National Fund lawsuit tried to allege support for terrorism by US Campaign for Palestinian Rights; SCOTUS ended their baseless case

American media keep citing Zaka — though its October 7 atrocity stories are discredited in Israel

Using Wartime Provision, Israel Holding Palestinian Detainees for Eight Days Without a Hearing

Israeli Knesset’s decision to deny Gaza detainees legal representation provides legal cover for crime of enforced disappearance

MI5 tried to recruit British man in Gaza by offering to help family escape

'This Is What Our Ruling Class Has Decided Will Be Normal'

ICLMG’s submission to the Privacy Commissioner’s consultation on biometrics guidance

ICLMG 26/02/2024 - On October 11, 2023, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) launched a public consultation on new draft guidance on biometric technologies. The draft guidance provides information on privacy obligations, considerations, and best practices for handling biometric information.

ICLMG analyzed and commented on the draft guidance for public institutions both during a virtual call with OPC staff, and online. Here are some of our answers to the consultation questions relevant to our mandate:

Q. Are there specific uses of biometrics that should be considered inappropriate? Should we define these no-go zones in the guidance?

Yes, we believe that there should be specific no-go zones established in the guidance for both private and public institutions. This includes:

• The use of biometrics for real-time surveillance in public spaces (for example, at protests, in airports, at the border, at shopping malls, at sports arenas, etc.)
• Biometrics should never be used for indiscriminate, mass surveillance
• Biometrics should never be used to attempt to evaluate emotions or feelings
• Biometrics should never be used to attempt to ascertain gender or sexual orientation
• Biometrics should never be used to attempt to ascertain or predict the activities of groups of protected classes of people (ie, predictive policing of specific communities)

Greater consideration should also specifically be given to the collection and use of biometrics in immigration and asylum cases, given the sensitivity in these cases. While we do not have specific suggestions for no-go zones at this time, renewed focus on what is appropriate or inappropriate in this sector is necessary.

Q. Are there any other outstanding areas of regulatory uncertainty that this guidance can help clarify?

We are concerned that current privacy and national security laws grant intelligence agencies, and to a lesser degree law enforcement agencies, exceptions to the obligations that other public institutions must follow. This would allow, for example, intelligence agencies to collect and use biometric information in ways that would not be allowed for other institutions; allow them to not disclose their use of biometric data; and deny individuals the ability to know how their information is being used or to request its destruction. We would suggest that a specific mention be made in the guidance that all government agencies, including national security and law enforcement bodies, are expected to adhere to this guidance.

Further, we would suggest a caveat that while this guidance is in relation to the Privacy Act, that it should also be taken into consideration when government departments disclose or collect information under other acts, with the specific example of the Security of Canada Information Disclosure Act (SCIDA). For example, considerations around limiting collection, limiting use, disclosure and retention, safeguards and accuracy should also be considered when considering the disclosure of biometric data under SCIDA.

ACTION: ICLMG maintains its long-standing opposition to the use of facial recognition technology, especially by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Protect our rights from facial recognition.

We also encourage you to read the submission made by La Ligue des droits et libertés, one of our members (in French only). Source

AI bill ‘democratically illegitimate’ and litigation ‘likely’ without proper consultations, say AFN, civil society orgs

The Hill Times 21/02/2024 - As the House Industry and Technology Committee wrapped up witness testimony on the federal government’s privacy and artificial intelligence legislation, former BlackBerry executive Jim Balsillie added his voice to the growing chorus calling for it to be sent “back to the drawing board,” alongside the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which says the lack of nation-to-nation consultation could land the government in court over the bill. [...]

The AFN also voiced its concerns about the potential harms of AI technology, including as a new avenue for racial profiling in banking, health care, criminal justice, and in its dealing with government officials. “Imagine the potential for such abuse to continue or even worsen when biased and prejudiced individuals and organizations are building AI systems that will implicate First Nations,” the AFN wrote, adding that the bill in its current form does little to assuage those concerns. “This legislation cannot stand as it is. The best solution is for the minister to meet his obligation to Nation-to-Nation consultations with First Nations and obtain their free, prior, and informed consent,” the AFN wrote. “Failing that, the minister must clarify that the Act cannot be interpreted or applied in such a fashion as to derogate from First Nations rights.” [...]

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) said its concerns with AIDA have only been strengthened and reinforced by the testimony heard during the committee’s study. Tim McSorley, the ICLMG’s national co-ordinator, told The Hill Times he doesn’t consider his organization’s Aug. 25, 2022, meeting with Surdas Mohit, ISED’s director of AI and data policy, at which the organization raised its concerns after the bill had been tabled, to be a legitimate consultation. “Consultation isn’t putting out a bill and getting a reaction,” McSorley said. “Consultation is doing outreach with stakeholders before you table the legislation so you can have an open conversation about what it should contain. That simply didn’t happen.”

While he said that he appreciates that the government proposed its own amendments to the legislation, he doesn’t believe those changes would effectively address the concerns with AIDA, and that the government could have spent that effort “rethinking its approach and engaging in real consultation.”

“We’ve said from the beginning that AIDA is not fit for purpose and couldn’t be salvaged in committee,” McSorley said. “It needs to be severed from Bill C-27 and brought back to the drawing board for consideration outside of not just industry, but with other stakeholders and other government departments.”

McSorley said he agrees with Clement’s assessment that the consultations’ bias toward industry stakeholders demonstrates a conflict of interest at ISED. McSorley said that the ICLMG is still pushing for members of the committee to “do what they can” to amend the legislation and make the strongest possible recommendations to improve AIDA, and failing that at committee, attempt to do so again at third reading or vote against it. “We think that it’s up to the committee to act,” McSorley said, noting that the Liberals do not have a majority on the committee. “Right now, there’s an opportunity to fix this process and stop [the legislation] before it moves forward and becomes law to ensure that AI oversight and regulation in Canada is done properly.” Source

ACTION: Canada: Remove the national security exemptions from Bill C-27!

NEW ACTION: Open Letter Urges Canadian Government to Reject Private Sector Carve-Out in Council of Europe AI Convention Negotiations

How Israel Is Using AI as a Weapon of War

London Underground Is Testing Real-Time AI Surveillance Tools to Spot Crime

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret

CCLA Urges Substantial Amendments to the Online Harms Act

CCLA 28/02/2024 - Following the Government of Canada’s reintroduction of the Online Harms Act (Bill C-63), Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, Executive Director and General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), made the following statement:

This is a massive bill that we need to examine in greater detail. Our preliminary read raises several serious concerns. While the CCLA endorses the declared purposes of upholding public safety, protecting children, and supporting marginalized communities, our initial assessment reveals that the bill includes overbroad violations of expressive freedom, privacy, protest rights, and liberty. These must be rectified before the bill is passed into law.

