The News Digest will be on hiatus until January - La Revue sera de retour en janvier | |
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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles
December 10, 2022 - 10 décembre 2022
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20 years of fighting deportation to torture: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Now! | |
Tim McSorley: Canada's persecution of Muslim charities must stop | |
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The National Post 05/12/2022 - The ongoing hearings of the Senate’s standing committee on human rights has confirmed years of allegations that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been disproportionately targeting Muslim charities, and has raised troubling questions regarding the government’s own investigation into the issue. More than a year ago, multiple reports were released exposing the CRA’s disproportionate auditing of Muslim charities, under the guise of preventing terrorist financing. In a May 2021 report, the Ottawa-based International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG), which I work for, demonstrated how, for nearly two decades, the CRA has specifically been undertaking audits of Muslim charities, in secret, with no outside review and little accountability. These controversial audits have been carried out by the CRA’s review and analysis division (RAD), which was established in 2003, based on prejudiced and unsupported allegations that some charities may be funnelling money to terrorist organizations. The audits have resulted in numerous non-profits losing their charitable status.
RAD’s troubling practices were formalized as official policy in the Canadian government’s 2015 national risk assessment (NRA) for terrorism financing in the charitable sector, which focuses almost exclusively on Muslim charities, and entirely on charities based in racialized communities, with little to no public substantiation of the risk. Since then, the CRA has used the NRA to further justify surveillance, monitoring and audits of leading Muslim charities on questionable and, as the ICLMG report argues, prejudiced grounds that equate a community’s faith or the faith of its donors and beneficiaries with the risk that they may engage in terrorist financing. The CRA’s director general of the charities directorate, Sharmila Khare, has finally confirmed the findings. In her recent testimony before the Senate committee on human rights, she explained that, “If you look at the risk actors and the current risk environment in Canada, I think you could reach the conclusion that many of the organizations that are listed in the national inherent risk assessment do come from racialized communities.”
Between 2008 and 2015, the only period for which there is public information, ICLMG research found that 75 per cent (six out of eight) of the organizations that had their charitable status revoked by RAD were Muslim charities. This is despite Muslim charities only making up around 0.47 per cent of all charities in Canada (as of 2015). The CRA’s assistant commissioner, Geoff Trueman, provided updated statistics during the same recent Senate committee meeting that, to date, RAD has revoked the status of 14 charities, and confirmed that the ICLMG’s findings regarding the number of Muslim charities are correct. Interestingly, though, none of these revocations have resulted in charges of terror financing or terrorist activities against the organizations or their board members.
RAD is a firmly entrenched player in Canada’s national security landscape. It works directly with CSIS and the RCMP, sharing information and even exchanging staff.
The legislative powers given to RAD have been used to amplify surveillance, monitoring and audits of leading Muslim charities, based on questionable, unjustified and unproven accusations, but unlike the RCMP and CSIS, there is no oversight. RAD is not required to disclose the true reason for an audit to the charity or the public, and has refused to provide this information to the Office of the Taxpayer Ombudsperson. In fact, in recent stunning testimony before the Senate committee on human rights, the ombudsperson went further, saying that key aspects of his review of this issue — mandated to him to great fanfare by the prime minister and finance minister — are being hindered due to a lack of access to information. He agreed with a senator who noted that he seems to be “working with one hand tied behind his back.”
To overcome these issues of secrecy and systemic discrimination, CRA and RAD must be subject to independent review and accountability. To that end, it is crucial that Parliament acts to ensure that there is oversight of RAD’s work, like any agency with a national security mandate. The ICLMG and others in the charitable sector have called for an immediate review of the CRA and RAD’s work, ideally by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, accompanied by a moratorium on audits of Muslim charities by RAD. If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stands by his promise to take this matter seriously, it is now up to him to act. Source + Share on Facebook + Twitter
Senate Human Rights Committee exposes systemic Islamophobia in the CRA
Watch witnesses' testimonies at the Senate committee hearing
Review of how CRA audits Muslim charities ‘inherently flawed,’ groups say in open letter to PM
Taxpayer Ombudsperson goes public over impasse with CRA over Muslim charity audits
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Hassan Diab supporters urge government to deny extradition | |
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rabble 30/11/2022 - Earlier this month, supporters of sociology professor Dr. Hassan Diab held a press conference calling for an end to his unjust persecution by the French government.
Diab’s ordeal dates back to 2008, when France requested his extradition from Canada, alleging he was involved in the 1980 Paris synagogue bombing. In 2012, Diab was ordered to be extradited to France to stand trial on terrorism charges. He was transferred into the custody of law enforcement in France in 2014.
The extradition took place despite the extradition judge calling into question the legitimacy of the prosecutor’s evidence and called the chances of Diab being convicted “unlikely.” Despite his findings, he would go on to rule that Canada’s extradition law required him to go ahead with the process anyway.
Diab was forced to spend the 38-month wait for his trial behind bars. [The French investigative judge found that Diab] was in home country Lebanon at the time of the bombing, and so they ordered he be released and returned to Canada in January 2018. But that was just the beginning of the professor’s persecution by the criminal justice system in France, who were determined to hold Diab responsible for the bombing whether he was guilty or not.
A miscarriage of justice and the scapegoating of Hassan Diab
The November 14 virtual press conference brought attention to the professor’s upcoming trial in absentia in France, which is scheduled to begin in April 2023, and the renewed efforts calling on the Trudeau government to reject a second extradition in the likely event of a request by France. The press conference marked the eighth anniversary of Diab’s extradition and calls for an end to what supporters consider “a miscarriage of justice.”
Hosted by the national coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group, Tim McSorley, the virtual event brought together Dalhousie University law professor Robert Currie, and Diab’s Canadian lawyer Donald Bayne, as well as members of the Hassan Diab Support Committee. “I remember the powerful and emotional moment when Hassan returned to Canada and was freed from prison in France,” McSorley said. “The fact that France could now proceed to trial is the height of political cynicism and scapegoating.”
For former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada Alex Neve, Diab’s continued persecution despite credible evidence suggests “there is no space for truth, evidence, common sense, fairness, or respect for fundamental human rights.” Roger Clark, member of the Hassan Diab Support Committee and former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, noted that much of Diab’s time in custody was spent in solitary confinement, despite having never been officially charged or had the chance to face trial.
Clark recalled three key statements the judge made in his decision to extradite Diab, including referring to the French expert handwriting report as “convoluted, very confusing, with conclusions that are suspect.”
Additionally, the judge wrote “the evidence tips the scale in favour of committal is the handwriting comparison evidence,” before going on to call the case presented by France “weak.” He pointed out that the handwriting evidence has been discredited, not only by international experts who testified on Diab’s behalf, but also by a final expert analysis commissioned by the French court of appeal itself. “Without the so-called handwriting evidence submitted by France in its extradition request, Hassan would never have been extradited, would never have endured the torment of the last 15 years, and would be free of the anguish still suffered by him and his family,” the judge’s decision goes on to read.
