Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on March 21st, 2022

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you for that.

I want to turn my attention to Nicaragua. That's a country that you did not mention. Do you have concerns about the situation there, including the special cybercrime law?

[Farida Deif]

I'm afraid I can't really speak to that in detail.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Are you able to speak at all about the situation in Nicaragua under the Ortega regime?

[Farida Deif]

In many ways, what we're seeing in Nicaragua is an enormous concentration of power by President Ortega. It's very similar to the playbook that I described earlier in my statement. We see the government committing widespread and egregious abuses against critics with complete impunity. We're seeing armed pro-government groups brutally repressing anti-government protesters and killing hundreds. We're seeing arbitrary detentions, and the Nicaraguan government really intensifying its crackdown on civil society and the free press.

There are a lot of very worrying signs. We've been calling for the Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Council to really ensure there's increased scrutiny of the human rights situation in Nicaragua, and the renewal of several mandates for monitoring the human rights situation in the country.

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

Thank you, Ms. Deif.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you, Mr. Cooper.

We now turn to Monsieur Trudel, for seven minutes.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us this evening.

I'd like to ask Mr. Diamond a question about Algeria.

A constituent in my riding, Lazhar Zouaïmia, is an activist with Amnesty International in Quebec. He campaigns for the human rights of people in Algeria. He has been a Canadian citizen for about 15 years. His situation is a bit tragic. He has two children here, as well as a wife. He lost his 21‑year‑old son in a car accident about a year ago. He went to Algeria to carry out some sort of funeral rite. He wanted to pay his respects in his country and home village. However, the Algerian government arrested him at the airport, charged him with terrorism and imprisoned him. Mr. Zouaïmia is a simple Amnesty International activist who works in Quebec for democracy in Algeria.

These events happened not too long ago; it was about a month ago. The situation is a bit complicated because of Mr. Zouaïmia's dual Canadian‑Algerian citizenship. Since the Algerian government denies his Canadian citizenship, Mr. Zouaïmia doesn't have access to consular services, so it's extremely difficult to know what's going on there.

Mr. Diamond, is this a situation you are concerned about or that you've ever faced?

First of all, can you tell me if you're familiar with Mr. Zouaïmia's case?

[Yonah Diamond]

I have not heard of this case, and I thank you for bringing the disturbing details of this case to our attention. It's not a country that we have focused on yet, but for a dual Canadian national, it is something that we are certainly engaged with in terms of other cases, like Huseyin Celil, Dr. Reza Eslami and other Canadians detained abroad.

I would like you to see us as partners. If you'd like to set up a meeting or join our all-party parliamentary caucus for human rights, where we help design advocacy plans for specific political...or arbitrarily detained Canadian citizens abroad, we can discuss the full range of methods available.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Can you speak to the situation in Algeria?

You're not familiar with this specific case, but have you ever heard of citizens with dual citizenship from all over the world who have been imprisoned in Algeria?

Is the Algerian government more repressive now than it was before? What is the human rights situation in Algeria?

[Yonah Diamond]

I can't speak to the specifics of Algeria, but it's part of a global trend of seeing hostage taking as a legitimate foreign policy tool. That's why Canada's leadership on this, on the state-to-state declaration, needs to be implemented through an action plan more vigorously. Consular assistance also needs to be vigorously pursued in this case.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Let's set Algeria aside for the moment.

Mr. Diamond, do you think that, generally speaking, around the world, violations of the rights of human rights defenders are on the rise? If so, in what part of the world is it the most problematic?

[Yonah Diamond]

That's a great question. We're seeing basically every metric globally resurging with authoritarianism and the backsliding of democracies, with severe implications for human rights, especially over the course of the pandemic. It has exacerbated not only poverty inequalities, but also repression.

In Russia, for example, there has been a lot of interest lately. Before the military buildup, there was already a backslide through repressive policies. Perhaps the most disturbing recently was the shutdown of the leading human rights organization in Russia, Memorial, under the foreign agent law.

These sorts of things have been happening around the world. That's why it's so important to have studies like this, and re-engaging after the pandemic, because we've slipped back.

In the Philippines, too, as I mentioned, there is an election in May. There has been an escalation and an internal, domestic crackdown in the past few years during Duterte's time in office, including the crackdown on journalists, lawyers and political opponents killed. Nobel laureate Maria Ressa called it “death by a thousand cuts” to democracy and media freedom. It has included over 200 attacks and threats, including the murders of 22 journalists in the Philippines. As I said, there is an increase in the murders of human rights defenders worldwide.

I briefly mentioned this, but in China, there have been increasingly repressive measures and more restrictive measures to accessing the Xinjiang region, where a genocide is under way against the Uighurs.

Those are just a few examples of these trends worldwide.

[Denis Trudel, Bloc, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Diamond.

Ms. Deif, I'd like you to talk about democratic countries that are violating the rights of human rights defenders around the world. You mentioned India, but are there other so‑called democratic countries that commit such abuses?

[Farida Deif]

Yes, we're seeing the same trend. I mentioned India and Israel, as well, in terms of allies of Canada and the kinds of concerns we have around those countries.

The backslide in human rights is something we're seeing across the board. We're seeing some positive elements in an increase in the mobilization of human rights defenders, in the use of social media to promote human rights and in the use of investigative technology to document those abuses. However, at the same time, we're seeing different elements of problems where, even though there is an increase in mobilization on human rights, there are new tools that governments, including democracies, can use to suppress dissent.

