Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on March 28th, 2022

[Maria Ressa]

It's beyond a chilling effect. It is glacial.

It came about around the same time as Hong Kong's security law. It just meant that you could be arrested without a warrant. This is the impact on people: You could be arrested without a warrant and held in prison for up to 24 days. I'll have to double-check those numbers.

Beyond that, many petitions were filed at the supreme court to roll it back. The supreme court has rolled some elements back, but it still remains and it hangs like Damocles' sword on any human rights defender.

We've also seen that social media has been weaponized. The phrase in the Philippines is “red tag”. It's essentially comparing a human rights defender to a terrorist and uses the same principles that you heard from Matthew against journalists and human rights defenders.

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

Thank you very much, Ms. Ressa.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

Now we turn to Ms. McPherson.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all our witnesses for being here tonight. It is such an honour to hear from you. I know people have said this before this evening, but I recognize [Technical difficulty--Editor] to do the work that you do. Your bravery and your courageous commitment to truth and to journalism is recognized certainly by this committee.

I want to start with Ms. Ressa.

I've read the speech that you gave in October when you accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. It was incredibly moving, and very chilling, of course, in parts as well.

I want to quote from it. You put in your comments that:

Highly profitable micro-targeting operations are engineered to structurally undermine human will—a behaviour modification system in which we are Pavlov’s dogs....

You went on to say:

These destructive corporations have siphoned money away from news groups and now pose a foundational threat to markets and elections.

It's obviously extremely terrifying and something that I think we can all recognize is not restricted to the Philippines. It is not restricted to any one democracy or non-democracy in the world. We are all implicated by this and this impacts all of us.

You spoke today in your comments about the need for legislation, and I know it is hopefully something that will be coming forward. The government has brought forward legislation in this country and there is a push-back that we see in terms of attacks on human rights. Many members of the opposition have stood in the House and said that these laws that would control social media are wrong.

How do you get around that? How do you counter that argument so that we actually can have legislation in place that holds social media to account?

[Maria Ressa]

Thank you so much for the question.

First of all, it's an old argument that isn't true. Again, freedom of speech is upheld as the most sacred right in the west, but right now, think about it, and human rights activists have said this: The right to freedom of speech of a few people is actually encroaching on the right to life of many more, and the right to safety and the right to dignity.

For example, look at genocide in Myanmar.

If we all agree that facts exist, that makes it objective, which leads to truth, which leads to trust.

I tried to show how the debate on content is all the way downstream. The legislation should come further upstream, at the algorithmic amplification and directly at the surveillance capitalism. Again, the basic question of data privacy is who owns the data? Should these large American companies own our private lives?

Beyond that as well, thank you for bringing up something that I failed to mention but mentioned in the Nobel lecture: gendered disinformation. The other reason we need to do that is because human rights defenders, women journalists and women politicians, also deserve the right to free speech. Right now, freedom of speech is being used to stifle and pound women and vulnerable sectors to silence. It's information operations.

Canada, like the U.S., now has a serious problem with the way women in politics and journalism are being targeted. The same patterns of abuse that you see in repressive regimes are now made possible in your societies by these social media platforms.

I can also send a study, “#ShePersisted”, a white paper that was done in Canada based on discussions with journalists and women in politics.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you. That would be wonderful.

As a female politician, I have to say, I agree with you 100% that we are silenced in ways that are different. There are gendered impacts.

One of the things you also mentioned is the impacts on journalism. One of the things that I know we've looked at a lot as parliamentarians is how we protect journalism as a necessary pillar of democracy. When we look at social media being the place where people get their journalism, when we recognize that social media is a place where facts, news and media are not in fact valued, what are the things that a democracy such as Canada needs to do to protect the journalists who are doing the vital work?

I don't know if you know, but we had a “freedom convoy” in Canada that was very much calling out our media for being fake news, while they were trying to dismantle our democracy.

This was in Canada, in January. This is not ancient history or something happening somewhere else.

[Maria Ressa]

These are all symptoms of the same crucial problem, which is this supposed freedom of speech is being used to pound. When you pound something, when you say something a million times, a lie, it becomes a fact in the age of abundance, in the age of social media. I think that's a fundamental difference.