Diab’s persistent courage speaks volumes to supporters
Calling the persecution an “ongoing nightmare,” fellow Hassan Diab Support Committee member Jo Wood worries Canada will cave in to another extradition request by France, noting “silence ratchets up the fear.” “While there is not a shred of evidence against him, he cannot — based on past experience and the political climate — expect the outcome of this trial to be fair,” Wood said. “Fear and dread weigh heavily, made worse by the federal government’s silence in terms of protecting him from further extradition.” Wood highlighted the courage and resilience of Diab and his wife Rania, praising their perseverance in giving their two children — 10-year-old Jenna and 7-year-old Jad — a wonderful life. Read more - Lire plus
Letter to the editor: Demand justice for Hassan Diab
TAKE ACTION: Justice for Hassan Diab
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Letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Joly: Canada must immediately repatriate Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria | |
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ICLMG 07/12/2022 - Today, we sent the following letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, copied to Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister of Justice David Lametti and Minister of Public Safety Marco Medicino. It is imperative that the government stop delaying and act urgently to repatriate all Canadians who continue to be held indefinitely in camps and prisons, in life-threatening and rights-violating conditions, in Northeastern Syria.
Minister Joly,
I’m writing to you today on behalf of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group in regard to the urgent matter of the more than 40 Canadians who are currently in indefinite detention in Northeastern Syria under life-threatening conditions with no prospect of release or due process. We welcomed your government’s repatriation of four Canadians in November, and we also welcome the recent indication that your government has determined that 19 of the remaining Canadians have met the threshold for consideration of the provision of extraordinary assistance under the policy developed by Global Affairs Canada. However, we are extremely concerned that this decision will leave some 20 other Canadians – including children – to languish in these camps and prisons.
Moreover, previous repatriations under the government’s extraordinary assistance policy have taken more than a year to come to fruition. We fear this process does not meet the urgency of the situation given the current crisis in Northeastern Syria, including the onset of winter, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reported cholera outbreaks, and, most recently, the bombing of the region by Turkish forces. We are calling on your government, once again, to take immediate steps to repatriate all Canadians currently detained in Northeastern Syria in response to the grave human rights violations they are facing as well as the very real threats to their lives.
This past week, your government has been in court arguing against a group of families representing 23 of those detainees, who filed a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge to your government’s refusal to repatriate their loved ones. It is deeply troubling that your government has continued to fight this case, given its stated commitment to opposing indefinite and arbitrary detention internationally. At the end of the two days in federal court, Justice Brown stated that the hearings would need to continue at a date to be determined. According to CBC journalist Ashley Burke, Justice Brown stated he was disappointed because Canadians are at risk of dying every day the matter is adjourned.
The clear solution is that your government ends its opposition to this court challenge, and instead takes every action to ensure the safe return of the Canadians detained in Syria.
Without immediate action by your government, these Canadians will remain in unlawful detention, under life-threatening conditions for the foreseeable future. Moreover, some have made credible allegations of torture or living conditions akin to torture. This is in clear violation of their fundamental human rights: all deserve a chance to live a life free of arbitrary detention and to be integrated back into society (including the possibility of facing charges and court hearings back in Canada).
Canada’s obligation to act was made clear in a recent report from UN officials, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. In their letter to the Canadian government, they wrote: [We] reiterate again that the urgent, voluntary and human rights compliant repatriation of all the citizens of your Excellency’s Government is the only international law-compliant response to the complex and precarious human rights, humanitarian and security situation faced by those detained in inhumane conditions in overcrowded prisons or other detention centres in North-East Syria, with limited access to food and medical care putting detainees’ lives at increased risk.
Finally, it is essential to avoid a situation where so-called “good detainees” are freed while the “bad” – male Canadian prisoners, along with women without children in the camps – are left there to suffer because they are viewed as more of a risk, or as already guilty of a crime, without having ever been charged or tried. We have seen throughout the so-called “War on Terror” how individuals – mainly Muslim men – have been labeled as criminals, terrorists and threats to our security, and allowed to be detained in life threatening, rights-violating situations, including being tortured, all without evidence and based solely on suspicions and profiling. It is imperative that if, as Prime Minister Trudeau has said, your government truly adheres to their obligations to protect the rights of Canadians, no matter where they are in the world, that you act without delay to repatriate the remaining Canadian detainees in Northeastern Syria. We would be happy to discuss this matter further with you or members of your staff. Source + Share on Facebook + Twitter
Feds eyeing repatriation of 19 Canadian women and children held in Syria: document
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Watch: At the federal court to repatriate 40+ Canadian Muslim men, women and children illegally detained in Northeast Syria
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ICLMG comments on yet another call for more powers for spy agency | |
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Twitter 24/11/2022 - If we are going to have a serious, public debate around updating Canada's national security laws, the first thing needed is to drop the disingenuous argument that CSIS is operating under powers that haven't been significantly updated since the mid-80s.
There seems to be selective amnesia of the wide-ranging national security consultation the government conducted in 2016, and significant new powers that CSIS was granted with the passage of the National Security Act in 2019.
There will always be those who argue that spy agencies need new powers (especially those within, or recently departed from, the spy agencies themselves). And there well could be aspects of the CSIS Act to modify including introducing greater transparency, accountability and rights protections! But the conversation needs to start from an honest place. Source
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Ministers decline request to testify on why Canada won’t allow Afghan aid work as desperation grows
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The Canadian Press 03/12/2022 - Three Liberal ministers have declined invitations to testify at the Senate as the upper chamber probes why Canada still won't allow humanitarian workers to help in Afghanistan. The Senate's human rights committee is expected to begin hearings Monday on federal anti-terrorism rules that bar aid groups from working in Afghanistan.
The Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021, and humanitarian groups say that Canadian officials advised them not to pay people in Afghanistan or buy goods there, because paying taxes could count as supporting a terrorist group. Members of Parliament heard about the issue in early January and recommended in a June report that Ottawa follow its allies — and the United Nations — by amending laws to clarify that delivering aid will not lead to prosecution. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provided no explanation for what is taking so long when he was asked about the issue on Friday.
"We need to try and figure out how to get aid to communities and individuals who are hurting in Afghanistan, without supporting and funding the terrorist organization that is their government right now," he told reporters in Vancouver. "It's a complex situation. We have a number of allies who've moved forward on it, and we are looking to do the same," he said. He added that this must be done "in a way that doesn't support or embolden the government that is busy oppressing and doing violence" to Afghans.
Senior legal experts such as Kent Roach have argued that Ottawa is misinterpreting its own laws, given that the federal government has admitted that the Taliban is governing Afghanistan and it is in regular talks with the regime. Roach is one of six advocates and lawyers set to appear at the Senate committee hearing on Monday. Others include representatives of the Canadian Red Cross, World Vision Canada and groups serving Afghan immigrant women.
The committee invited Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, Justice Minister David Lametti and International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan to testify at meetings scheduled for the evenings of Dec. 5 and 12. But all three ministers declined to appear.
"Unfortunately, Ministers Mendicino, Lametti and Sajjan had prior commitments when they'd received the invitation ... and therefore won’t be able to appear at this time," Mendicino's spokeswoman, Audrey Champoux, said in an email. Instead, three bureaucrats from the Department of Justice and Public Safety Canada will take questions Monday.
A global grassroots group, End Afghan Starvation, has asked Trudeau to revise "the ceaseless blockade of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan," saying the policy amounts to "collective punishment" of the country's 40 million people. "As a longtime ally to Afghanistan, we are calling on Canada to once again meet the moment by providing essential humanitarian assistance to save Afghan lives, regardless of the political circumstances," the group said in an open letter. The United Nations has raised the alarm as a harsh winter sets in with millions of people lacking access to adequate food or water. A collapsing economy and rising food prices mean families are spending 75 per cent of their income on food, the UN says.
