Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to the 23rd meeting of the subcommittee on international human rights.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the order of June 23, 2022. Members are in person and participating by Zoom.

For the benefit of witnesses and members, I have some housekeeping items.

Please wait until I recognize you before speaking. When speaking, please speak at a pace that is moderate so that the interpreters can pick up what you're saying. For those participating by Zoom, you have a little icon at the bottom of the your screen, a globe icon. If you want to have it live without French or English interpretation, it's your choice. All comments should be addressed through the chair for those participating in person and by Zoom.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the subcommittee on Friday, September 23, 2022, our committee will resume its study on the rights and freedoms of women globally and on women in Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

We have several witnesses with us today.

We have, from the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Laila Gashem Rashid, chair of the board of directors, barrister and solicitor. She is participating by video.

We also have two witnesses appearing in person. They are both members of the Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec. We welcome Marie Malavoy, former member, chair of the Comité des femmes ex-parlementaires, and David Payne, former member, member of the Comité sur le parlementarisme et la démocratie.

We also have a fourth witness with us from a third group, the Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization.

Each group will have five minutes to testify. Given that we have two witnesses in person,

We are going to start with the Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec. The two witnesses will have the floor for a total of five minutes.

I'll put this signal for one minute remaining, and this one for 30 seconds, and then we'll conclude.

Thank you.

[Marie Malavoy, Former Member, Comité des femmes ex-parlementaires, Cercle des ex-parlementaires de l'Assemblée nationale du Québec]

Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for giving us the privilege of speaking today to tell you about our worries and concerns regarding the fate of women whose rights have been horrifically violated.

My name is Marie Malavoy and I am the chair of the Comité des femmes du Cercle des ex-parlementaires du Québec. With me is David Payne, a member of the Comité sur le parlementarisme et la démocratie.

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, our committee has been concerned about the fate of Afghan women, particularly women who were members of parliament and ministers. Like women associated with the judicial system, they are in grave danger of abuse or death. Unfortunately, recent events, such as the assassination of a former member of parliament, confirm our fears. Video documents we are able to view, shared by contacts on the ground, add intolerable images to the situation.

The members of our committee, who are former members of the National Assembly of Quebec, feel solidarity with the fate of who Afghan women who did the same job as us and are suffering the tragic consequences today. We firmly believe that the denial of their rights is a step backward for all humanity.

We have engaged in a number of actions since the summer of 2021. We had an opinion letter published in Le Devoir entitled "S.O.S. pour les Afghanes"; we have held several virtual meetings with Canadian former parliamentarians; we have met with the Minister of Immigration of Quebec; and we have also spoken with people who are very familiar with what is happening on the ground, including my colleague David, who have provided us with invaluable information.

Through the Afghan Women's Centre of Montreal, we have received a letter signed by 49 members of the Afghan Women's Network; the following is an excerpt from that letter:

[Translation] This letter speaks of the enormous pain and suffering and the enormous challenge faced by Afghan women ... who have fought for [human] rights. This letter is a bitter tale of how our lives have been stolen, and if we are not rescued from the black prison, it will all be buried with us.

We also have a list of women judges, prosecutors and lawyers who are at risk of reprisals, with their contact information, and the same for some former parliamentarians inside Afghanistan or in exile. For security reasons, however, we cannot share this information publicly.

We acknowledge that Canada has committed to taking in 40,000 refugees and has admitted about 20,000 to date, but we are particularly concerned about the desperate situation of women and we believe that action must be taken on a range of fronts.

First, the Criminal Code provisions relating to financing of terrorist activities must be urgently amended, as discussed in the "Calls to Action" that came out of the symposium organized by Afghan/Canadian Women and held in September 2022. This barrier must be taken down.

Second, on-site consular services in Afghanistan and bordering countries that admit refugees must be restored, because we cannot do anything if we are not there. At present, the only contact for people who are trying to come to Canada is by filling out a form. There has to be direct interaction with someone.

It is also important to simplify the mechanisms put in place by Canada, because they are not organized and efficient. Admission procedures are very complex and poorly suited to an emergency situation, while some countries are building bridges with groups that are helping people in the greatest danger. That is the case for France, Pakistan and Qatar, for example.

In addition, the rules that allow women who are inside Afghanistan to apply must be reinstated. We do not understand why this change was made, but the result is a serious injustice, depriving the women who most need safety of hope.

