Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on May 4th, 2021

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Now we'll move to Ms. Dwyer.

[Emily Dwyer, Coordinator, Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability]

Mr. Chair, I don't have any opening remarks. I am just here for the question and answer. Catherine took our five minutes.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you very much, Ms. Dwyer.

Thank you, witnesses.

We're going to be moving to questions from members.

Our first questioner will be MP Vandenbeld for seven minutes.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you very much.

Witnesses, I want to thank all of you for your incredible courage and for the work you're doing for human rights in the Philippines.

My first question is for Maria Ressa.

It is very good to see you again before this committee.

You have fought very hard—Rappler and you, yourself. You're renowned around the world for the work on press freedom, journalistic freedom and integrity. Yesterday, for World Press Freedom Day, there was a global action by Reporters Without Borders called #HoldTheLine. It was in support of you and the attacks on you that were a direct result of your work in making sure there is media freedom and that the abuses are actually being reported openly. World leaders from around the world spoke out for you.

Global action like that, this committee, and I know you spoke before the ethics grand committee previously.... When the world gives platforms and voice and speaks out, what impact does that have? How important is that?

[Maria Ressa]

It's incredibly important. I think part of the reason we've survived this long is precisely because there is global action, so thank you so much for helping us shine the light.

I think what the government would have wanted would be for us to shut up and to follow. In fact, that's what they told one of my reporters when they came to arrest me. She was livestreaming and he just came and tried to grab the phone and told her she's next.

Thank you. I think the initiative that you took, along with the U.K., in June 2019 to defend media freedom is incredible. You held the line while the United States got its act together. Please continue moving forward.

I will also temper what I have to say because under this anti-terror law, any Filipino can be charged with terrorism by me just telling you that you should do this. I won't tell you that because that can be used against me.

It's a very strange time. This is my 35th year as a journalist. I've never lived under anything like this and I've covered war zones.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you.

I would like Ms. Palabay to weigh in—I see that she's nodding—on both the importance of press freedom and the global action around that.

[Cristina Palabay]

I think Canada was among those that supported a resolution on the Philippines to look into its human rights record. It's currently monitoring ways on how it is complying with its commitments.

Maria is correct. I think that's the reason why we are still alive, so to speak. We are lucky. There are more in remote places who do not have this platform and thus we are speaking for them and with them. Your voice certainly is very important.

Also, putting across the message that Canadian dollars and Canadian taxes shouldn't be used to kill us or to silence us is one of the most important things that the Canadian government can do.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Beaudoin, do you want to add a comment?

[Guy-Lin Beaudoin]

It is very difficult to speak after Ms. Ressa or Ms. Palabay. They are both true heroines, in my view.

Ms. Palabay raised a very important issue about Canadian financial assistance. We have made an access to information request to Global Affairs Canada about the traceability of money sent to the Philippines, including any use to fund anti-terrorism measures. From 2018 to 2019, just under $40 million in total was sent in aid, and $2.4 million was still earmarked for anti-terrorism in the bilateral aid.

When we go on human rights missions to the Philippines and see heroines like Ms. Palabay and Ms. Ressa, we see that the money is often used against them. We want to make sure that the money can really be traced so that it is invested exactly as it is stated on page 11 of the guidelines, which is to support the people who are defending human rights and who are the first to be vilified, murdered, raped or illegally arrested. That's where we should be putting our money, not in military aid or in training the police and the military. These are the people we need to help. It is very important.

There is a beautiful expression in English: walk the walk, talk the talk. It is time for the guidelines to be turned into concrete procedures, processes, and programs, as they are in some countries, including Holland. Taxpayers' money must be used to promote sustainable peace in the Philippines. This is very important. After all, the Philippines has been going through an armed revolt for 53 years, and millions of dollars invested in all the anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency measures have been useless.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Thank you. Merci.

I would like to go back to you, Madam Ressa, because I know you're in the Philippines right now. What is the current situation? How dangerous is it for human rights and democracy defenders at the moment?

[Maria Ressa]

I think it is extremely dangerous. The violence has escalated.

I'll just go back to March 7, on what we call “Bloody Sunday” when 24 arrest warrants, I believe, were issued and then nine activists were killed in their homes. There was a knock on the door at 5:30 in the morning and people were ushered out and nine people were killed.

It's death by a thousand cuts. I mentioned lawyers who were defending us in court. They were afraid. Violence and fear are part of the environment we live in, and we continue to fight.

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

I just want to say, and I think I'm speaking for all committee members here, thank you for the work you're doing. It is very, very important work. If we can give any legitimacy and validity to the work you're doing by having you here, then we're very happy to do so. We know that you are not guilty and you are definitely fighting for human rights.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

Now we'll move to MP Chiu for seven minutes.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

My first question is directed to Ms. Ressa.