Half the country's population is now categorized as being at an crisis level of food insecurity, including six million people formally at risk of famine. "They will have little food, little fuel — and they will struggle to keep their children warm and fed," Joyce Msuya, the UN's deputy emergency relief coordinator, told a Security Council meeting last month. "What was an already desperate humanitarian situation across the country throughout this year will only get worse." The International Committee of the Red Cross has reported a spike in cases of child pneumonia and child malnutrition in the country. Source
Afghanistan aid blockade can only be fixed by changing Criminal Code: officials
Prof. Kent Roach & barrister Sujit Choudhry say government is misinterpreting its own legislation: the payment of taxes/fees to Afghan authorities by humanitarian actors to extract individuals would not violate antiterror law
Watch the full December 5th Senate committee hearing
Watch excerpts of witnesses' testimonies at the Senate committee hearing
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Christopher Parsons: Don’t give more powers to CSE until it submits to effective review | |
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Policy Options 29/11/2022 - The federal government plans to provide further cybersecurity powers to the agency responsible for collecting foreign intelligence and providing cybersecurity services, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). These powers are meant to enable the CSE to better understand and subsequently mitigate threats directed towards Canada’s critical infrastructure providers. On its face, that may sound like a good idea. However, given that the CSE is obstinately impeding lawful reviews of its own activities, Canadian politicians should hesitate before placing further responsibilities – and powers – in the agency’s hands.
Nation-state actors are targeting Canadian critical infrastructure. We all rely on this infrastructure to live our lives, to communicate using telecommunications networks, to send and receive money through banking systems, or to travel using transportation systems. The CSE has stated repeatedly that nation-state adversaries are actively targeting critical infrastructure as part of espionage operations and also to prepare for potential attacks. Critical infrastructure threats are real. Canadian health-care systems and hospitals have been shut down due to ransomware or unexplained attacks during the pandemic. Russia’s targeting of satellite infrastructure at the outset of its illegal war against Ukraine had international implications.
Partially to address these threats to critical infrastructure, the government introduced Bill C-26. The legislation would broadly enable the minister of industry to compel telecommunications providers to undertake security practices and would see the CSE obtain information about the security stances of critical infrastructure providers, as well as cyber incidents that have been detected by providers. While the CSE has already worked with many critical infrastructure providers – meaning these providers are already sharing cybersecurity information with the CSE – the new legislation would cement that information-sharing in law. That means a lot more information might flow into the CSE, including potentially private information relating to Canadians. To account for risks like this, Parliament created the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA), a watchdog agency meant to assess Canada’ national security and intelligence agencies. This includes reviewing the CSE’s activities. If C-26 passes, then NSIRA will also be responsible for reviewing how private organizations’ information is received and used by the CSE.
However, there’s a serious problem when it comes to reviewing the CSE’s activities. For two straight years, NSIRA has said it’s had problems getting access from the CSE to information that the watchdog uses to confirm the lawfulness of the CSE’s activities.
NSIRA said in its 2020 annual report that it was unable to appropriately access information held by the CSE. The report took the unusual step of discussing a range of possible ways of obtaining sufficient access to CSE information, so it could verify its accuracy and completeness. Its 2021 annual report makes clear that things have not improved. According to the report, the CSE insists on determining internally what information is relevant, and then providing this selection of information to reviewers. This stands in contrast to how NSIRA’s authorizing legislation functions. The NSIRA Act makes clear that the watchdog can access any and all information that it deems relevant, regardless of what a reviewed agency such as the CSE considers appropriate. Read more - Lire plus
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Broad application of cabinet confidence risks compromising NSICOP, says chair | |
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The Hill Times 08/11/2022 - The chair of a committee of Parliamentarians tasked with providing oversight to Canada’s national security and intelligence activities is raising concern over the viability of its future work if the government doesn’t change its strict approach on cabinet confidence. Liberal MP and chair of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.) warned that the government’s “broad claims” of cabinet confidence leads to a “growing risk” to the committee’s ability to fulfill its mandate.
“The committee is concerned that the breadth of the definition of cabinet confidence reflected in its statute and found in the Canada Evidence Act, together with the lack of a requirement for departments to inform the committee of how many and which relevant documents are being withheld and on what basis, may hamper its ability to properly fulfil its mandate,” wrote McGuinty in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.). The letter prefaced the latest report from NSICOP on the national security and intelligence activities of Global Affairs. He wrote that the committee is concerned that in the future, cabinet confidence will be applied “to its full breadth” and it won’t be able to be challenged.
“This stands in stark contrast to the committee’s right to see the most classified information, notwithstanding how injurious it may be, and its practice of participating in the process through which injurious information is identified, challenged, and removed from the public version of its reports as appropriate,” he said, noting that if departments continue to apply cabinet confidence to its “full breadth,” the committee’s accountability role “risks being compromised.”
The application of cabinet confidence includes withholding documents and information, as well as not informing the committee of what information is being withheld. McGuinty said the issue should be addressed with legislation, but in the short term, a solution could include proactively disclosing which documents are being withheld and the reasons why, adding that should be accompanied with a “clear statement” that “NSICOP should be barred from receiving only core cabinet secrets.” He said the committee intends to spotlight its concern during the five-year review of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians Act. The legislation became law in June 2017, with the review past due to begin. [...]
University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab researcher Christopher Parsons, an expert on national security, said the situation is a “fundamental problem.” “The executive’s own review functions are being undermined by the executive’s own secrecy,” he said. “And it’s bigger than just this report.” Parsons remarked that reports from the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) have also raised concerns over obtaining needed information.
“We are seeing time and time and time again that this is an issue,” he said, remarking what is novel inthe latest NSICOP report is that it references where cabinet confidence became an issue and its disagreement with claims of cabinet confidence. He said without getting the needed information, NSICOP and NSIRA are undermined in ensuring the legitimacy and lawfulness of the intelligence activities that they are reviewing. Parsons said NSICOP and NSIRA are notifying the government that there is an issue, but also communicating with the public that there is something “seriously wrong.” [...]
Centre for International Governance Innovation senior fellow Wesley Wark, a national security expert, said the problem is a “long-standing” one. “It’s long been understood that the concept of cabinet confidences is capable of being abused to prevent material from reaching the public, whether in the direction of review bodies or access to information requests,” said Wark, who served on the prime minister’s advisory council on national security from 2005 to 2009. Read more - Lire plus
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How the Canada Border Services Agency tolerates and even encourages refugee mistreatment | |
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The Conversation 28/11/2022 - Refugee advocates have long known about systemic problems with immigration enforcement in Canada, resulting in wrongful detentions and deportations, as well as people being tortured upon return to their countries of origin. Our new research explains why these problems exist. Flaws in Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) structure and mandate mean that misconduct is tolerated and even incentivized. Independent oversight of CBSA and legislative changes are needed to protect refugee rights.
Our findings show that more than half the people deported from Canada each year made refugee claims. While some people are ready to return home, others still fear persecution. Decisions on a refugee claim can be wrong. Outcomes of refugee claims depend on the Immigration and Refugee Board member who hears the claim, the quality of legal representation and subjective credibility determinations made by those hearing claims. People who are at risk of persecution, torture or worse can be denied refugee status and face imminent deportation. For these reasons, deportation is closely linked to refugee rights.
How someone is treated during the deportation process matters. CBSA places an emphasis on “timely removals” at the expense of respecting rights. And although Canada prides itself on its safeguards, they are insufficient. For example, people can apply for a pre-removal risk assessment to demonstrate the risk they face prior to being deported. The risk assessment was created to meet Canada’s obligations to protect people from persecution. But in 2012, the government introduced legislation that limits access to the pre-removal risk assessment. Since then, people can only apply for it if they remain in Canada for at least a year after their refugee claim was refused. Our research found that whether someone is deported before the end of that year comes down to chance, defeating the very purpose of the risk assessment.