As well, specific information concerning applications that have been made must be provided so that progress can be monitored. Even our contacts in the Afghan government in exile are unable to find out how many applications have been received, approved or denied, and how many are waiting. Without that information, no effective action is possible.

There also needs to be an advisory committee established that includes people who are very familiar with the situation on the ground and with the active information networks, to keep the Canadian government informed.

In conclusion, we are offering to work with any body that would like to benefit from our information, and we hope that we will be able to work with Afghan women in the fight for a free and fair world.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Ms. Malavoy.

We'll continue with Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

We have Laila Gashem Rashid, please, for five minutes.

I'll give you the signals for one minute and for 30 seconds.

[Laila Gashem Rashid, Chair, Board of Directors, Barrister and Solicitor, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan]

Thank you, dear parliamentarians and members of the subcommittee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairperson and honourable members of Parliament, for inviting me to appear before this subcommittee.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to start by saying, as a Canadian woman of Iranian descent who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, where my family continues to reside, and who is currently speaking to you from within the region, there is simply no women's rights emergency in the world like that which is occurring in Afghanistan at the moment.

It is a fact that no country in the world—Canada included—has achieved complete equality. There is much work to be done globally in the fight for women's equal rights. Different countries and cultures are on their own paths along this continuum toward the common goal that benefits not only women and girls but whole societies.

The loss of rights and freedoms for women and girls in Afghanistan, however, is a dire crisis unlike anywhere else in the world. Afghanistan is suffering a dire humanitarian emergency alongside an incomparable human rights disaster. Even when girls are finding ways to continue their learning, they are doing so while hungry. This is the only country in the world to officially bar women from learning and from the workplace—a path that has plunged Afghans into ever deepening poverty, famine, political instability and gender-based violence.

It is no coincidence that the hunger crisis in Afghanistan, with a staggering 95% of households not getting enough to eat, is one of the most acute in the world, and at the same time there has been a brutal crackdown on human rights and basic freedoms. The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is caused by the human rights crisis.

Canada’s response is needed urgently and should be suited to the magnitude of the crisis. The actions needed must go beyond statements of condemnation. There is a growing perception that the governments of the G8 are inert and undecided in their response to what should properly be treated as a grave human rights crisis demanding immediate bold action.

We are calling for a foreign policy that puts human rights at its centre and prioritizes reversing the wrongs that commenced when Afghanistan was so brutally handed over to the Taliban in August 2021 under the nose of the international community.

Canada can fund and support the expansion of alternative, independent education systems, such as the virtual schools that have emerged since the Taliban’s ban on girls' education, as well as the technological infrastructure to support it. There is also an emerging network of independent schools working in exile. Canada can support efforts to scale and enhance exiled and virtual education for Afghans so that Afghans have access to education credentials that will be recognized internationally.

Canada can also support Canadian institutions of higher education to accept transfer students in Afghanistan to participate virtually, and help students access programs and courses that make them more eligible for international study opportunities. A wide variety of scholarship programs can be supported, including helping Afghan women pay for education and living expenses at universities outside of Afghanistan in their own region. We are already seeing announcements of significant responses from other countries, but not yet from Canada.

Canada can also support Afghan women and girls to access study opportunities in Canada by ensuring that Afghan nationals can obtain student visas. Currently, most student visa applications from Afghan nationals are rejected on the grounds of suspicion of dual purpose.

While equitable access to quality education is imperative, so is access to work. In December, the Taliban announced a ban on women working in NGOs, which was a devastating blow to both women’s ability to earn—in an already perilous economic crisis—and the ability of NGOs to provide life-saving aid to a population at risk of famine.

The Taliban’s policies and behaviour have driven out investment and trade, and thus job creation, making the country a pariah of the global economy. The Taliban should indeed be isolated, but the very opposite should be done for the people of Afghanistan. Give them access to the global economy.

This can be done in many ways. Governments can support Canadian employers to hire residents of Afghanistan for remote work opportunities, with incentives like job vouchers or stipends.

The dignity and security of a job will feed families more reliably than erratic access to aid. Access to a real education will prove to be post-Taliban Afghanistan’s greatest asset down the road.

Finally, we call for Canada to ensure that private sponsorship, skilled refugee programs and other pathways are available to as many Afghans as possible to come to Canada.