One troubling aspect of Bill C-63 is the vast authority bestowed upon a newly established body, comprising government appointees, to interpret the law, make up new rules, enforce them, and then serve as judge, jury, and executioner. Granting such sweeping powers to one body undermines the fundamental principle of democratic accountability. Furthermore, the bill’s provisions which include sweeping new search powers of electronic data with no warrant requirement, pose significant threats to privacy rights. The bill provides for unacceptable intrusions into individuals’ digital lives.

Bill C-63 risks censoring a range of expression from journalistic reporting to healthy conversations among youth under 18 about their own sexuality and relationships. The broad criminal prohibitions on speech in the bill risk stifling public discourse and criminalizing political activism. The bill imposes draconian penalties for certain types of expression, including life imprisonment for a very broad and vaguely defined offence of “incitement to genocide”, and 5 years of jail time for other broadly defined speech acts. This not only chills free speech but also undermines the principles of proportionality and fairness in our legal system. Bill C-63 also creates a new offence (“offence motivated by hatred”) that risks misuse or overuse by police, and unfairness to accused persons in court.

The bill also re-introduces a speech restriction within the Canadian Human Rights Act, which CCLA has previously opposed. The new provision has the potential to censor strong opposition to political authorities. It limits debate and dissent on contentious issues, and historically has not adequately protected the most marginalized groups. The potential flood of complaints under this provision to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, coupled with its existing resource constraints, threatens to exacerbate the backlog, and limit access to justice for those facing discrimination in employment, services, and other contexts. We urge Parliament to amend Bill C-63 to ensure that any legislation aimed at curbing online harms upholds the fundamental principles guaranteed by our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Source

Michael Geist: My First Take on the Online Harms Act: Worst of 2021 Plan Now Gone But Digital Safety Commission Regulatory Power a Huge Concern

New federal security restrictions: CAUT warns of negative impact on research and researchers

CAUT 17/01/2024 - The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) says the federal government’s new research security restrictions raise concerns about academic freedom and international scientific collaboration.

“Restrictions on university research and academic freedom can only be justified in rare cases,” said CAUT Executive Director David Robinson. “It is important that any restrictions be specific and not broadly defined, be based on fact and not conjecture, and do not target specific communities.”

The new rules require researchers applying for federal grants in one of the identified sensitive research areas to sign an attestation that they do not have ties with organizations on a named list released by the government, as will students working on the project. The list of “named organizations” includes both state and non-state actors, with 85 from China, 12 from Iran, and six from Russia.

While legitimate security risks may exist, Robinson says the new rules threaten to limit the global exchange of scientific research and target Canadian academics of Chinese descent or origin.

“Academics and students of Chinese origin are already being targeted and that is creating a chill on academic research and partnerships,” said Robinson. Source

Canadian court finds Likhts’amisyu Clan Wing Chief Dsta’hyl guilty of criminal contempt for upholding Wet’suwet’en law

PBI Canada 20/02/2024 - Abolish CIRG has just posted: “Justice Tammen rules Dsta’hyl is guilty of criminal contempt. Referring to the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass vs the injunction: ‘The two legal orders cannot comfortably co-exist in the circumstances.’”

It adds: “Dinï ze’ Dsta’hyl is the highest ranking person to be charged for violating the CGL injunction. At his hearing, he argued that it was the injunction that was a violation of Wet’suwet’en law.” The Abolish CIRG thread of ten tweets on this can be read here.

Amanda Follett Hosgood of The Tyee has also tweeted: “BC Supreme Court has found Wet’suwet’en Chief Dsta’hyl, Adam Gagnon, guilty of criminal contempt, rejecting a novel defence that rather than bringing the law into disrepute he was upholding Wet’suwet’en law on his traditional territory when interfered with pipeline construction. Rather than ‘harmonizing colonial law and Indigenous law,’ judge ruled that defence proposed ‘recognition of an imprecisely defined law of trespass to the exclusion of the Canadian law of contempt. The two legal orders cannot comfortably coexist in the circumstances.'”

Wing Chief Dsta’hyl arrested in October 2021

The Tyee has previously reported: “Chief Dsta’hyl, a wing chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan who also goes by Adam Gagnon, was arrested Oct. 27, 2021, following an interaction with Coastal GasLink security on his clan’s traditional territory. Although he was originally taken into custody for mischief and theft over $5,000, Dsta’hyl now faces a charge of criminal contempt.” That article adds: “BC Prosecution Service announced [in 2022] that it would proceed with criminal contempt charges against some of those charged in the pipeline conflict in October and November 2021.”

Enforcing Wet’suwet’en law

Grist has explained: “As a supporting chief from the Likhts’amisyu clan, Dsta’hyl had been tasked with enforcing Wet’suwet’en law in the area. Construction crews preparing to build a pipeline through Wet’suwet’en territory, without their consent — represented a blatant violation of those laws.”

A news release in 2022 from the Likhts’amisyu, one of five clans within the Wet’suwet’en nation, stated: “On October 27, Likhts’amisyu Hereditary Chief Dsta’hyl was arrested and forcibly removed from unceded Likhts’amisyu territory, along with Kolin Sutherland-Wilson of the Gitxsan Git’luuhl’um’hetxwit wilp. In observance of Wet’suwet’en trespass laws, Dini ze’ Dsta’hyl decommissioned 10 pieces of heavy construction equipment.”

It also notes: “On October 17, Lihts’amisyu Enforcement Officers — including Chiefs Tsebesa and Dsta’hyl — warned CGL employees they were trespassing and their equipment would be subject to seizure. Subsequently, Dini ze’ Dsta’hyl decommissioned an excavator, prompting CGL to remove all remaining heavy equipment from the Parrot Lake area in Likhts’amisyu territory.”

Grist provides this narrative: “After warning the on-site construction managers that they were trespassing, he arrived the next day and approached a pair of orange-vested security subcontractors employed by TC Energy, the company building the fracked gas pipeline known as Coastal GasLink, or CGL. He notified them that he would be seizing one of their excavators and then stepped onto the hulking vehicle and disabled it by disconnecting its battery and other components.”

