Thanks, Chair, and thanks, Ms. Khalid.
Chair, please give me a bit of latitude, because it's been a while since I've seen my colleague, Professor Cotler, and I think it's important to put on the record an item that we worked on for I think a good five years.
The MEK, or the People's Mujahedin, suffered greatly in the camp called Camp Ashraf. They were moved after that to Camp Liberty. We had many opportunities to hear witnesses. I think we would be able to say that we played a small role in making sure that today—although we left many meetings very concerned about their safety—they're now re-established in Albania and are now experiencing freedom.
I wanted to give you credit, Professor Cotler, for the work you did in that regard, and for the number of times that we called witnesses and did joint statements. That's more of a good reason for you to stay optimistic in that regard.
It's important to note here, too, Chair, that this little country, Albania, also has a special exhibit in Yad Vashem as the only Muslim country that had more Jews after the Second World War than before, and it is credited with saving many Jewish lives. I wanted to also mention that.
This will be for both witnesses, but it's inspired by, again, another event that happened with Professor Cotler. I mentioned this a few meetings ago.
We were doing a press conference about another country where many human rights abuses were happening. I don't recall the country, but we were doing a press conference together. One journalist showed up. After we did the conference and had explained the catastrophic things that were happening there, the journalist asked, “Well, what are you guys going to do about it?” Professor Cotler asked, “Well, what are you going to do about it?”
We've witnessed this for all the time we've been on the Subcommittee on International Human Rights: the mainstream media are almost ignorant in regard to the catastrophic human tragedy of human rights abuses. They are very much under-represented.
I thought as my only question I would ask both witnesses, Chair, if there's anything that they think.... I mean, I understand that social media have certainly filled some of the gap that mainstream media have ignored in regard to human rights abuses around the world, but could you tell us if there is a way to get more of the attention of the mainstream media? A large percentage of people around the world are educated solely by the mainstream media on current events. Is there a way for us to get their attention and use the mainstream media more effectively?