In the current situation we are facing, to a large extent, a significant portion of the human rights abuses have been connected to President Duterte's 2016 efforts to eradicate the effects of drugs, perhaps modelling after Singapore, Saudi Arabia and some other Middle Eastern countries.

My first question for you is, what was the extent of drug use in the Philippines before and what has it been since, and what is the size of the associated industry?

[Maria Ressa]

What is under-reported is that in the days before Duterte, drug use had been curtailed, but during the campaign of then mayor Duterte, drugs went from being the number eight concern to the number one. I often equate this with social media, because social media was very effectively used by then mayor Duterte and was actually weaponized after he became president.

Where are we today? Look, all of the specific numbers President Duterte has said have been inflated in terms of the number of people using drugs. The government then downscales numbers. I would say the key part that is difficult is to look at exactly how many people have been killed in this brutal drug war. In January 2017 the number the police gave was, I think, 7,200, and in plain view that was rolled back to 2,000. If you ask the Commission on Human Rights, they'll say that it's 28,000 or 27,000 as of December 2018, but you can see that last year alone the police rolled the number back to 5,000.

I would say we are caught in a battle for truth. It is a battle for facts that is global because of American social media companies, these platforms that prioritize the spread of lies over facts. Facts are really boring, and that notion has enabled this environment. The number of people killed: Who knows? That's the first casualty in our battle for facts.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you, Ms. Ressa.

I have a follow-up question on that. What is the support level of the Filipino population on this war on drugs campaign, the Duterte style of war on drugs that may not even exist, may not be a problem anymore, until he stirred that up?

[Maria Ressa]

Absolutely today, the problem is coronavirus, and the Philippines, like Brazil, chose retired military generals to head our pandemic response. It's part of the reason that we are right back in lockdown. We have curfews until 10:00 p.m. today. At the worst, most extreme lockdown, we needed to get quarantine passes to be able to leave home. It was a largely security-driven response that has largely failed.

How do we deal with the drug war? I think in the hierarchy of needs of Filipinos, the first one is health. The pandemic takes front and centre stage. Help hasn't really gone to the people in terms of—we call it ayuda—monetary help. There's been some help for large companies, but not for the tens of millions who have lost their jobs.

Then, it's some basic things, like contact tracing. None of these things.... I would say that coronavirus by pandemic response is a human right.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

My next question is for Ms. Palabay.

What is the state of human rights for political dissenters in the Philippines? Do you have fair and free democratic election campaigns? We talked about the general population and what they think about the war on drugs, but are there fair and transparent elections?

[Cristina Palabay]

MP Chiu, I think that the war on drugs and the war on so-called counterterrorism and the war on human rights defenders are all wars on political dissent.

It has created a climate of fear, a climate of impunity. It affects how people would participate in the electoral process. This was very apparent in the 2019 mid-term elections. Even politicians are on so-called drug watch lists, and many have been killed. There is no due process at all.

At the same time, this is what is also happening with political activists, journalists. You would not believe this. Even organizers of community pantries, which are mutual aid initiatives, are being red-tagged and harassed.

The problem is really this level: Anybody who voices their opinions, whether directly against the government or even proposing measures for the government to do something under this pandemic, is being—

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

In the last minute that I have, can I get your opinion on how the LGBTQ2+ minority groups are being impacted? Are they the ones who are voicing their opinions, or is it that they don't even need to do that and they're just being oppressed?

[Cristina Palabay]

I myself am a member of the LGBTQ community. I was not able to join that rally last year, but there was this pride march, and most of those who joined were arrested for expressing their opposition, on account that there are many LGBTQ leaders of movements here who are being silenced. Of course, they themselves are activists, but also at the same time, there are gendered attacks against them, threats of sexual violence. These are all widespread.

[Kenny Chiu, Conservative, Steveston—Richmond East, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you.

We'll now move to MP Brunelle-Duceppe for seven minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to all the witnesses for joining us this evening.

I want to point out that Mr. Beaudoin described Ms. Palabay and Ms. Ressa as heroines. I agree with him. They are on the front lines and, frankly, they have our utmost admiration, once again.

My questions will be directed to Mr. Beaudoin, but I invite Ms. Palabay and Ms. Ressa to speak if they wish. That's absolutely fine.

Mr. Beaudoin, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines recommends that specific sanctions be applied against individuals who order, assist or perpetrate extrajudicial killings or other human rights violations.

Are you thinking of any specific individuals from the government, military or police?

[Guy-Lin Beaudoin]

Certainly, unlike a country subject to the rule of law, the police and the military do not help to impart justice.

Ms. Palabay and Ms. Ressa would be best able and most reliable to answer your question, because they have intimate knowledge of the matter on the ground.

If I may, I will give them the floor.