I spoke earlier about one particular surveillance technology software called Pegasus that's being misused to gain access to the private communication of journalists, activists and world leaders. This is a space where we don't see regulation in any way. It's a really worrying trend, because it's a new tool that can be used by both democracies and non-democracies, and misused in very harmful ways.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Ms. Deif, could I ask you to wrap it up, please?

[Farida Deif]

I'm fine. That's all I had to say on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Ms. Deif.

We now turn to Ms. McPherson. You have seven minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank both of our witnesses today. This has been extremely enlightening and very interesting. It is very worrying, as well, as we're hearing about backsliding in protections for human rights around the world. It is deeply disturbing to hear this.

One of the things I picked up on a number of times, Ms. Deif, was when you spoke about turning a blind eye and the need for Canada—as the country that we all want Canada to be—to continually call out these abuses when they happen. What happens when we don't do that? What happens when Canada turns a blind eye, as it has done in Israel and Palestine, and in other countries?

We had a witness from the Philippines come to this committee and testify on the impacts that Canadian companies working in her country have had. Her life was in danger.

What obligations do we have, as Canadians, to call this out? What happens when we don't meet that obligation?

[Farida Deif]

Thank you for your question.

We're seeing this again and again. What we've seen in the case of Ukraine, for example, right now is how the Canadian government can use very effectively every tool in its tool kit, whether it's sanctions, asset freezes or accountability at the International Criminal Court, to really push forward and condemn the human rights abuses that are occurring. However, we also see, unfortunately, that it's really rare that this government has been using every tool in its tool kit to call out these abuses.

To answer your question, what happens when this government doesn't condemn the actions of allies like Israel when they commit serious human rights abuses, what happens when the government obstructs International Criminal Court proceedings—trying to investigate, for example, the Israeli government's actions in the Palestinian territories—is that it gives the green light for governments to commit these abuses.

We've seen the misuse of counterterrorism legislation. It's really important for this government to have a very principled approach to the misuse of counterterrorism legislation to muzzle peaceful human rights dissent. That should be a kind of red line. Whether it's an ally or a country where this government has very poor relations, whichever country is committing those types of abuses, misusing counterterrorism legislation as a way to muzzle peaceful dissent, there should be a statement of condemnation. When you don't see a statement of condemnation, it really gives a green light for other governments to do the same, but it also sends the message to civil society organizations that the Canadian government doesn't really care about their plight.

We've seen this in a number of countries. We've seen this in Egypt, we've seen this in Israel, we've seen this elsewhere. When this government is close to a particular government, we don't see the same robust action, the same robust condemnation. We often see radio silence. That really sends a very worrying message and signal to civil society organizations and partner groups that are really looking to Canada to have a principled and pragmatic approach to these abuses.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Certainly, if Canada does not have that principled stance, it's very difficult to expect other countries to do so.

One other thing I'm seized with, of course, right now is what's happening in Ukraine. You're right that the government has done an awful lot for the people of Ukraine, as it should. This is a very desperate situation. However, it has not been the same across the board for other countries.

I do wonder. The misinformation that we've seen come out of Russia, the lies that we've seen come out of Belarus, the human rights issues that started in there and have been going on there for a very long time were not called out or were not acted upon. Could Canada have done more in that situation?

Also, how does Canada work multilaterally? How do we work with our allies? How do we work with our international multilateral institutions to better protect human rights defenders around the world and to better protect journalists?

I'd like you to answer that in terms of both actions we can take, but also legislation that we could be bringing forward, ways that we could be using the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. What are some of those tangible things that Canada could do right now?

That's a very meaty question. I'm sorry about that.

[Farida Deif]

Thank you.

I guess there are a number of things.

We often struggle as international human rights activists to convince the Government of Canada and Global Affairs to be outspoken at the United Nations Human Rights Council on country-specific situations. There's only really a subset of countries that the Canadian government engages on at the Human Rights Council. They're often much more comfortable with thematic issues that are bit softer, like violence against women and LGBT issues. Those are sort of easier issues. We hear again and again that they engage with this government bilaterally or they engage with that government privately, but they don't do so in a really public way. I don't think the government does enough at the Human Rights Council to really address country-specific situations.

We've certainly seen a change in that approach with respect to Ukraine, but it really is anomalous in a lot of ways. We would love to see more of that type of robust action by this government at the United Nations—at the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council in Geneva—and then also within the International Criminal Court. Canada is a founding member of the International Criminal Court, so it should really be at the forefront of accountability efforts. We've seen that in cases in which it has an ally—I mentioned Israel earlier—the government is not keen to move forward, even on accountability and justice for really serious international crimes. When you ask Global Affairs where Palestinians go to remedy the serious international crimes that they've experienced under the Israeli occupation, they have no answer. There's really nowhere for them to go.

We really need to take a principled stance for every country situation around these issues, whether it's an ally or not.

We've seen this similarly around LGBTQ issues where, in some cases, the government is very vocal. In other cases, we see that the approach is much more one of private diplomacy. Unfortunately, private diplomacy results in very little because the offending government can very easily drag the situation on for years. It's really not forced to take any action.

I think it's really important for the government to take a principled stance on these issues on the world stage and at the International Criminal Court and not promote a double standard. We see this as well with—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you. I think we're running out of time. I'm sorry, Ms. Deif.

[Farida Deif]

I'll just say that we see this as well with the global declaration on arbitrary detention, which was done very specifically—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Ms. Deif, you're way over time. I would ask you to just conclude.

Thank you very much.

Now we're going to move to the second round. Given that we are way over time and we are expecting to hear from a second panel as well, I would ask each member to restrict themselves and their questions to two minutes.

Now we now start off with Ms. Vandenbeld.

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

I'll share my time with Mr. Oliphant.