Again, I'm sorry to keep bringing it up but these lessons are so incredibly personal and macro. So, it's micro and macro. I will also send you a UNESCO study and the International Center for Journalists study on almost a half a million social media attacks against me. It's the first big data case study that was done, and you can see there how 60% of the attacks were meant to tear down my credibility. Forty per cent were meant to tear down my spirit, and I use that as an example. That is what is being done to women journalists, women politicians. That is what is being done to news organizations.

I actually say this to news organizations. We still feel we have the power. It's like a vestigial tail. The real power of distribution is with technology, and those do not have any guardrails at all right now. It is profit at all costs.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Yes, the guardrails are vital.

I know I'm running out of time, but I did want to ask Ms. Boniadi a very quick question. You spoke about the fact that we don't have those diplomatic ties. Canada does not have those diplomatic ties with Iran. I represent the riding where many of the victims of flight PS752 lived. It has changed the face of the university in my riding. I just wonder if it would be better for us to have those diplomatic ties so that we could promote the voices, or if it is better for us to ignore a government that is failing to meet human rights standards.

[Nazanin Boniadi]

I think it's really important that we don't have double standards in our foreign policy.

When we're calling for sanctioning Putin, who is terrorizing Ukraine, why would we then have diplomatic ties with Iranian authorities who are terrorizing their own people? I think we can't say that it's okay what you do to your own people, but just don't do it to other people. I think justice for the bereaved relatives of those loved ones lost on the flight can come in the form of following up on investigations and making sure that facts are found. Accountability and transparency are very important.

I just want to add, on the tail of Ms. Ressa's remarks, that dissidents inside Iran are not the only target; it's also dissidents abroad.

If we look at the case of Masih Alinejad, who is an incredibly brave female Iranian journalist, U.S.-based, whose brother has been imprisoned, sentenced to eight years in prison to silence her, we realize that these autocracies, these oppressive governments, don't stop at their own borders. They also are trying to silence everyone outside who is raising their voices, particularly women. They are particularly scared of women like Masih.

I think it's really important that even if we don't have ties with Iran, we collectively empower civil society not only inside Iran, by supporting independent media—which is so incredibly important, because, of course, it's state-owned media inside Iran—but also outside, by supporting people like Mehdi Yahyanejad, who has created the Toosheh app. When there is an Internet blackout, if you have this app in Iran, you have access to real news, what's going on in the world and how to connect and organize.

These are all ways we can help the Iranian people.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you so much. Thank you all for your work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you.

Now, we're out of time on this round. There are four members remaining for the second round. My apologies, but we're way over the time. I will provide you each with one question, Ms. Vandenbeld, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Trudel.

My apologies, Ms. McPherson, but you were way over the time in your segment, so it's just the three remaining members.

Ms. Vandenbeld.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I don't know how to choose just one question.

I do want to say to all of the witnesses today that I think I speak for all parliamentarians when I say that we tremendously admire and respect your courage in the face of great personal cost.

My question is for Maria Ressa.

It's good to see you again. I note that it's the second time I've heard you testify before the Canadian Parliament. The last time was at the grand committee of the ethics, privacy and information committee about the “data-opolies” and the large social media platforms.

You've talked about the need to look at the algorithms and the transparency of what underlies the amplification on these social media platforms, which is a very different thing than the argument that's made back that you're somehow censoring content. Could you talk a bit about the way in which legislators can work across jurisdictions?

We know that the large social media platforms will move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and, if regulations are different, it can be very difficult to regulate them. How can we, as the Canadian Parliament, ensure we're working in concert with other legislatures around the world to be able to truly have an impact when it comes to the proliferation of this undermining of truth that you've spoken about?

[Maria Ressa]

I'll quickly respond to that by saying that the biggest problem we face today is that the laws we have evolved in the physical world don't exist in the virtual world and, in many ways, we have all fallen for this idea that the virtual world is different from the real world, but it isn't—we only live in one reality.

There's something very simple that the platforms have done. After January 6 in the United States and that violence, Facebook did its “break glass” moment: It turned up something it called the “news ecosystem quality”, which is news ecosystem quality for quality news—right?—and facts.