In closing, I want to mention that we hear reports of girls being turned away from some schools at gunpoint. This cannot happen on our watch. We must show with our actions, at least as much as with our words, that Canada does not accept denying the right to education and work to half a country’s population. We must show that we will not stand for gender apartheid; that when we say we have a feminist foreign policy, we truly mean it; and that we will back that policy with courage, creativity, risk and resoluteness.

I look forward to answering any questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Ms. Gashem.

We're now going to continue with our final witness for five minutes. From the Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization, we have Horia Mosadiq.

You have five minutes, please.

[Horia Mosadiq, Director, Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization]

Thank you very much.

First of all, I would like to thank the Government of Canada, the Parliament of Canada and the people of Canada for standing with the Afghan people in this very difficult time and for allocating humanitarian visas and life-saving support for Afghans at risk.

At the same time, I would also like to say that at the time we are talking, thousands of Afghans—mostly human rights defenders, civil society activists and journalists—were able to resettle in Canada and find a second home at a time when their homes and lives were being taken away by a terrorist group.

Since August 2021, when Afghanistan was handed over to the Taliban, hundreds of Afghan human rights defenders, members of civil society, human rights activists, civil rights activists, journalists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, sports personalities, musicians and public figures have been abducted, arrested, detained, tortured and threatened. Scores have been killed, injured or disappeared in violent attacks by the Taliban and their associates.

Peaceful protesters who only demand their fundamental rights to employment and education are abducted, tortured, raped, killed and disappeared. Some are unlawfully detained for months without any due process.

Freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly are now non-existent. Hundreds of media outlets—mostly women's media outlets—were shut across Afghanistan. The few that are still active are facing significant levels of restrictions by the Taliban. The Taliban controls the media, news and debates. People who are critical of the Taliban are being abducted, arrested, detained and tortured, and some are being disappeared to this day.

In the areas where armed resistance is happening against the Taliban, such as the Panjshir province or the Andarab district, civilians are harassed, arrested, tortured and executed in broad daylight. While the summary execution of prisoners of war is the norm within the Taliban, other atrocities such as land grabbing, enforced evictions and the enforced displacement of other ethnic groups, such as the Hazaras in Daikundi, and Tajiks and Uzbeks in the Takhar, Baghlan and Kunduz provinces are happening on a large scale. Of course, the negative impact of these violations is significant, particularly on women and girls.

While the Taliban's atrocities have no limit, their war against the women and girls of Afghanistan goes back to the 1990s, when they first ruled the country. Despite the Taliban's fake promises made during the Doha peace agreement in February 2020, the Taliban continue to ban Afghan women and girls from employment and education, and systematically violate their basic and fundamental rights.

Millions of girls are now out of school. The hundreds of thousands of women civil servants who lost their jobs were forced to stay at home. Universities are shut for women students, and women are now even banned from working in NGOs and for humanitarian aid agencies.

Since the Taliban took control, poverty among women has significantly increased. Now we see more women beggars on the streets and more children doing labour. There are significant increases in forced marriages, child marriages and child trafficking.

Meanwhile, from whatever humanitarian aid is provided to the Afghan people, the Taliban are taking a significant share. It goes to the Taliban soldiers, some of whom are involved in committing war crimes in Afghanistan now. Humanitarian aid is most particularly given to the soldiers who fight on the front line or in the places that are deemed challenging by the Taliban. This has been reported by several UN agencies and other aid agencies.

In the past 18 months, while Taliban soldiers and officials operate with blanket immunity from any crime they commit on a daily basis in Afghanistan and while the country is run in the absence of any legal framework and all laws have been abolished, Taliban leaders, including internationally sanctioned terrorists, are travelling by private jets to European capitals and around the world. They are receiving billions of dollars in the name of so-called humanitarian aid, which is used to feed Taliban soldiers who commit gross human rights violations.

Before taking too much time, I would like to end my speech by giving some recommendations.

While we are extremely thankful to the government and Parliament of Canada for their generous support of Afghans at risk, access to the process of resettlement in Canada is extremely slow and time-consuming. I therefore request that you please accelerate the resettlement process of Afghans at risk by allocating more personnel and resources to provide a speedy and timely response to the growing needs of Afghans at risk.