Sentencing

Criminal contempt penalties can include fines or imprisonment. The Criminal Code of Canada says: “A court, judge, justice or provincial court judge may deal summarily with a person who is guilty of contempt of court under this section and that person is liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ninety days or to both, and may be ordered to pay the costs that are incident to the service of any process under this Part and to his detention, if any.” Sentencing for Chief Dsta’hyl has been set for 9 am PT on Wednesday March 6.

The UN on CGL

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has repeatedly called on Canada “to immediately halt the construction and suspend all permits and approvals for the construction of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline in the traditional and unceded lands and territories of the Wet’suwet’en people, until they grant their free, prior and informed consent, following the full and adequate discharge of the duty to consult.” We continue to follow this with concern. Source

Complaint by Ecuadorian Indigenous Nation Asks British Columbia Securities Commission to Investigate Solaris Resources

Military worried fake wolves exercise, pandemic propaganda efforts undercut public trust: documents

The Ottawa Citizen 27/02/2024 - The Canadian Forces worried the public would link its previous efforts to test propaganda techniques during the pandemic to a bungled exercise in which the military spread disinformation about rampaging wolves, according to newly released records.

Military officers worried the 2020 wolves training fiasco, combined with previous coverage in this newspaper about their efforts during the COVID outbreak to test new methods to manipulate Canadians, could have “the effect of undermining our credibility and public trust.”

The October 2020 exercise involving fake letters about wolves on the loose, which caused panic in one community in Nova Scotia, was a propaganda test gone awry, generating embarrassing news coverage across Canada and in some U.S. media outlets. Just as that incident was being reported by media outlets, a non-government group called the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project released details about the Canadian Forces spending more than $1 million on training on how to modify public behaviour. That training had been used by the parent firm of Cambridge Analytica, the company that was at the centre of a scandal in which personal data of Facebook users was provided to U.S. President Donald Trump’s political campaign.

In addition, this newspaper had reported months earlier, the Canadian Forces had tested new propaganda techniques during the pandemic and had concocted a plan to influence the public’s behaviour during coronavirus outbreak. The various reporting set off alarm bells inside the military’s public affairs branch at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa, according to documents released under the access to information law. [...]

The military had determined Canadian Forces propaganda specialists had forged a letter from the Nova Scotia government warning local residents that wolves were on the loose. But the letter, which was supposed to be used only for training, had somehow leaked out to the public, creating panic in the area. Despite knowing almost immediately the Canadian Forces was at fault for the wolf letter debacle, some inside Ottawa headquarters suggested trying to label the incident as a creation of “Russian disinformation,” according to defence sources.

On Oct. 15, 2020, a public affairs officer, based in Washington, passed a message to headquarters from a U.S. expert in Russian propaganda who claimed the wolf story coverage in this newspaper was suspect. The woman, whose name is censored from the records, suggested Russian disinformation might be involved, telling defence officials this newspaper had in the past “attacked the Canadian Forces in Latvia for working with Nazis.” In fact, this newspaper has never reported any such information. National Defence noted in an email Monday that the claims from the U.S. specialist don’t reflect the department’s views.

Concerns about Russian and Chinese disinformation have reached a fever pitch in western nations in recent years, with various militaries and spy agencies sounding the alarm over such activities. But western militaries and governments have also used claims of Russian disinformation in attempts to undercut media reports they don’t like. When asked by the CBC in 2022 about a New York Times article that revealed Canadian special forces were operating in Ukraine, defence chief Eyre claimed the media were helping Russian disinformation efforts. Canadian special forces, however, did not deny the New York Times reporting. Read more - Lire plus

Turkiye conducted 4 drone strikes on NES, killing 3, wounding 2

Rojava Inforrmation Center 28/02/2024 - Today, Turkiye conducted 4 drone strikes on NES, targeting 4 cars in the Derik area, killing 3 members of NES' Christian Sutoro Internal Security Forces and wounding 2.

Turkiye has now carried out 76 drone strikes on NES in 2024, 6 of which have targeted a car, as per RIC data.

22 of the 76 attacks were individual incidents, such as the 4 today. The other 54 all occurred from the 12-15th of January, as Turkiye launched a coordinated string of airstrikes (using both drones and warplanes) targeting essential infrastructure.

RIC'S 2023 DRONE DATA:

- Turkey conducted 198 drone strikes on NES in 2023.

- These strikes killed 105 people and injured 123 (including 31 and 63 civilians respectively).

- Twice in 2023, Turkey conducted multi-day aerial assaults systematically targeting essential infrastructure.

- 2023's 198 strikes: 44 within Turkey's Christmas infrastructure attacks, 64 within Turkey's October infrastructure attacks, 90 individual incidents. Read more - Lire plus

International Bar Association report highlights crackdown on Turkish Lawyers

State urged to resist use of ‘exceptional’ measures to tackle terror and extremism

The Irish Times 16/03/2024 - Ireland must resist being among “backsliding” democracies and authoritarian states using special courts and other exceptional measures to tackle organised crime and terrorism, an international human rights and terrorism expert has urged.

Prof Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, a former UN special rapporteur on counterterrorism, said there is often “a deep reluctance” by courts, policymakers and politicians to tackle “security thinking”.

Security thinking “has its limitations” and one consequence of more than 30 years of it in Ireland is that a specific threat which gave rise to specific exceptional measures at a particular point, including the non-jury Special Criminal Court, “has extended far beyond where it started”. Now other kinds of security threats, such as “the far-right”, “extremism” and “violent extremism” are emerging, she said. There is no international consensus on what any of those terms mean but “new forms of exceptionality” are building around them.

Welcoming an independent review group’s recommendation for repeal of the Offences Against the State Act, a 1939 emergency measure strengthened in 1972 to deal with escalating violence in Northern Ireland, she said that was “a positive and important step” for the “abandonment of exceptionality” within Irish law. The Special Criminal Court“appears harder to disappear” with a majority of the review group favouring the establishment of a permanent non-jury standing court with the Director of Public Prosecutions continuing to have the option of deciding on a non-jury trial, she said.

It was “critical” to resist the “strong pull” to exceptional measures in order to regain balance and normality within the bounds of the legal system, she said. A professor in security and law at Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Minnesota, Prof Ní Aoláin was delivering the keynote address opening a top-level law conference at the University of Galway considering the challenge of jury trials for terrorism and organised crime upon replacement of the Act. Read more - Lire plus

The United States must be held accountable for its ‘war on terror’ crimes

AlJazeera 19/02/2024 - On January 16, the European Court of Human Rights issued an important ruling in the context of accountability for abuses perpetrated during the United States-led “war on terror”. In the case of Mustafa al-Hawsawi v Lithuania, the court found that the latter violated the European Convention on Human Rights due to its complicity in the CIA’s secret detention programme and its mistreatment of al-Hawsawi, a Saudi national.