When they did that, CrowdTangle, which a tool that shows you which are the top 10, all of a sudden had NPR, The New York Times and news story organizations that are liable for their content come up in the top 10.

But that only stayed for a few weeks, because after it became safe again, they turned it back down. Then you have the toxic sludge coming back up again. Why? It made less money.

First, I think, insist that the laws of the real world are in the virtual world. That doesn't require new laws. It does require accountability. Sidestepping accountability for distribution is the wrong thing to do, and we have allowed that for too long.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Next we go to Mr. Cooper.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will direct my question to Ms. Boniadi.

In terms of holding the Iranian regime accountable for, among other things, the downing of Ukrainian airlines flight PS752, do you believe that the Government of Canada should designate the IRGC as a terrorist entity, just as it has with respect to the Quds Force?

[Nazanin Boniadi]

I do think that the IRGC has terrorized the Iranian people and the region. I think what's most important is that when we look at our foreign policy with Iran, things like the JCPOA should never overshadow the human rights inside Iran.

When I say that, we would be wise to remember the words of former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who said, “Arms controllers didn't end the Cold War with the Soviet Union; democrats inside Russia and other Soviet republics did.” Karim Sadjadpour, who is an Iran scholar, wrote in The Atlantic, “Similarly, the U.S.-Iran cold war will likely be concluded not by American diplomats but by Iranian democrats.”

What we have to do is make sure that we're empowering those democrats. I think that holding the IRGC accountable is a way to empower those democrats inside Iran to find freedom.

I hope that answers your question.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cooper.

The last question goes to Monsieur Trudel.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Ressa, in December 2021, a few months ago, the International Criminal Court declared that crimes had been committed in the context of the war on drugs and that it would decide, in 2022, whether or not there would be an investigation.

First of all, has an investigation been launched?

Secondly, do you think that Canada could intervene to ask the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into these crimes?

[Maria Ressa]

Yes, absolutely. This is being closely watched in the Philippines, partly because it comes down to systems of accountability. Will anyone be responsible for these drug wars and the violence that continues today?

It's taken a bit of a back seat, but I think the most critical part of this is to also look at what is upcoming. We have our elections, but also look at the human rights. Please closely monitor the universal periodic review process at the UN Human Rights Council, which will be in October. The deadline for submissions from civil society is on March 31 and the UN Human Rights Council review is in October.

The more pressure that is put on this, the greater the chance that the deaths will stop.

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

Thank you, Ms. Ressa.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

On that particular note, allow me to thank all three of our panellists, Ms. Ressa, Ms. Boniadi and Mr. Leung. We are certainly very honoured to have had you. Your erudition, your insights and some of the sobering facts that you shared with us obviously very much elevated our understanding of troubled countries around the world. We're very grateful to have had you.

Mr. Leung, again, I just want to extend to you our apologies for the technical problems you had. If there is any issue that did arise in the questions that you would like to respond to, please kindly do so and we will make sure that it is distributed amongst the members here.

Thank you for this.

For the members, we will be suspending temporarily for five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

I call this meeting back to order.

Good evening, panellists. We're very honoured to have you all with us. I apologize for going over time with the first panel, but we're very much looking forward to hearing from you.

We have four experts on this panel, for the benefit of the members. We have Ms. Rachel Pulfer, executive director of Journalists for Human Rights; Ms. Judith Abitan, executive director of the Raoul Wallenburg Centre for Human Rights; Ms. Rachael Kay, deputy executive director of IFEX; and Mr. Mark Clifford, president of The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong.

Each of the panellists will have five minutes for your opening remarks. Once that is done and we have heard from each of you, the members will be asking you questions.

The first speaker will be Ms. Pulfer. You have five minutes. The floor is yours.

Thank you.

[Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists for Human Rights]

Thank you so much.

I also thank the other distinguished witnesses for their perspectives, and the members of the committee for this invitation.

I am really honoured to be here with you, to share some ideas and to tell you about the situations and the work of the journalists we work with at Journalists for Human Rights, or JHR. I also want to take a moment to thank all the officials who are currently working on some of the cases to help journalists at risk. It is a difficult and complicated job.

My name is Rachel Pulfer and I am the Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights, an international NGO that supports media development to help journalists and promote respect for human rights around the world.