Please provide certain organizations such as Front Line Defenders, Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Bar Association and others with a quota of visas for human rights defenders, women's rights activists, women and men media workers and journalists and lawyers so that they can provide the support and protection needed to those who are genuinely at high risk.

At the same time, hundreds of other women protesters are living in fear of deportation in Pakistan and Iran without having any prospect for the future of resettlement to any other country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Ms. Mosadiq. We'll continue with those recommendations in the questions and answers.

In order to have two proper rounds, we'll have our first round for six minutes, and then the remainder of the time afterwards.

We're going to start with Mr. Viersen and then move to Ms. Vandenbeld.

Mr. Viersen, you have six minutes, please.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for being here today.

I would like to start with Laila.

How is the Taliban funded? What is their reasoning for ending the ability of women to go to school and things like that?

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

I can take some guesses about how the Taliban is funded, but of course this is a very complicated question, with the regional aspects of countries in the region that have some benefit in dealing with the Taliban. As well, the ban on education, of course, goes back to the Taliban ideology. Their purpose is to bar women from rights. This includes rights to education as well as rights to work.

As to why they have this ideology, that's everyone's question. It's on everyone's mind. I wish I could tell you, and we could fix it. We've been trying to do that for many years.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

What was the role of the Canadian Armed Forces in the region? We were in Afghanistan for over a decade. How has that played into our relationship with Afghanistan in general?

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

Speaking on behalf of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, our focus is mainly on education. The time when the Canadian Armed Forces were in Afghanistan was very helpful in providing support to aid agencies to continue their work there. We made tremendous gains in Afghanistan in the sector of education for girls and women, as well as for women in the workplace. I would say that the tremendous losses that have occurred since the Taliban takeover are quite tragic.

The regional aspect of the Taliban funding, despite their very restrictive ideology, is a very good question. Government actors like China and Russia continue to do work with the Taliban. This is problematic for others in the region, of course, and for the rest of the world, especially for women who are being denied an education. The Taliban continue to trade with Pakistan, and this was ongoing even before the Taliban takeover in 2021. We know that the funding the Taliban receives globally is from those who share their ideology.

During the time that the Canadian Armed Forces were there, again, we managed to do a lot of work. Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan has been in that country since 1998. We operated the entire time the Canadian Forces were there. We found that we had a significant ability to do our work, as did other aid organizations.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Afghanistan is a relatively large country. Do you find areas in Afghanistan that you are able to operate in and other areas that you are not, or is it fair to say that your organization has been pushed outside the entire boundary of Afghanistan?

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

I am assuming you mean at the moment.

We continue operations that provide services to Afghan women and girls. Most of our operations at the moment are based in Canada. For example, we have made tremendous gains in expanding our virtual programming for our virtual schools. One of the most effective programs has been our DD classrooms, which allow girls to continue their education virtually with support for Internet packages, equipment, power banks and so on. We have also expanded our scholarship program, which allows girls and women to continue their education abroad.

I prefer not to comment on our work in the country. Obviously, the students who access our programs in the country are quite at risk, so for security reasons, we prefer not to comment. We operate throughout the country. Our programs are provided throughout the country.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Okay.

You mentioned that you've set up schools outside of the country and around the world for Afghan nationals. Is there a regulatory recognition or action that the Canadian government could take to help with that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

You have one minute.

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

Absolutely, and of course I could spend 10 minutes talking about this.

We reach Afghans all over Afghanistan and also displaced Afghans. One of our latest programs is remote communication assistance, for example. We're also opening our first digital learning centre for Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

One of our biggest programs at the moment is working on getting access to virtual education and support from international higher education institutions for women who have been banned from universities. We deliver virtual education in Afghanistan. We provide scholarships, as I've said, and remote access by providing infrastructure support, and there's the digital learning centre in Pakistan. We also have advocacy campaigns.

There's much the Canadian government can do. First of all, for example, the Canadian government can provide grants and scholarships to institutions that are taking steps to support women in Afghanistan to access education outside of the country. We know that statements of condemnation are not influential at all on the Taliban; they don't care at all about international finger-wagging.

Ways to circumvent the Taliban for girls and women to access education are key. Supporting Afghans to leave the country by providing streamlined visa access, refugee sponsorship or any programs that support this is very important. Also, then, access to safe refuge in any third country is very important.