Deportation is sensitive work. Yet the CBSA lacks the structure and management controls to carry out activities with human rights implications. We obtained job descriptions for senior leaders in CBSA who oversee enforcement. They do not mention human rights treaties or obligations. There is no evidence that performance measures for leaders, front-line staff or the agency as a whole include compliance with international human rights obligations. Instead, CBSA documents emphasize the need for timely removals, specifically enforcing a deportation within one year of a refused refugee claim. Such fast deportations, as mentioned, may not leave refugee claimants with enough time to apply for the risk assessment.
Legal representatives we interviewed reported many instances of misconduct by CBSA officials, such as lying, abuse of power, concocting documents and baseless detentions to enforce a deportation. These tactics advance, rather than violate, CBSA’s mandate in the absence of requiring its employees to honour human rights obligations. The CBSA also lacks an independent oversight body to review its work, investigate complaints and make binding recommendations. That means complaints about the conduct of CBSA officers must be made to CBSA. A complaint can work against the person being deported. Many refugee lawyers told us they don’t bother reporting misconduct. Lydia, a refugee lawyer, told us:
“I’ve complained about CBSA officers over the years with absolutely no effect. In fact, several officers who lied under oath were promoted after they had engaged in really disreputable conduct. Why waste your time?” Read more - Lire plus
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Michael Geist 28/11/2022 - Bill C-27, the government’s privacy and artificial intelligence bill is slowly making its way through the Parliamentary process. One of the emerging issues has been the mounting opposition to the AI portion of the bill, including a recent NDP motion to divide the bill for voting purposes, separating the privacy and AI portions. In fact, several studies have been released which place the spotlight on the concerns with the government’s plan for AI regulation, which is widely viewed as vague and ineffective. Christelle Tessono is a tech policy researcher based at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP). She was one of several authors of a joint report on the AI bill which brought together researchers from the Cybersecure Policy Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University, McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, and the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University. Christelle joins the Law Bytes podcast to talk about the report and what she thinks needs to change in Bill C-27. Listen - Écouter
EU AI Act must protect all people, regardless of migration status
Why we need human rights impact assessments for AI
AI models still racist, even with more balanced training
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‘I did not want to be involved’: Police officer quits task force over concerns about RCMP tactics at Fairy Creek | |
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National Observer 24/11/2022 - At least one police officer joined protesters, journalists and politicians raising alarm bells over RCMP enforcement tactics during the peak of conflict at the Fairy Creek old-growth blockades in B.C. during the summer of 2021. The officer, a former member of the RCMP’s specialized team that deals with resource extraction protests, resigned from the task force over concerns about “unjustifiable” police behaviour during an August crackdown on activists, a freedom-of-information (FOI) request shows. The resignation from the RCMP’s controversial Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) came in an email dated Sept. 5, 2021, after the officer, with 13 years of experience, was sent to the long-running protest in the Port Renfrew area on southeastern Vancouver Island.
The officer, whose name was redacted, remains a member of the RCMP, according to FOI documents obtained by freelance photographer Jen Osborne, who works with Canada’s National Observer. After he left the task force, the officer wrote a report outlining his concerns over some tactics used to enforce a court injunction against the August blockades. RCMP officers smashed the windows of vehicles parked in the injunction zone, seized and possibly trashed protesters’ personal property and improperly handled protesters, he said in a Sept. 22 report sent to Sgt. Antonio Hernandez. Officers wore thin blue line patches, were ordered to remove their name tags and socialized inappropriately with Teal Cedar workers and members of the forestry company’s private security force, he added. The company, a subsidiary of Teal Jones, secured a court injunction to halt the blockades in its logging licence area.
Officers posted at Fairy Creek talked with loggers and security “non-stop,” the officer said.
“Jokes and stories about ‘fucking hippies’ and how much they stink were common.”
The officer said he wasn’t privy to all the reasons for the decisions made at the blockade.
“That being said, I saw enough to know that I did not want to be involved and actions were certainly a departure from what we practise at our home detachments.” The concerns raised by the officer mirror long-standing complaints by legal and rights groups, journalist associations and activists about the RCMP’s policing of dissent tied to resource extraction industries, especially when dealing with Indigenous Peoples. Criticism of the C-IRG in particular isn’t limited to Fairy Creek and includes the unit’s role at pipeline protests in Wet’suwet’en territory and more recently, logging protests near Argenta in the B.C. Interior.
The officer’s first report entry notes his arrival at the Fairy Creek blockade’s Mesachie Lake camp for a briefing by outgoing officers the day after a highly publicized incident between the RCMP and protesters where officers used pepper spray and force to break up and arrest protesters on Aug. 21, 2021. Numerous videos of the incident surfaced on the internet showing RCMP officers emptying large canisters of pepper spray into people’s faces at close range and forcefully pushing and pulling to break up a blob of protesters, who’d grouped together and linked arms to make their arrests more difficult. In some videos, an officer in a green uniform can be seen pulling COVID-19 masks off protesters. In other instances, people being arrested had their backpacks cut off or removed by officers, who then threw the bags to the side of the road.
The pepper spray incident was a flashpoint of public concern, with protesters alleging regular use of excessive force by police, federal politicians calling for investigations and a slew of complaints filed with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC), the federal oversight body for the RCMP. The month before, the B.C. Supreme Court roundly condemned the RCMP for violating Charter rights and freedom of the media because police used vast exclusion zones, checkpoints and other measures to restrict the movement and ability of journalists reporting on the blockade. Media and public access to the injunction area continued to be highly controlled by police during the course of the blockade, with RCMP citing civilian and officer safety as the reasons. Read more - Lire plus
Ligue des droits et libertés: Le droit de manifester au cœur des mouvements sociaux
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UN Budget vs. Rhetoric: Touting “Agenda for Peace” But Investing in Counterterrorism Instead? | |
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Just Security 01/12/2022 - A new “Agenda for Peace” to be developed by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres is the talk of the town at the United Nations. But one would be mistaken to think this is the only important game for those working on peace and security at the U.N. Hidden away in one of the many hundreds of pages of the institution’s annual budget request, which must be approved by all member States by the end of December 2022, is a proposal that could have significant implications for U.N. peace and security architecture. This proposal by the U.N. Secretary-General asks for a budget increase for the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism of 400 percent in 2023 and a total of 700 percent by 2024. The proposal is just the latest chronicle in the problematic rise of securitized counterterrorism in the U.N. system – and one that seems detached from other rhetoric coming from U.N. leadership on the body’s role in the world.
In September 2021, Guterres released his rhetorical plan for the future of the U.N. The “Common Agenda,” a report that looks ahead to the next 25 years, calls for an “inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond to humanity’s most pressing challenges.” This is where the commitment emerged to produce a “New Agenda for Peace,” which will update the 30-year-old “An Agenda for Peace” written by the former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. This vision — to be completed in 2023 — would seek to identify major emerging challenges and re-imagine what role multilateral institutions can have in responding to such threats. Within the wider Common Agenda, counterterrorism was nowhere to be seen as a major U.N. priority. It was mentioned just once, in a longer list of potential actions to take in relation to reducing strategic risks in the New Agenda for Peace. So why has a request for a huge increase in the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism’s budget taken place, when this does not appear to be a key part of the secretary-general’s vision? There are a few parts to this puzzle, involving a couple of U.N. budget requests, for the General Assembly Fifth Committee (responsible for administrative and budgetary matters) to consider.