Journalists for Human Rights is a Canadian-based media development organization that works to promote access to human rights worldwide.

We do this through strengthening the media's ability to cover human rights stories in places where the commitment to media freedoms and human rights is fragile. Currently, we do this work across 17 countries, including Mali, Iraq and Yemen.

Over the past six months, we have worked to evacuate journalists under threat from Afghanistan. This is the work I want to focus on in this discussion, but I wouldn't be a good journalist if I didn't start this talk with a story.

I am going to share with you the story of Katira Ahmadi, a female TV anchor with Zan TV.

Zan TV was an all-woman television station based in Kabul. It produced news and feature content in Afghanistan up until August 15 of last year. After the fall of Kabul, Katira and her colleagues went into hiding. They knew that as women who had a high public profile, they would have targets on their backs.

Journalists for Human Rights evacuated Katira and some of her colleagues from Kabul in October of 2021. Ever since then, she has been stuck in Islamabad. As an Afghan refugee, every door is closed to her save the one she went through to get to Pakistan.

When she arrived, Katira was pregnant. Within weeks she miscarried. Katira desperately needs a permanent place to settle, yet months of effort by a coalition of media freedoms organizations, including Journalists for Human Rights, have so far secured nothing. She is just one of 500 journalists, women leaders, human rights defenders and their family members from Afghanistan whom Journalists for Human Rights has worked to help since August 15.

In recent weeks, JHR has been approached in a similar way in increasing numbers by Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian journalists, all in the same desperate situation. The reporting work they did before Putin's invasion of Ukraine has put them in danger. They need options urgently.

Luckily you, the members of this committee, are in a position to help provide them with options, so I'd like to recommend that Canada take immediate concrete action for journalists fleeing conflict and persecution—journalists like Katira—by creating an evergreen program of emergency visas for journalists. This is in line with recommendations from both the high-level legal panel of experts advising the Media Freedom Coalition, of which Canada is co-chair, and also IFEX, from whom you are going to hear later in this discussion.

On media freedom and human rights, we're seeing a global erosion in the state of media freedom through COVID-19; and the rise of authoritarianism threatens democracies and human rights worldwide. As Freedom House put it in their most recent report, “The global order is nearing a tipping point, and if democracy’s defenders do not work together to help guarantee freedom for all people, the authoritarian model will prevail.”

What can we do to roll this situation back? Organizations such as Journalists for Human Rights intervene to strengthen independent journalists' ability to cover human rights. Since 2016, starting in South Sudan, Journalists for Human Rights partnered with Global Affairs Canada to strengthen the “enabling environment” in which journalists work. This means a very holistic form of media development work across government, media and civil society, ensuring and building on society-wide support for independent journalists covering human rights stories.

We also train journalists on how to safely call out and debunk the kinds of disinformation campaigns that Maria Ressa referenced earlier in this discussion. Never has this kind of work been more needed than right now. Earlier today, for example, Novaya Gazeta, the last independent newspaper in Russia, closed its doors under pressure from Russian state sensors.

We need to ensure, in the face of gross state oppression, that newspapers like Novaya Gazeta are not censored and silenced, but rather find ways to live on. We need to ensure in the face of gross manipulation of information that citizens in places like Russia, Belarus and Afghanistan have access to the facts and truth.

The best way to counter-attack trends of authoritarianism and decaying support for human rights and liberal democracy is through support for independent journalism covering human rights issues. The best way to fight the state-sponsored lies of regimes such as Vladimir Putin's is with facts and truth.

That brings me to my second ask. This is in line with IFEX's petition to the Media Freedom Coalition in February, calling on Canada to step up and put aside up to 1% of its international development support towards this kind of media development work. This level of support is necessary in order to fund the kind of holistic, sector-wide networking and capacity-building work that ensures those enduring conflicts have access to reliable information about what is happening through the conflict and beyond; in particular, information on human rights.

I'll leave it there. Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ali Ehsassi]

Thank you very much, Ms. Pulfer.

We'll now turn to Ms. Abitan. You have five minutes. Approximately 30 seconds before we reach that five minutes I will be putting up a sign.

The floor is yours, Ms. Abitan.