Lithuania was ordered to pay compensation to the victim worth $108,660 for the time he was at “Detention Site Violet”, a CIA black site it hosted. Al-Hawsawi is currently detained at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, alongside 29 other Muslim men. This judgment is the latest in a series of court rulings holding European countries accountable for their involvement in post-9/11 abuses. The European Court previously ruled against Poland, Romania, Italy and Macedonia.

Other European institutions, including the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, as well as individual European countries, have also taken measures for accountability, although they have not always been ideal. The UK paid over $28.8m to Iraqi victims for documented war crimes and abuses during its involvement in the US-led invasion of Iraq. Additionally, compensation was provided to British citizens detained in Guantánamo and to two Libyan families who were kidnapped and tortured with the help of British intelligence. However, the UK abandoned an independent inquiry into post-9/11 extraordinary rendition and torture by its forces and closed an investigation into alleged crimes in Iraq.

Italy convicted in absentia 23 Americans, including CIA agents and an air force colonel, for kidnapping Hassan Nasr, an Egyptian imam based in Milan and handing him over to Egypt, where he was tortured. An Italian court also sentenced the former military intelligence chief and his former deputy to 10 and nine in jail respectively for their involvement in the case. Sweden compensated Mohammed Alzery and Ahmed Agiza, who were forcibly deported to Egypt at the request of the CIA and tortured. Prosecutors also opened investigations in France, Portugal and Spain over the CIA’s use of their airports for renditions, although they did not result in formal charges. There remains an ongoing criminal investigation into CIA activities in Poland.

Canada, too, apologised and paid $8.1m to Omar Khadr, a Canadian national, over its role in his imprisonment in Guantánamo; it also compensated Maher Arar, another Canadian national, with the same amount over its role in the US government’s decision to deport him to Syria, where he was detained for a year and tortured. While these court cases and settlements highlight efforts to bring to justice European and other countries complicit in the abuses perpetrated during the “war on terror”, they underscore the persistent lack of accountability for the US, its chief architect and leader.

As a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the US is obligated to provide redress to survivors of torture carried out by its government forces. But legal barriers have often prevented survivors from pursuing justice in US courts. By invoking the state secrets privilege, for example – most recently used in the United States v Zubaydah case – the government can withhold information it deems sensitive to national security. In the lawsuit filed by Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian man currently held in Guantanamo, the defence sought evidence about his torture that the government argued would harm national security; the Supreme Court ruled in the government’s favour.

Similarly, historically, court dismissals, have been the result of the US government citing immunity – which has protected its forces as well as private contractors. The US has also bypassed global and regional instruments of justice. It has warned of reprisals against the International Criminal Court if it launches an investigation into US crimes in Afghanistan. Additionally, it maintains that the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man is not binding, rendering decisions and recommendations from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) nonbinding. In 2020, the IACHR found the US responsible for the torture, abuse and indefinite detention of Djamel Ameziane, a former Guantanamo detainee, and recommended the US compensate him, which the US government has not done so far.

There have been only minimal steps towards accountability within the US judicial system. An investigation into abuse at Abu Ghraib prison resulted in the court martial of 11 low-level soldiers. An Obama-era investigation into 101 CIA interrogations that used “enhanced interrogation techniques” found only two merited further inquiries. In 2012, the investigation was closed without further action. According to Human Rights Watch, out of 506 claims made as of 2007 under the Foreign Claims Act, which allows foreign nationals to seek compensation, there is a record of only one being paid – $1,000 for unlawful detention in Iraq.

Settlements were reached in two lawsuits against private military contractors. In 2013, a defence contractor paid $5.28m to 71 former detainees held in Abu Ghraib and other black sites. In 2017, a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three torture victims reached a confidential settlement with psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, who were paid over $80m by the US government to create the torture programme. And despite 18 dismissal attempts, a lawsuit launched by four Iraqi torture victims against government contractor CACI International for torture at Abu Ghraib is heading to trial.

These lawsuits and investigations have fallen short of adequately addressing the scale and severity of the harm inflicted on victims during the “war on terror”. Lack of redress further compounds the suffering of those who have endured physical and psychological trauma. To date, no senior government or military official has been held responsible for post-9/11 policies and actions. The US remains unwilling to face accountability for acts of torture, as it continues to detain 30 men in Guantánamo in conditions that amount to ongoing cruel treatment. It is long past due for a reckoning. The US is not above international law and must not be allowed to continue dodging justice. Source

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ACTION: Close Guantanamo

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I was taken from Australia as a boy to live under IS in Syria. Now I want to come home

SBS News 28/02/2024 - In an undisclosed military location in a Kurdish-controlled part of northeast Syria, Yusuf Zahab enters a spartan meeting room. Armed guards wait outside as he sits down to speak to SBS Dateline, the first Australians he says he has met seen since 2019. "I just want to go back home. I want to see my mother," he says. "I wish to go back to Australia. I wish to go back to my normal life I used to live 10 years ago. I wish to see my family again."

Born in Sydney, Yusuf Zahab says he was 12 when he went on holiday with his family to Lebanon and Türkiye. He says he knew nothing about the plan to go to Syria to live under the self-proclaimed Islamic State group (IS). "I didn't understand what was going on until the day my mother, my father and my brother Kaled was telling me to run. I was scared and I was holding my mother's hand," Yusuf, who is now in his early 20s, recalled in his first interview with Australian media. [...] Yusuf was the youngest of four siblings. His eldest brother Muhammad Zahab was known to be a senior member within the IS structure. He is thought to have delivered more than a dozen family members into IS, including his parents and three siblings [...]

SBS Dateline has spoken to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who control the region and they say IS continues to pose a threat. There are approximately 14 prisons in the regions that contain some 2,000 foreign prisoners from 58 countries, according to a 2023 report by US think tank RAND Corporation. SDF officials say countries such as Australia need to repatriate all women, children and men from the region, claiming they are too under-resourced to properly detain or trial these prisoners. In October 2022, the Australian government brought back four women and their 13 children from detention camps in north-east Syria, following the repatriation of 18 orphaned minors in 2019. At least 34 Australians are believed to remain there, according to Save the Children Australia.