Two UN Budget Requests
The Secretary-General has long called for a “quantum leap” in resources for the U.N.’s programs on Sustaining Peace. In April 2022, he followed this with a formal request for predictable support for the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund – which currently is entirely voluntary contributions. The proposal called for adding $100 million to the Fund annually from the U.N.’s regular budget (comprising assessed contributions from every state, based mainly on GDP) to support countries recovering from a conflict or experiencing the departure of a U.N. peace operation. The request received significant support from many countries most affected by conflict and insecurity, as well as from the Group of Friends of the Peacebuilding Fund (co-chaired by the U.K. and Sweden). Yet it did not receive consensus support — Brazil, China, and Japan, among others, were opposed — and therefore no resources were given to the Peacebuilding Fund to fill the clear gap identified by the Secretary-General. None of these objecting seemed to oppose the need to build peace, instead couching their opposition in technical concerns about procedures and mechanisms.
Compare this with the budget request in May 2022 for the 2023 operational budget, in which the secretary-general asked member states to increase their regular budget contributions for staffing in the Office of Counter-Terrorism (OCT) and to boost the office budget a whopping 700 percent over two years. The number of regular-budget staff positions would jump from 8 now to 33 in 2023, and 57 in 2024, giving this office twice as many staff on the regular budget as the U.N. Peacebuilding Support Office. It is well-known that the Office of Counter-Terrorism is the fastest growing part of the U.N. system. But this did not occur through the negotiated central U.N. budget that requires all states in the General Assembly to agree. Rather, it occurred mostly via the deep pockets of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have provided huge resources that have allowed the office to have in excess of 150 staff total. This growth and wider U.N. counter-terrorism practices have been the subject of significant scrutiny from civil society, experts, and even some States. Despite all these resources, there is still very little evidence of U.N. OCT’s performance, oversight, or overall effectiveness.
There are rumors that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are wavering on renewing their substantial funding to U.N. OCT. This means the office could be about to run out of money. That would in some way explain the request to bring many staff members onto the regular budget. As some analysts have argued, this is the main precedent that could be cited for converting so many extra-budgetary positions in that office onto the regular budget. Others have speculated that funding pressure exists because these same donors are not in favor of allowing their resource contribution to be used to finance the office’s work on civil society engagement, gender issues, and human rights. Yet importantly, none of this explains the potential disparity between the budget allocated to the U.N.’s main counterterrorism office and its main peacebuilding office – nor does it match the rhetoric of the secretary-general’s flagship proposal for his vision for the future. Read more - Lire plus
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Beyond the Pale: The Turkish and Iranian War in Kurdistan | |
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Rosa Luxemburg Foundation 25/11/2022 - Next year will mark the hundredth anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, which sealed the splitting of the Kurdish people into different four parts. To this day, these borders remain a bloody fact in the heart of the Kurdish regions.
The border between Turkey and Syria has been marked by the third-longest wall in the world. It is a complex tinderbox of Turkish army posts and lucrative customs collection posts, while thousands of Kurdish border runners, people suffering economic hardship and with no other way to earn a living, have perished along the line separating Turkey and Iraq from Iran.
Turkish Attacks on AANES and Iraqi Kurdistan
As insurmountable as these boundary lines are for the Kurdish people, they are completely permeable for Turkey and Iran, especially when it comes to military operations. The Turkish state has been bombarding Rojava extensively since the late hours of 19 November: from the region of Tel Rifaat, which is overflowing with internally displaced people and the place where the survivors of the 2018 Battle of Afrin reside, to Derik in the far west of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). Eleven civilians have already lost their lives, and thousands have been injured. Grain silos, hospitals, power stations, and a lot of other critical infrastructure is directly under fire.
Yet the boundless disproportion continues, as the Turkish Ministry of Defence has announced that these operations will for the first time no longer be limited to AANES, but shall now fall under Operation Pençe. These military campaigns, which are actually “theft operations” that have been running since 2019, have until now mainly been focused on the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), where they have been responsible for dozens of civilian deaths, the evacuations of villages, and the destruction of ecosystems in the border zone between Turkey and Iraq.
Unlike Operation Euphrates Shield (2017), Operation Olive Branch in Afrin (2018) and Operation Peace Spring (2019), these Turkish operations are equally directed at Devera Girê Spî (Tall Abyad) and Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn), that is, at west and east Kurdistan. Erdoğan has long spoken of a war against the “southern” border, a term traditionally used in Turkish nationalist discourse to refer to neighbouring Kurdish regions, and he has made it clear that “the war will only end when the southern border is secured.”
State Terror in Iranian East Kurdistan
The bellicose actions of Iran, which in recent days has massively escalated military campaigns against the Kurdish population, are just as horrific. Nationwide protests were called for from 16 to 17 November — in remembrance of the 2019 protests in the country, which was isolated from the outside world by internet shutdowns and in which at least 1,500 civilians were killed by the state. The suppression of these protests hit Kurdish cities the hardest, with at least 30 civilians killed in the last week alone. [...]
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the only formally recognized autonomous Kurdish region, is thus under fire on two fronts, from Turkey and from Iran. As so often, it is clear that no piece of even partial Kurdish autonomy is safe, so long as the entire Kurdish question has not been resolved.
Meanwhile in the West, there is no discussion of resolving any questions, least of all the Kurdish one. On the contrary: on 21 November, German Federal Minister of the Interior and Community Nancy Faeser visited Ankara to discuss various issues with her Turkish counterpart Süleyman Soylu — but Turkish expansionism was assuredly not one of them. As far as Faeser is concerned, the pressing issue is stemming the flow of refugees, which is hardly surprising as the issue of migration has been dealt with via EU-financed Turkish border guards, marines, and deportation centres at least since the 2016 EU–Turkey deal. For Soylu, meanwhile, “fighting terrorism” is the key issue.
In the aftermath of the suspicious bombing in Istanbul, about which we currently have more questions than answers in terms of who is responsible, anti-Kurdish election propaganda was brought to a fever pitch. The military operation in Rojava is being sold by Turkey as a response to the bombing, which the PKK and the YPG are being held directly responsible for despite both groups explicitly denying involvement. Clarifying what actually happened and who is actually responsible is of secondary importance and not one of Faeser’s specific demands. Instead, the meeting is to be about working together in the fight against terrorism, which in the German–Turkish view of reality simply stands for working together in the fight against Kurdish people. [...]
There is barely any reaction to the fact that Iran and Turkey are continuing their drone warfare in Iraq without any concern for the losses caused. It seems as if the mere existence of Kurdish people is considered a potential threat to the sovereignty of these countries. This is significant, as it is precisely an Social Democratic Party (SPD)-led government that has nothing to say about these grave security developments, the same SPD that claimed that its “No” to participation in the Iraq War was a “No” to “war adventures” in Iraq. The more the SPD prides itself on that “No”, the more incomprehensible is its complete lack of words and action in face of the simultaneous undermining of Iraqi national sovereignty through both Turkish and Iranian hegemony.