Really, funding and scaling any type of alternative independent education system is really crucial right now, because ultimately—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

Thank you, Ms. Gashem.

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sameer Zuberi]

You should continue those thoughts as we continue in the questions.

Ms. Vandenbeld, you have six minutes.

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

Thank you very much.

First I'd like to thank all of you for the vitally important work you're doing. I think that all of us as parliamentarians look at what's happening in Afghanistan with great alarm. The word “crisis” is not even strong enough. Thank you so much.

I'd like to start with Ms. Gashem because you have come to us with some very concrete, tangible things that we can do, such as virtual learning. I think that's very helpful for our recommendations.

I'd like to go to the resettling in Canada. I know that Canada opened up, through the special program, 40,000 spaces. I think we've settled over 27,000 already. I hear you on the speed of that.

There's one thing I wanted to ask, because we had over a million emails, a million applicants, for those 40,000 spaces. When we opened up 3,000 spaces in October for people who were outside of Afghanistan but couldn't get refugee status, the quota was reached in the first day that they were opened up. The magnitude of this problem is overwhelming. I look at things like seeing MP Mursal Nabizada assassinated and the plight of other human rights defenders and members of parliament.

We created, as a result of this committee, a human rights defenders stream of immigration. It was created at only 250 per year. To identify people, we did it through partners such as UNHCR, Front Line Defenders and ProtectDefenders. I'm wondering about scaling up something like that, specifically targeting human rights defenders who are known. I mean, organizations on the ground know who they are. If that could be scaled up, working through partners, as some of you suggested, that might be an easier and better way to try target the people who are most in danger.

I'm going to put that first to Ms. Gashem and then ask everybody else to answer. Keep in consideration that we have only a few minutes.

Go ahead, Ms. Gashem.

[Laila Gashem Rashid]

Thank you very much.

Absolutely, the answer is yes, yes, yes. Should we scale this program up? We should definitely scale it up as much as we possibly can.

There are a few different points to consider here.

The first is that we should be accepting education and gender. If you are simply a woman in Afghanistan, that should be recognized as grounds for seeking asylum or for becoming eligible for these pathways in Canada, because, at the moment, these two issues are so inherently interlinked. If you are in Afghanistan at the moment, you are at risk. Especially for women and girls at the moment, the risk is so severe and these concepts are so interlinked. That automatically would provide some sort of link for them to become eligible for these pathways. We should be scaling all programs, in fact, whether they are private sponsorship programs or skilled refugees pathways. Absolutely, there's a lot of room for work here.

We obviously cannot bring everybody in Afghanistan to Canada. That would be my preferred way to do this, if possible, but we know this is not possible. We know that other countries are already ahead of Canada in this endeavour. For example, Denmark announced on Monday that they would grant asylum status to Afghan women solely based on gender. The numbers are small and they won't have the ability to scale it to as large a program as Canada can, but we definitely are encouraged to see signs like this in the international community. We'd like to see much more of this. All programs that allow for this are absolutely very important and should be streamlined as much as possible.

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

Thank you.

Ms. Mosadiq, did you want to add something?

[Horia Mosadiq]

Yes, definitely.

I would like to say that it's really important that there are specific programs and quotas, particularly for the humanists, journalists and lawyers who are at extreme risk in Afghanistan. My organization, the Safety and Risk Mitigation Organization, receives on a daily basis tens of cases of women human rights defenders, men human rights defenders, who are at grave risk. They are being threatened. They are being detained. They are being tortured. Even the family members of many human rights defenders are facing a significant number of threats from the Taliban simply because of the human rights work that their family members are doing.

At the same time, I would like to emphasize the protection of journalists as well as women protesters. Many women protesters are putting their lives on the line, and then they themselves and also their immediate family members are facing lots of consequences for what they are standing up for and doing.

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

Would you like to answer as well, Ms. Malavoy or Mr. Payne?

[Marie Malavoy]

I just want to emphasize the fact that the situation is extremely urgent. Some countries in the world have done things faster and better than Canada has. Canada is a country that claims to be two entirely laudable things: a country committed to human rights and a feminist country. On both fronts, Canada is not moving fast enough.

In the case of Afghan women, we too have seen the article saying that Denmark has recently made its rules more flexible and decided to focus on Afghan women. We do not understand why Canada is being so slow to respond.