Kamalle Dabboussy, Yusuf's uncle by marriage and Kaled’s father-in-law, spoke to Dateline of the pain that the family felt not knowing what had happened to Yusuf. "The family have had to go through absolute agony … this whole roller coaster of emotions and the almost torturous aspect of lack of information, speculation." Dabboussy is also an advocate and spokesperson for families with relatives still remaining in Syrian detention camps. While his daughter Mariam Dabboussy has returned to Australia, he continues to push for the Australian government to repatriate other families from the region. "If anyone believes that keeping them there is some form of justice, well, there is no justice until you have [your] day in court," he said. "So they need to be dealt with as any other Australian should be dealt with. Make the accusations in a proper court of law, allow them to write a defence and let a judge there make a decision." Read more - Lire plus

The Shamima Begum ruling proves it: some UK citizens are less equal than others

ACTION: Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now!

Environmental activism under the EU counter-terror microscope

statewatch 28/02/2024 - Next week, EU and member state officials will discuss “the role of climate change and environmental concerns in violent extremist and terrorist radicalisation.” A discussion paper for the meeting, obtained by Statewatch, considers the threat posed by “violent left-wing and anarchist extremism” – a heading under which a number of prominent environmental protest groups are mentioned. The inclusion of peaceful but disruptive groups in the paper may legitimate further police surveillance and infiltration, legal harassment and government crackdowns – a problem identified as “a major threat to human rights and democracy” by a UN Special Rapporteur.

The report (pdf) was produced by the EU’s Counter-Terrorism Coordinator (CTC), who is responsible for coordinating the EU’s work on counter-terrorism - for example, by “presenting policy recommendations and proposing priority areas for action to the Council.” It is due to be discussed next week (pdf) at a meeting of the Council’s Terrorism Working Party (TWP), and will be presented under the auspices of the new CTC, Dutch official Bartjan Wegter. He replaces Ilkka Sami, who in January was appointed Deputy Director-General for Security, Workplace & Wellbeing, at the Commission’s human resources department.

The paper mentions prominent protest groups such as Ende Gelände, Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil, Last Generation, Plane Stupid and Soulèvements de la Terre, all of whom have regularly engaged in blockades, marches, and other forms of protest – up to and including property damage, in some cases.

The CTC’s paper refers to the use of “paint to vandalise vehicles, such as private jets,” as well as “hunger strikes and road blockades,” alongside the throwing of soup and mashed potatoes at famous paintings – acts that caused no damage to the paintings, but did generate substantial media coverage.

The paper makes clear that “the actions of these groups, as they stand, cannot be classified as terrorism.” However, the paper paints them as providing potentially fertile ground for radicalisation. It thus provides legitimation for further surveillance and infiltration by police and security services, along with other interventions by the state: anti-radicalisation programmes, arrests, and badmouthing by government officials, contributing to a broader media environment that seeks to demonise environmental protesters.

A threat to human rights and democracy

These are, in fact, precisely the issues taken up by a UN Special Rapporteur in a report published this week (pdf), which lays out the problem clearly in the title: ‘State repression of environmental protest and civil disobedience: a major threat to human rights and democracy.’ In the report, Michel Forst, the Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders under the Aarhus Convention, makes five clear recommendations to states:

• address the root causes of environmental mobilization;
• take immediate action to counter narratives that portray environmental defenders and their movements as criminals;
• do not use the increase of environmental civil disobedience as a pretext to restrict the civic space and the exercise of fundamental freedoms;
• comply with their international obligations related to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in their response to environmental protest and civil disobedience and immediately cease the use of measures designed for counterterrorism and organized crime against environmental defenders; and
• ensure that the courts’ approach to disruptive protest, including any sentences imposed, does not contribute to the restriction of the civic space.

While the CTC paper makes an effort to draw a line between “peaceful environmental protest”, “non-violent civil disobedience” and “violent left-wing and anarchist extremist,” by placing them all on the same continuum of “threat”, it is likely to contribute to precisely the situation that the UN Special Rapporteur’s paper warns about. Read more - Lire plus

Spain: Terrorism charges against protesters undermine "international human rights and democratic standards"

statewatch 27/02/2024 - A letter signed by 20 organisations from across Europe, including Statewatch, calls for the dropping of terrorism charges filed by the Spanish authorities against 12 protesters. The 12 face the charges for organising a blockade of Barcelona's El Prat airport and the motorway at La Jonquera, near the border with France, in protest at the jailing of Catalan independence leaders. "The misuse of the accusation of terrorism is unjustifiable," the letter says. It goes on to say that it undermines "international human rights and democratic standards" and "has a chilling effect on civic engagement." The letter was initiated and coordinated by the European Civic Forum.

Joint letter: Solidarity for Activists in Catalonia Accused of Terrorism

We, the undersigned civil society organisations, express our urgent concerns regarding the restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly in Spain and call on the authorities to protect fundamental freedoms. Recent restrictive incidents against Catalan activists accusing them of terrorism undermine the country’s commitments to international human rights standards and European Union Law. 

In November 2023, after 4 years of judicial investigation veiled in secrecy, the Spanish National Court announced that 12 people are under investigation for terrorism in connection with their alleged participation in the activities of the Tsunami Democratic movement. The actions considered as “terrorism” relate to peoples’ mobilisation and protests in 2019 in areas such as the Barcelona-Prat airport and La Jonquera in Catalonia, the latter being inspired by the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests for democracy. People protested against the Spanish Supreme Court’s conviction of the Catalan independence leaders to prison terms ranging from nine to thirteen years for organised actions linked to the Independence of Catalonia between September and October 2017. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and the Council of Europe had already asked for the release of the leaders, and numerous Spanish and international human rights organisations had expressed concern over their imprisonment and the sentence, such as Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders and the World Organisation Against Torture. International observers of the trial had pointed out what they consider as a number of irregularities in the process that lead to suspects of politicisation of the trial.

Freedom of assembly, including the right to organise peaceful protests, is recognised and protected by international, EU and national law. According to international law peaceful assemblies can in some cases be inherently or deliberately disruptive and require a significant degree of toleration. Hence, collective non-violent civil disobedience and direct action campaigns are covered by the freedom of assembly. The recent accusations and investigations not only contravene these international human rights standards but also create a chilling effect on civic engagement. Furthermore, over the past decade, in most European countries, anti-terrorist legislation has been amended to broaden the definition of terrorism, including legal expressions of dissent, such as non-violent protests. The misuse of the accusation of terrorism is unjustifiable, since it is based in a framework of criminal exceptionalism, which is contrary to the principles established under the rule of law. 