Whether it be Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey or the German diaspora: 100 years after arbitrary borders were drawn up by the Treaty of Lausanne, the only thing that is boundless for Kurdish people is the unbridled violence of the occupying states. A German politics that fails to clearly call this by its name, cannot claim to take issues of democratization and peace in Turkey and Iran seriously, as recent events have made clear: the Kurdish question is fundamental to any such progress being made in both countries. Read more - Lire plus
Members of European Parliament: Turkey has violated international law
As Turkey Escalates in Northeast Syria, Terror and Chaos Reign
Fact sheet: Turkish attacks on infrastructure in Rojava and North and East Syria
European Court of Justice Annuls Two Anti-Terror Rules Against Kurdish Party
'We humiliated ourselves': Sweden’s bid to join NATO meets continued resistance from Turkey
Podcast: Resisting Turkish Imperialism in Rojava ft Debbie Bookchin
TAKE ACTION: Turkey: Trial against social worker and rights defender Bilal Yıldız
TAKE ACTION: Make a Call to Stop Turkey’s Attacks
TAKE ACTION: Justice for Kurds!
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Podcast: Gov. Ron DeSantis oversaw torture in Guantanamo as a military lawyer | |
A new interview with former Guantánamo detainee Mansoor Adayfi reveals shocking details about DeSantis’s past. | |
Podcast: Can A Lawsuit Against The CIA Affect U.S. Extradition Attempt of Julian Assange? | |
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Law & Order 27/11/2022 - In August 2022, a group of U.S. citizen attorneys and journalists sued the CIA and its former director Mike Pompeo. They alleged that the CIA, during Pompeo’s tenure, spied on them during meetings with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The WikiLeaks founder sheltered there for 7 years in an effort to avoid extradition to the United States.. Assange is charged with 17 counts under the Espionage Act for revealing evidence of U.S. war crimes. If convicted, he faces 175 years in prison.
The lawsuit says that the CIA violated the privacy rights of those journalists and lawyers. Plaintiffs include journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz, and New York City attorneys Margaret Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, who have represented Assange. The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the plaintiffs for the violations of their rights. It also seeks the removal of any information held by the CIA which was collected from them during their visits to see Assange and prevention of the release of any this information to a third party.
The CIA, as listeners may know, is prohibited from collecting intelligence on U.S. citizens, although several lawmakers have alleged that the agency maintains a secret repository of Americans’ communications data. Richard Roth, the lead attorney in this case, had this to say: “The United States Constitution shields American citizens from U.S. government overreach even when the activities take place in a foreign embassy in a foreign country.”
Journalists and lawyers visiting Assange were required to surrender their electronic devices to Undercover Global before each visit. U.C. Global is a private security company which was providing security to the embassy. The lawsuit alleged that the company copied that information and handed it over to the CIA.
In early November, Deborah Hrbek and our own Marjorie Cohn discussed the lawsuit and the case against Assange, in a program sponsored by the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee. For our show today, we’re delighted to bring you their remarks and answers to several audience questions. Deborah Hrbek starts off the event. In addition to being a member of the Assange defense team, her law practice focuses on entertainment and small business law. Marjorie is a member of the national advisory board of Assange Defense. Read more - Lire plus
Publishing Is Not a Crime: NYT, The Guardian & More Urge Biden Admin to Drop Charges Against Assange
Revealing He Too Had Manning Leaks, Ellsberg Dares DOJ to Prosecute Him Like Assange
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Former NLD lawmaker sentenced to 26 years on anti-terrorism and treason charges | |
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Radio Free Asia 28/11/2022 - A former lawmaker for Myanmar's National League for Democracy was sentenced to 26 years plus hard labor by a junta-appointed court on Monday. Wai Lin Aung, 30, was an MP for Myaungmya township in Myanmar’s southeastern Ayeyarwady region. He was re-elected in the 2020 election, serving until the February 2021 coup that toppled the NLD-led civilian government.
More than 200 police and troops captured him on Dec. 15, 2021, along with a group of anti-junta activists, after they fled to Kayin State’s Myawaddy township on the Thai border. Wai Lin Aung was charged with anti-terrorism and treason and held for the next 11 months. A source close to the court, who declined to be named for safety reasons, told RFA he could have been sentenced to almost twice as long in prison.
“Charges 52 (a), 50 (a) and 50(j) [anti-terrorism] are 26 years, and 20 years for Section 122 [treason], but the judge ordered them to be served together, so the total will be 26 years instead of 46 years. But it will be 26 years in prison with hard labor,” he said.
Three more NLD lawmakers from Ayeyarwady region each received 20-year prison sentences last week. Than Htut Aung, Thein Tun and Aung Aung Oo were convicted Nov. 24 on charges of treason and discrediting the state. They were sentenced along with eight political activists by Pathei Prison Court in Ayeyarwady region, a source close to the prisoners - who also wished to remain anonymous - told RFA.
The junta has punished several NLD lawmakers with even longer sentences. Former lawmaker Win Myint Hlaing, 52, was sentenced to a total of 173 years for incitement and terrorism. Former Kayin state chief minister Nang Khin Htwe Myint, 67, was sentenced to 80 years, later commuted to 40 years, for election fraud, corruption and state defamation. Former cabinet member Than Naing, 65, was sentenced to a total of 90 years for corruption and state defamation. Deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, has been charged with 19 counts since her arrest shortly after the coup. She has been sentenced to a total of 26 years in prison for 14 of the charges. Read more - Lire plus
Committee to Protect Journalists: Myanmar journalist Myo San Soe sentenced to 15 years in prison for terrorism
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Philippines: Global solidarity with Filipino human rights defenders | |
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fidh 05/12/2022 - We, the undersigned organisations, express our utmost concern over the ongoing criminalization of ten human rights defenders and members of Karapatan, GABRIELA and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP) in retaliation for their legitimate human rights work.
Elisa Tita Lubi, Karapatan Chairperson; Cristina Palabay, Karapatan Secretary General; Roneo Clamor, Karapatan Deputy Secretary General; Gabriela Krista Dalena, Karapatan Treasurer; Edita Burgos; Wilfredo Ruazol, and Jose Mari Callueng, Karapatan National Council members; Gertrudes Ranjo Libang, Gabriela Chairperson; Joan May Salvador, Gabriela Secretary General; and Sr. Elenita Belardo, RMP member, are facing trial before the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 37 on malicious and trumped-up charge of “perjury” in retaliation for their actions seeking legal protection for human rights defenders. The week of January 2, 2023 the verdict will be handed down. If convicted, they could face up to four months or up to more than two years of imprisonment.
On May 6, 2019, due to the alarming increase in violence against human rights defenders in the Philippines, the above-mentioned human rights defenders from Karapatan, Gabriela, and the RMP filed a petition for the writ of amparo (protection order) and habeas data (access to information) before the Supreme Court, seeking protection against threats, attacks, and harassment by government officials. However, the Philippine Court of Appeals denied their petition in June 2019.
Following the rejection of the petition, the authorities responded with retaliatory measures against the 10 human rights defenders. On July 2, 2019, then-National Security Adviser General Hermogenes Esperon, who was named in the petition, lodged a complaint alleging that the 10 defendants had committed “perjury” by stating that the RMP was a registered non-governmental organisation at the Securities and Exchange Commission in the petition they filed before the Supreme Court. While the perjury complaint was initially dismissed for “lack of probable cause and/or insufficiency of evidence”, in February 2020, the Quezon City prosecutor sustained a motion for reconsideration filed by the National Security Adviser and found probable cause to charge the 10 human rights defenders with “perjury”. The charges against the 10 human rights defenders have been widely condemned by regional and global civil society organisations as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
Since the “perjury” charges were filed, the Department of Justice has charged at least 16 people, including nuns, linked to the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines with financing terrorism under Section 8(ii) of Republic Act 10168 or anti-terrorism financing act.
