Evidence of meeting #6 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was news.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Yes. It was very much both.
First, on the Swedish side, in the case of Mr. Isaak, very clearly, again, Mr. Isaak's Swedish lawyers tried to have an investigation conducted by the Swedish Prosecution Authority. Five complaints over the course of seven years were presented to the Swedish Prosecution Authority. All of them were rejected, appealed, and rejected again.
Executive Director, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
That's the first part. The second part is that on the foreign affairs side, nine foreign ministers were unable to secure his release.
On the Eritrean side, as I mentioned earlier as well, Mr. Isaak's lawyers presented a petition for habeas corpus to the Eritrean Supreme Court. It was rejected. They also presented a complaint before the African commission. A final and binding ruling judgment, rendered in 2016, was completely ignored by the Eritrean government.
So we have complete rejection and ignoring on the Eritrean side, and complete inaction, regrettably, on the Swedish side.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
My question is for Ms. Kay, Mr. Clifford and Ms. Abitan, since Ms. Pulfer somewhat answered it earlier.
As you must know, UNESCO recently published a report on the issue of media funding. It says that Google and Facebook now soak up approximately half of all global digital advertising spending. We talked about this last week with other witnesses.
Here's what the report says:
Google and Meta/Facebook now soak up approximately half of all global digital advertising spending, while global newspaper advertising revenue has fallen by half in the last five years. In September of 2020, over 1 million posts circulated on Twitter with inaccurate, unreliable, or misleading information related to the pandemic [...]
The problem is that the big platforms are sucking up a lot of money and there's a lack of funding for independent journalism, for real journalism, because you don't know what's coming out of these media. Everyone knows that now.
What do we do about it? This problem will not disappear tomorrow morning.
Ms. Pulfer mentioned possible solutions. I would like to hear Ms. Kay on this issue of media funding.
Deputy Executive Director, IFEX
I think it goes back to something I spoke about earlier, which is really changing the dialogue that's out there and looking at the fact that the media is being purported to be fake news or the enemy of the people. I think it's changing the way in which that lexicon is used.
I think it is important from the government's perspective to ensure that it is promoting a narrative of press freedom and support for journalism, in terms of both the international and regional institutions it engages in and also the funding it provides, as Rachel spoke about earlier, for media development. I think it's important to reinforce the importance of press freedom and respect for journalism both at home and abroad.
Bloc
President, The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong
I think these are very real issues and I was struck by Maria Ressa's comment in the previous session about the way the algorithm can be dialed up and down. There clearly is a role for the state to play in regulating social media companies and the kinds of vitriol they encourage.
Quickly on the subject of Hong Kong, perhaps this is in the “good news” category that was asked about earlier. We had at Apple Daily almost 600,000 paying subscribers in a city of 7.5 million people. That would be equivalent to about three million people subscribing to one newspaper in Canada.
There are models that can work. On the other hand, our bank accounts were frozen, we weren't allowed to take that money and now the government wants to put a fake news law in place, which is exactly the opposite of what my other panellists have talked about and what we all need.
I'll leave it at that. Thank you.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Abitan, we don't have much time left, maybe 30 seconds. Can you answer my question?
Liberal
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Clearly the witnesses have given us so much to think about that we are not very good at keeping track of our time.
Ms. Abitan, if you had anything that you'd like to answer in response to my colleague, I certainly wouldn't want to take that opportunity away from you. I'll pass it over to you.
Executive Director, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
I just want to say that I agree with all my co-panellists. They're excellent recommendations. We just need to look at ways to perhaps regulate social media in a way that strikes the appropriate balance between non-censoring and ensuring that the proper regulations are in place. The essential aspect is that you're striking that crucial balance when you regulate.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Ms. Abitan, a lot of what you spoke about and a lot of what I know Irwin Cotler has worked on has been around the suppression of journalists in non-democratic countries, and countries where the democracies are not strong or they're fragile if in existence at all.
We heard from Mr. Clifford today that these things are starting to happen. In regard to Hong Kong, we would never have imagined that we would be in a situation where media freedom in Hong Kong is, for all intents and purposes, gone.
What do we do? What is our role in protecting journalists when we see the behaviours of democracies acting incorrectly?
We heard last week of journalists being surveilled in Israel. We have seen examples where journalists have been hung out to dry in different countries that are democracies. How do we deal with that?
Executive Director, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
I would say one word: accountability.
Accountability is applicable in democratic states, as it is in autocratic regimes. Through accountability we reinforce our rule of law, our international legal obligations and our domestic obligations. Accountability is crucial in holding those responsible to account for whatever it is they are committing, whatever human rights violations they are committing.
NDP
President, The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong
I think you do what you, panellists, are doing so well. It's not easy. It's a lot of blocking and tackling, as we say in the United States. I really commend all of you for your interest. There's no magic bullet, particularly when we're up against demagogues and people who we've seen can swing the other side, so thank you for your work. The kind of work you're doing is exactly what we need more of.
NDP
Heather McPherson NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, we're at three minutes, so I'll end there. That sounded like a nice final word to end on.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ali Ehsassi
Thank you very much for that, Ms. McPherson.
Thank you very much to the panellists. You have certainly given us a lot to think about and ruminate over. This has been truly exceptional, and we're very, very grateful to you. We also obviously apologize for having gone overtime.
Thank you very much to Ms. Pulfer, Ms. Kay, Mr. Clifford and Ms. Abitan.
Again, I speak on behalf of every member of this committee when I ask you to please pass on our regards to Mr. Cotler, and we certainly wish him a speedy recovery.
Thank you.