These investigations are not isolated incidents but part of a wider trend of restrictions on the right to peaceful assembly and right to protest. In recent years, Spain and several other European countries, such as France, the UK and Italy, have passed legislation restricting the right to peaceful assembly and toughening sanctions related to assemblies. Several human rights organisations and international institutions, including the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe and the OSCE, have raised concerns about the developments in Europe with regards to shrinking civic space. The 2023 report by the CIVICUS Monitor, rating the state of civic space globally, reports that the overall country ratings in the region have worsened. According to the report, intimidation, detention of protesters and disruption of protests were among the top five violations in Europe. Moreover, people expressing their fundamental rights of assembly face violations such as restrictive laws, police violence, preventive detention, harsher penalties and increased surveillance. 

The right to peaceful assembly is a cornerstone of democratic societies, enshrined in both national, European and international law. It is a fundamental right that allows people to express their opinions and engage in public discourse without fear of repression. This is why the decision taken by the Spanish Court to refer 12 people for trial on terrorism charges because of their alleged participation in the Tsunami movement do not only undermine the international human rights and democratic standards that we collectively uphold, but also has a chilling effect on civic engagement, silencing the vibrant diversity of voices that form the foundation of a rights-based society. In solidarity with the Catalan individuals facing the accusations, we call for the immediate dropping of the charges of terrorism. State authorities have the duty to protect and facilitate fundamental rights, not stifle them. Read more - Lire plus

Report: Prevent and the pre-crime state: How unaccountable data sharing is harming a generation

Open Rights Group 11/01/2024 - Thousands of Prevent referrals are made each year ostensibly to “support people susceptible to radicalisation”. The overwhelmingly majority do not meet the threshold for a Channel intervention (a multi-agency deradicalisation programme). Despite this, the data of Prevent referees is retained and shared across multiple databases, with potentially harmful outcomes. Through analysing responses to freedom of information requests, this report gives a comprehensive overview of how data is being acquired, retained and shared.

Key Findings

• Referrals are stored within a national Prevent database, regardless of whether they meet the threshold to be reviewed by a Channel panel.
• Data is being held for a minimum of six years but can be kept for up to 100 years. The rationale for this minimum retention period is to consider the possibility of “re-offending” – even though Prevent referees have not in fact committed a crime. If there is no policing purpose for retaining data, this retention could be unlawful. Individuals are not necessarily informed that their data is being stored nor whether their data has been deleted after the six-year period or further retained.
• There appears to be a lack of oversight and parliamentary scrutiny over data sharing, processing and storage of Prevent referrals that are inappropriate for Channel interventions but which are managed by police-led partnerships. Once a case is managed by the police, national security exemptions can be applied to limit rights to rectification, access and removal. But the Intelligence and Security Committee does not deal with policing and the Independent reviewer of Terrorism Legislation does not oversee cases managed by police-led partnerships. This means that new counter terrorism capabilities are being built without Parliamentary oversight or legislative safeguards.
• The data of some Prevent referees is being shared with airports, ports and immigration services. This could explain reports that people who have been referred to Prevent have subsequently been questioned at ports and airports under schedule 7.
• It is very difficult for individuals to exercise their right to erasure and request data is removed because many will not know that they have been referred to Prevent. Even when they do know, the lack of transparency about data sharing makes it very difficult for individuals to find out all the different places that their data is being held. Read more - Lire plus

Russia: Surge in abuse of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent

Amnesty International 19/02/2024 - A disturbing escalation in the abuse of vague anti-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation in Russia has intensified since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Amnesty International said today. The briefing “Terrorising the dissent” documents how Russia’s authorities have increasingly targeted dissenters and peaceful protesters under the guise of “national security.”

“What we are witnessing in Russia today is not just a misuse of law. The authorities have instrumentalized anti-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation as tools to stifle dissent and control public discourse in ways that are alarming and heartbreaking. These laws, vague in their wording and arbitrary in their application, are used to silence voices of opposition and instill fear among those who dare to speak out,” said Oleg Kozlovsky, Amnesty International’s Russia Researcher.

“Lengthy prison terms are handed out by military courts behind closed doors, often for an online comment or a donation to an opposition group. The authorities are able to label individuals as ‘terrorists’ and ‘extremists’ and cut them off from financial services and basic income without even needing a court order. The psychological and emotional toll on individuals and their families is immeasurable, and the chilling effect on the entire Russian society is profound.”

Since 2013, 3,738 people have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Notably, more than 90% of these convictions did not arise in relation to terrorist attacks, committed or planned, but rather various other actions such as purported “justification of terrorism.” And for these, convictions have increased 50-fold during the last 10 years. No one charged with terrorism-related offences has been acquitted since at least 2015, when the statistics first became available.

As of December 2023, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service’s “List of Terrorists and Extremists” included 13,647 people, with 11,286 labelled as “terrorists.” Of them, 13% were women and 106 were under 18 years old. Being included in this registry, which happens without any judicial review, leads to the freezing of bank accounts and restricts monthly spending to 10,000 roubles, or around US$ 110. It poses significant challenges in maintaining even basic living standards for those listed. [...]

The expansion of Russia’s anti-terrorism and anti-extremism laws, including the 2006 criminalization of “justification of terrorism” and the 2023 proposal to criminalize the “justification of extremism” further blurs the lines between terrorism and extremism – neither of which are well defined in international law, and both of which are frequently weaponized to stifle dissent. “These steps demonstrate a systematic approach to broaden definitions and penalties, stifling political opposition and freedom of expression under the guise of ‘national security’,” said Oleg Kozlovsky.

A stark example is the designation of Aleksei Navalny’s NGO Anti-Corruption Foundation as an “extremist organization,” effectively criminalizing one of the most vocal civil initiatives in Russia. Individuals who donated money to this and similar groups, taken part in them or shared their materials – even before their arbitrary designation as extremist – are now at risk of criminal charges and long imprisonment.

“In light of these findings, Amnesty International calls for a thorough review of Russia’s criminal legislation dealing with terrorism and extremism to align it with international human rights standards, preventing the criminalization of peaceful dissent and protecting fundamental rights. We urge the international community to address these abuses in all relevant forums, advocating for the rights of those unjustly targeted, and to take these practices into account when dealing with Russian counterparts, including in counter terrorism initiatives.” Read more - Lire plus

Russian Dissident Alexei Navalny Dies in Arctic Prison; “No Doubt” He Was Killed, Says Masha Gessen

Saudi Arabia: Release forcibly disappeared woman facing trial for supporting women’s rights online

Amnesty International 21/02/2024 - Authorities in Saudi Arabia must immediately release 29-year-old fitness instructor, human rights defender and blogger Manahel al-Otaibi who has been forcibly disappeared since November 2023, Amnesty International said today. Prison and other officials have cut off all of her contact with her family and the outside world and refused to provide her family with information about her whereabouts and wellbeing despite their repeated inquiries.