In the Philippines, human rights defenders continue to face attacks, killings, judicial harassment, arbitrary detention and stigmatisation campaigns by State agents, proxies, supporters and enablers. Since June 2016, when President Duterte took power, a climate of impunity for attacks against human rights defenders worsened. The killings of defenders have rarely been investigated, which increases the vulnerability of those who remain active, while undermining the human rights community’s confidence in the justice system.
In addition, the Anti-Terrorism Act, which was passed in July 2020, further compounded the precarious situation for human rights defenders by legally formalising the practice of “red-tagging” defenders with overly broad and vague definitions of terrorism. The grave human rights situation in the Philippines including the ongoing onslaught facing human rights defenders has resulted in expressions of grave concern from the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) in June 2020 and more recently a number of Members of the European Parliament. Similarly, in April 2020, 9 UN human rights experts expressed their concern regarding the killings, threats, detentions and criminalization of human rights defenders in the Philippines. Both the OHCHR and the UN human rights experts recommended establishing an international, independent investigation of human rights violations in the Philippines.
We call on the new President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to distance himself from the previous administration, and firmly commit to respecting the right to defend human rights. President Marcos Jr. should cease the threats and attacks against rights defenders and ensure the protection of their rights, including the rights to life, due process, freedom of expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly. We urge the authorities to put an immediate end to the judicial harassment against Elisa Tita Lubi, Cristina Palabay, Roneo Clamor, Gabriela Krista Dalena, Edita Burgos, Wilfredo Ruazol, Jose Mari Callueng, Gertrudes Ranjo Libang, Joan May Salvador, and Sr. Elenita Belardo. Similarly, we call on the authorities to rescind the Anti-Terrorism Act and adopt the Human Rights Defenders Protection Bill. We are inspired by the work, courage and commitment of these human rights defenders, and stand in solidarity with all of them. Read more - Lire plus
TAKE ACTION: Louie Jalandoni: A man of peace, not a terrorist!
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Take Action for Justice for Hassan Diab! | |
Free Jack Letts and all Canadian Detainees in NE Syria | |
Canada must immediately act to free four dozen Canadian men, women and children left to rot in one of a series of notorious Northeastern Syrian prisons and detention camps described as “Guantanamo on the Euphrates.”
The longest held detainee is Jack Letts, 26, who has been imprisoned for almost 5 years without charge under conditions the United Nations has described as meeting the “threshold for torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under international law.”
Send an email and call!
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President Biden: Set them free | |
Nearly 800 men have been detained in Guantánamo Bay since it opened in 2002 - but only 12 of them have ever been charged with a crime. As of Oct 2021, these 3 men are cleared for release but remain imprisoned:
- Ahmed Rabbani
- Abdul Malik
- Khalid Qasim
These men should be free. No one should ever be locked up without charge or trial. The wrongful imprisonment of these men has stolen almost 20 years of their lives and exposed them to torture, abuse and ill-treatment. Sign the petition urging Biden to release these men now.
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Stop the Smear Campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy | Recently, we have witnessed an intensified campaign by the pro-Israel lobby in Canada to smear Palestinian activists and their supporters. The National Post ran an online article about Palestinian-Canadian writer Khaled Barakat and the advocacy organization Samidoun. On April 30, the same article was splashed across their front page of their paper and has since been referenced in the Canadian Senate and the Jerusalem Post. Send your letter to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino to tell them that you join with the 80 organizations that have called to “Stop the Smear Campaigns against Palestinian Advocacy”. | |
Philippines: Hands off labour rights defenders | |
Hundreds of labour rights defenders, workers, and trade unionists in the Philippines have been subjected to various forms of threats and harassment for fighting for labour and human rights.
The attacks against activists have been relentless since former President Rodrigo Duterte declared war against activism, perpetuating the culture of impunity and promoting vilification of activists through 'red-tagging'.
These attacks are bound to continue, if not worsen under the watch of the new president Ferdinand Marcos, the son of the dictator and human rights violator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
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Allow asylum for Uighur refugees! | |
The targeting of Uighur migrants across 28 countries demonstrates unprecedented transnational repression. Ask your MP to support Motion M-62. This motion proposes to resettle 10,000 Uighur in Canada by 2024. Send an email which makes 2 demands:
- Increase number of incoming Uighur refugees to 30,000.
- Launch the resettlement plan sooner than 2024.
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Save Afghan Women’s Rights Defender! | |
Farzana Denied Entry to Canada! Call/Write for Urgent Permit to Save Afghan Women’s Rights Defender!
Please take 2 minutes to send an urgent email and call (sample messages below) to protest the potentially lethal rejection of Afghan women's rights defender Farzana Adell Ghadiya’s application for protection in Canada.
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The Public Order Bill & the UK government's latest crackdown on protest | The Canadian government is moving nearer to obtaining armed drones, worth $5 billion of Canadian taxpayer dollars. Now is the time to say stop the procurement. Armed drones threaten people’s lives around the world. Rather than making the world safer, they are used in extrajudicial executions, surveillance of targeted populations and other violations of human rights. Take one minute to write to the Canadian Minister of Defence. Tell her it is time to stop militarizing the sky. | |
In 2007, Muhammad Rahim was kidnapped in front of wife and children in Lahore, Pakistan. He was bundled into a jeep, and for 8 months he disappeared into the network of CIA secret prisons where he was subjected to toture. According to the US Senate "torture report", the torture of Muhammad Rahim produced no intelligence. In 2008, the US announced he had been transferred to Guantanamo. The US have stated they have no intention to charge him with a crime, yet declared him a "forever prisoner". Now in his mid-50s, a medical examination found several nodules which a specialist has revealed could be indicative of cancer. After 13 years in prison without charge, he longs to be reunited with his 7 children. | |
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Since the Taliban takeover of a year ago, Canadian aid organizations have faced barriers in sending aid to Afghanistan due to Canadian sanctions and a restrictive interpretation of the Canadian Criminal Code’s anti-terrorism provisions. This is despite the US, the UK, the EU countries and even the UN taking action to ensure sanctions do not interfere with crucial humanitarian assistance.
ICLMG has teamed up with other Canadian organizations to call on Prime Minister Trudeau and the Canadian government to act immediately to remove barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance. This includes ensuring that sanctions and counter-terror finance and criminal law restrictions do not impede the provision of lifesaving humanitarian aid. This issue isn’t limited to Afghanistan, either, which is why we are also asking the government to address the long-standing issue of ensuring that anti-terrorism laws and sanctions do not interfere with humanitarian assistance. Version française
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Protect human rights defenders in Palestine | |
CJPME - Canada’s inaction in the face of Israeli repression must end! Canada must stand up for human rights defenders by condemning Israel’s actions and putting its support behind the work of Palestinian NGOs
+ NCCM action: Canada must denounce the banning and raiding of Palestinian human rights organizations
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Ban facial recognition technology | Amnesty International - Facial recognition technologies are used to stifle protest and harass minority communities around the world – not just in New York City. These technologies are a global threat to the right to privacy, freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, and to equality and non-discrimination. Call for an end to technologies of mass surveillance. | |
Cuba is Not a Sponsor of Terror! | |
A crucial policy of the Trump administration remains, and that is Cuba’s presence on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. It is critical to Cuba’s ability to pursue economic, trade and humanitarian activities that it be removed immediately from the list - a power well within Biden’s authority.
Please sign CodePink's petition to the White House calling for Cuba to be removed from the list.