Manahel al-Otaibi has been in detention for a year and a half and has spent the last year awaiting her trial before Saudi Arabia’s notorious counterterrorism court, the Specialized Criminal Court, on cybercrime law charges. She is being tried for posting photos of herself on Snapchat in a mall without the abaya (a traditional robe) and for social media posts in support of women’s rights and calling for the removal of Saudi Arabia’s repressive male guardianship laws.

“It is outrageous that Saudi Arabia’s authorities are punishing Manahel al-Otaibi for expressing her support for women’s rights online and for defying traditional dress codes. She should never have been arrested in the first place, let alone subjected to enforced disappearance and prosecution. Her case shatters any illusion that Saudi Arabia’s authorities are serious about genuine human rights reform,” said Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Saudi Arabia. 

“What is even more outrageous is that her case has been referred to the counter terrorism court – notorious for punishing brave Saudi dissidents for their peaceful expression or assembly. Saudi Arabia’s authorities must release Manahel al-Otaibi and drop the ludicrous charges against her. Pending her release, they must immediately reveal her whereabouts and allow her to contact her family.”

According to court documents reviewed by Amnesty International, the Riyadh Criminal Court examined her case in January 2023 and then referred it to the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), because her actions “violate religious principles and social values and disrupt public order and undermine the security of the society”. Saudi Arabia’s counter-terror court is known for carrying out grossly unfair trials and handing out harsh sentences, including the death penalty, to individuals peacefully expressing themselves online. 

Manahel al-Otaibi’s sister, Fawzia, told Amnesty International: “Shortly before we lost contact with her, Manahel told us that she had been beaten violently by a fellow prisoner… I am worried about my sister’s fate facing such an unjust court. This is the reality of how Saudi women are being treated that authorities are trying to hide behind their image washing in the media. Any activity promoting feminism and women’s rights is criminalized”. Read more - Lire plus

NEW ACTION: Free Saudi Woman Imprisoned for Women’s Rights Tweets: Manahel al-Otaibi

Q&A: The Citizen Lab’s John Scott-Railton on tackling the ongoing threat of Pegasus

Columbia Journalism Review 21/02/2024 - A year ago, we wrote in this newsletter about the ongoing threat to journalists posed by Pegasus, a highly sophisticated spyware tool made by the Israeli cyber firm NSO Group. NSO has claimed that it sells its product to state actors only for the purposes of investigating crimes and preventing terrorism, but researchers have found that the software has also been used to covertly monitor journalists, activists, and politicians.

Since we wrote a year ago, Pegasus has been detected on the cellphones of journalists in the Dominican Republic, India, Jordan, Armenia, and Togo. It was also placed on the phone of Galina Timchenko, the founder of the exiled Russian outlet Meduza, perhaps by an EU member state.

In the same period, discussions around the regulation of Pegasus and similar spyware have intensified in some parts of the world. Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced a new policy that will restrict access to US visas for foreign individuals who are found to have misused commercial spyware. Such conduct, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, said, “threatens privacy and freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly, and association,” and “has been linked to arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings in the most egregious of cases.”

The Citizen Lab, a research center based in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, began tracking the use of NSO spyware against journalists and other civil-society actors after a discovery by senior researcher Bill Marczak in 2015. According to John Scott-Railton, a researcher in the lab who has been involved in the work, companies like NSO Group do not want to limit the sale of their product to the small number of democratic countries where enough oversight exists to ensure it is not leveraged to target dissidents. As a result, Scott-Railton said, “the abuse problem is baked into the business model.” 

Scott-Railton is optimistic about the recent steps taken by the Biden administration. But he wants others, including the European Union, to do more. Last week, I spoke with him about how the Citizen Lab discovers new infections, why regimes use spyware to target journalists, and the efforts to rein in the problem. Read more - Lire plus

More accountability: U.S. blocklists Sandvine for enabling digital repression in Egypt

ICLMG ACTIONS & EVENTS

Canada Must Oppose Genocide in Gaza and Defend Free Expression at Home

The UN Genocide Convention – which Canada has ratified – stipulates that “states that have the capacity to influence others have a duty to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide.” Canada therefore has the obligation to not only call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire, but to immediately halt any arm sales, transfers and military aid to Israel.

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Canada: Remove the national security exemptions from Bill C-27!

Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, has been introduced by the federal government with the promise that it would enhance privacy protections, adequately regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and protect human rights. The bill, however, is not up to the task. Please join us in denouncing the dangerous national security related exemptions in the bill.

Canada: Do not purchase armed drones

The ICLMG is a member of the No Armed Drones campaign

In the government's proposal seeking bids for its drone program it laid out disturbing scenarios for Canadian military drone use: One scenario described drones being used to surveil activists protesting a (theoretical) G20 Summit in Quebec, helping the security team intercept and identify the occupants of a vehicle, who are “anti-capitalist radicals” intending to “hang a banner concerning global warming.” Another scenario modeled after US drone strike programs features a drone bombing “Fighting Age Males” in the Middle East after spotting one of them “holding a small radio or cell phone." The initial cost estimate is $5 billion with billions more to operate the drones over their 25-year lifespan.

CSIS isn't above the law!

In recent years, at least three court decisions revealed the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) engaged in potentially illegal activities and lied to the courts. This is utterly unacceptable, especially given that this is not the first time these serious problems have been raised. CSIS cannot be allowed to act as though they are above the law.



Send a message to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino demanding that he take immediate action to put an end to this abuse of power and hold those CSIS officers involved accountable, and for parliament to support Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour). Your message will also be sent to your MP and to Minister of Justice David Lametti.

Canada must protect Hassan Diab!

Send an email using ICLMG’s one-click tool and share widely!

Letter in English + Lettre en français

Sign and share the LeadNow petitions to protect Hassan from further injustice

Petition in English + Pétition en français

For more information on the case of Hassan Diab, read our webcomic, watch our animated version of the comic, or visit justiceforhassandiab.org.

Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now!