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No More F-16’s to Turkey! | We, the undersigned, demand you not approve any more sales of F-16’s or other fighter jets to Turkey. After the release of the report “Civilian Casualties of Turkish Military Operations in Northern Iraq (2015-2021)” we would find it unacceptable that the U.S. would continue selling F-16s to the Turkish military. | |
Tell Biden to Close Guantanamo | |
Now, with growing support in Congress, President Biden has an opportunity to end these ongoing abuses by closing the detention center.
Help us close Guantánamo and ensure the transfer of all cleared detainees to countries where their human rights will be respected.
Act Now to tell President Biden to shut down the Guantánamo Bay detention facility!
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Protecting water is not terrorism: Free Jessica Reznicek | In 2016, Jessica Reznicek took action to stop the construction of Dakota Access Pipeline by dismantling construction equipment and pipeline valves. In 2021 she was sentenced to 8 years in prison with a domestic terrorism enhancement. In 2022 an appeals court upheld her conviction writing that even if the terrorism enhancement was an error it was "harmless" although it increased a 37 months sentence to a sentence of 96 months. Stop the criminalization of dissent! | |
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
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This is unconscionable. The RCMP are violently harassing Wet’suwet’en land defenders again for fighting against the sovereignty-violating Coastal Gaslink pipeline. We’ve heard reports directly from land defenders that drilling for CGL is imminent — and the RCMP's specialized unit CIRG (Community-Industry Response Group), is ramping up their enforcement. They have a history of using excessive force and violence against Indigenous people — all in the name of profit.
We know that the BC government and high ranking RCMP officials have the power to deploy — and remove the RCMP. If enough of us fill their inboxes with emails demanding they respect Indigenous sovereignty and call off the RCMP, it could be enough to force them to act and halt all construction. Send a message directly to key decision makers asking them to stop the violence.
+ Wanna do more? Join a group
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China: Free Canadian Huseyin Celil | |
The Chinese authorities accused Huseyin of offences related to his activities in support of Uighur rights. They held Huseyin in a secret place. They gave him no access to a lawyer, to his family, or to Canadian officials. They threatened him and forced him to sign a confession. They refused to recognize Huseyin’s status as a Canadian citizen, and they did not allow Canadian officials to attend his trial. It was not conducted fairly, and resulted in a sentence of life in prison in China. His life sentence was reduced to 20 years in February 2016. Huseyin has spent much of his time in solitary confinement. He lacks healthy food and is in poor health. Kamila needs her husband, and the boys need their father back
+ Urge China to stop targeting Uyghurs in China and abroad
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Urgent Action to Stop the Deportation of Mohamed Ibrahim and his Family | |
Mohamed Ibrahim, an Egyptian national, alongside his wife, Shaimaa, and 5 children - the youngest of whom a toddler who was born in Canada - have been given a removal order by the CBSA and are facing deportation back to Egypt where Mohamed will be facing a high risk of human rights abuses by the current Egyptian regime as a result of his peaceful political activism in Egypt. Mohamed and his family arrived in Canada in 2017 and applied for asylum. However, his claim was rejected due to a legal error of his lawyer.
We call on the Minister of Immigration to give Mohammed Ibrahim and his family protection on humanitarian and compassionate grounds pursuant to section 25(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
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Tell Trudeau: Stop Arming Apartheid! | |
As revealed in CJPME's "Arming Apartheid" analysis, Canada is selling almost $20 million in arms to Israel each year – its highest level in 30 years! At the same time, Israeli forces continue to violently raid Al-Aqsa and across occupied Palestine, and human rights organizations – including Amnesty International – have all recently concluded that Israel imposes an apartheid regime against Palestinians!
There is no excuse for Canada to continue exporting arms to a country practicing apartheid and other abuses. Help us push the Canadian government to suspend arms exports to Israel, and investigate whether Canadian-made weapons have been used against Palestinian civilians! Canada must end its complicity now!
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Email your MP – No more weapons to Saudi Arabia | |
Canada has blood on its hands. Now approaching its seventh year, the war in Yemen has killed over a quarter of a million people. Over 4 million people have been displaced because of the war, and 70% of the population, including 11.3 million children, are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The Saudi-led coalition has bombed Yemeni markets, hospitals, and civilians, and yet Canada has exported over $8 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia since 2015, the year the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen began. Send a letter now calling on the Canadian government to stop sending weapons to Saudi Arabia and stop arming the horrific war in Yemen.
+ Write letter: Canada’s silence on Saudi mass executions deeply troubling
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Canada: End the Safe Third Country Agreement | |
The Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the United States puts refugees at risk. Under the STCA, refugees who arrive at official ports of entry to seek protection in Canada are sent back to the US, where some have suffered serious rights violations in detention. This encourages refugee claimants to cross the border into Canada between ports of entry, sometimes in perilous conditions.
Despite the constitutionality of the STCA being in question, reports suggest that the government is attempting to expand this agreement.
Take Action now and send a message to Minister Fraser to respect refugee rights by rescinding the Safe Third Country Agreement.
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Protect our rights from facial recognition! | |
ICLMG - 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.
+ Take action to ban biometric recognition technologies
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Trudeau: Ensure justice for Abousfian Abdelrazik | |
In September 2003, Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik was arrested in Sudan, while he was back in the country visiting his ailing mother. Over the next three years he was imprisoned for nearly 20 months and was held under house arrest for 12 months.
He was denied a lawyer, and was never charged or brought before a judge. During that time he was badly tortured in three different prisons. Not only did Canada fail to take steps to protect him, CSIS officials frequently obstructed efforts to secure his release.
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OTHER NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES | |
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Check out our biannual summary of activities: What We've Been Up To from January to June 2022. Lisez la version française ici.
Here are the issues we plan to work on for the rest of 2022:
- Monitoring the evolution of Bill S-7 – the electronic device border search bill – as it passes through the Senate and House of Commons;
- Ensuring that the Canadian government’s proposals on “online harms” do not violate fundamental freedoms, or exacerbate the silencing of racialized and marginalized voices online;
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Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for privacy law reform (including monitoring the new Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act);
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Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility;
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Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming the extradition law;
- Greater transparency and accountability for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS);
- The return of the 44 Canadian citizens indefinitely detained in Syrian camps, including 26 children;
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The end to the CRA’s prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities;
- Pushing for Canadian government action on behalf of Iranian Canadians negatively and unjustly impacted by the US terror listing of the IRGC
- Greater accountability and transparency for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), including the establishment of a strong, effective and independent review mechanism. This includes evaluating and advocating for improvements to the proposed Public Review and Complaints Commission Act (Bill C-20);
- Monitoring the review of the National Security Act, 2017 (Bill C-59);
- 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 for flights that do not land in or fly over the US;
- 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;
- And much more!
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG. | |
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THANK YOU
to our amazing supporters!
We would like to thank all our member organizations, and the hundreds of people who have supported us over the years, including on Patreon! As a reward, we are listing below our patrons who give $10 or more per month (and wanted to be listed) directly in the News Digest. Without all of you, our work wouldn't be possible!
James Deutsch
Bill Ewanick
Kevin Malseed
Brian Murphy
Colin Stuart
Bob Thomson
James Turk
John & Rosemary Williams
Jo Wood
The late Bob Stevenson
Nous tenons à remercier nos organisations membres ainsi que les centaines de personnes qui ont soutenu notre travail à travers les années, y compris sur Patreon! En récompense, nous nommons ci-dessus nos mécènes qui donnent 10$ ou plus par mois et voulaient être mentionné.es directement dans la Revue de l'actualité. Sans vous tous et toutes, notre travail ne serait pas possible!
Merci!
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