On January 20, 2023, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown ruled that Canada must repatriate Canadians illegally and arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria. On February 6, 2023, the Canadian government filed an appeal and asked that the Brown ruling be set aside and placed on hold while the appeal plays out. This is unacceptable. 

Every day the government fails to bring these Canadians home, it places their lives at risk from disease, malnutrition, violence, and ongoing military conflicts, including bombing by Turkey’s military. United Nations officials have even found that the conditions faced by Canadians in prison are akin to torture. Please click below to urge the federal government to repatriate all Canadians illegally & arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria without delay.

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20 years of fighting deportation to torture: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Now!

December 10, 2022 - ironically Human Rights Day - marked the 20th "anniversary" of the arrest of Mohamed Harkat under Canada's rights-violating security certificate regime. For Mr. Harkat, it's been two decades of fighting deportation to torture, 16 years of harassment and intrusive surveillance, arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, secret trials, PTSD: enough is enough! We call for justice for Moe Harkat now! Watch - Visionnez

TAKE ACTION: Stop Moe Harkat's deportation to torture!

ACTION: Arrêtez la déportation vers la torture de Mohamed Harkat!

Reform Canada's extradition law now!

Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.



Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!

Version française: Le Canada doit réformer la loi sur l'extradition! + Partagez sur Facebook + Twitter + Instagram

Phone PM Justin Trudeau

TAKE ACTION: Justice for Hassan Diab!

Just Peace Advocates' action: Write a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau: Say “No" to a second extradition of Hassan Diab

Canada must protect encryption!

Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.



Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!

Regardez la vidéo avec les sous-titres en français + Agir

Protect our rights from facial recognition!

Facial recognition surveillance is invasive and inaccurate. This unregulated tech poses a threat to the fundamental rights of people across Canada. Federal intelligence agencies refuse to disclose whether they use facial recognition technology. The RCMP has admitted (after lying about it) to using facial recognition for 18 years without regulation, let alone a public debate regarding whether it should have been allowed in the first place. Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair calling for a ban now.

OTHER NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES

Anti-terrorism legislation

Législation anti-terroriste

Hong Kong Security Law May Hurt News Reporting, Press Group Says

Foreign interference

Ingérence étrangère

Government says closed-door hearings may be needed during foreign interference inquiry: commissioner

Freedom of expression

Liberté d'expression

Obstruction charges against journalist Brandi Morin dropped!

CAUT: Speak up — On the importance of extramural academic freedom

In Saudi Arabia, no safe harbor for free speech

Islamophobia

Islamophobie

London attack ruling first to recognize terror on grounds of white nationalism

Migrant and refugee rights

Droits des migrant.es et des réfugié.es

Canada’s plan to require visas from some Mexicans is a dangerous overreaction

EU: Border security with drones and databases

New book: Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence

“Just Being Racist”: Biden & Trump Push Anti-Immigrant Policies in Dueling Border Visits

What Should Courts do if a Future President Invokes the Alien Enemies Act to Deport Immigrants?

The case of Civipol: commodified mobility policing in West Africa and its colonial continuities

A blessing and a curse: Smartphones and people on the move - Refugees and migrants in the digital age

Prison

LDL: Mourir de la prison au Québec

Yusuf Faqiri: Why won't province acknowledge that jail is no place for the mentally ill?

CCLA releases major report on bail system in Canada

Privacy and surveillance

Vie privée et surveillance

ACTION: Tell your MP: Don't padlock the Internet!

Police now need a warrant to get a person's IP address, Supreme Court rules

Private tech, humanitarian problems: how to ensure digital transformation does no harm

ICYMI: RCMP’s Web Surveillance Methods Blasted by Privacy Commissioner

The House Intelligence Committee Blocks Crucial Surveillance Reforms

Data Brokers Are Running Wild, and Only Congress Can Rein Them In

Closing the Data Broker Loophole

UK: Law changes will make it harder to hold police to account for illegal data access

Transparency

Transparence

Poilievre’s transparency promises fall short

Whistleblowers

Lanceur.ses d'alertes

CFE joins call for release of Julian Assange

Press Freedom on Trial: Julian Assange’s Lawyer on Extradition Case & Criminalizing Journalism

“Governments Are Trying to Frighten Journalists”: Fmr. Guardian Head Alan Rusbridger on Assange Case

Miscellaneous

Divers

NEW ACTION: Stop a Canadian company from bankrolling war crimes in Burma

Twenty years ago today Canada helped overthrow the president of Haiti and thousands of other elected officials

Big Oil claims Biden’s LNG pause harms national security — don’t believe the hype

Malcolm X Assassination: Former Security Guards Reveal New Details Pointing to FBI, NYPD Conspiracy

July to December 2023 - Juillet à décembre 2023

Thanks to your support, in the second half of 2023, we were able to work on the following issues or with the following entities:

• Bill C-20, Public Complaints and Review Commission Act
• Bill C-26, An Act respecting cybersecurity and amending the Telecommunications Act
• Bill C-27, Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022
• Bill C-41: International assistance and anti-terrorism laws
• Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria
• Justice for Dr Hassan Diab & reform of the Extradition Act
• Security certificates & inadmissibility
• Combatting Islamophobia
• National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA)
• Prejudiced audits of Muslim charities
• Federal anti-terrorist financing consultation
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
• Canada’s 4th Universal Periodic Review
• Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism
• UN Counter-terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) Canada assessment
• UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights global study on counter-terrorism and civic space

For more details on each item and to see all the media articles we were mentioned in or were interviewed for, click here.

What we have planned for 2024!

Your support, will allow us to continue our work on these issues and much more in the next year:

• Ensuring that the Canadian government’s proposals on “online harms” do not violate fundamental freedoms, or exacerbate the silencing of racialized and marginalized voices
• Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for good privacy law reform
• Addressing the lack of regulation on the use of AI in national security, including proposed exemptions for national security agencies
• Fighting for Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility
• Ensuring Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming Canada’s extradition law
• The return of the rest of the Canadian citizens and the non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children indefinitely detained in Syrian camps
• The end to the CRA’s prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities
• Greater accountability and transparency for the Canada Border Services Agency
• Greater accountability and transparency for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
• Advocating for the repeal of the Canadian No Fly List, and for putting a stop to the use of the US No Fly List by air carriers in Canada
• Pressuring lawmakers to protect our civil liberties from the negative impact of national security and the “war on terror”, as well as keeping you and our member organizations informed via the News Digest
• Publishing a collection of essays written by amazing partners on the work of the ICLMG for our 20th anniversary
• And much more!

Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG.