Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  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.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not familiar with the specific case, but I can tell you the contours of this case are a model that we're seeing in Venezuela and elsewhere, again and again. I mentioned the authorities seizing the headquarters of El Nacional. It was, basically, after the supreme court of Venezuela ordered it to pay more than $13 million U.S. in damages for alleged defamation.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In Venezuela, in a lot of ways, in terms of the effect of the pandemic, you see a collapsed health care system that's led to a kind of resurgence of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. Hundreds of people are allegedly dying due to barriers in accessing health care. There was a very serious collapse of the health care system even prior to the COVID pandemic, which has only been made worse.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We certainly see that. With the Maduro government and the security forces over these past few years, we've seen an increasing worsening of the situation. We've seen extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances of jailed opponents, the prosecution of civilians in military courts, torture of detainees, crackdowns on protests, the use of the state of emergency in response to COVID as a pretext to intensify the government's control over the population, and no judicial independence, which certainly contributes to a kind of impunity for the Maduro government's crimes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Do you mean on the Palestinian organizations?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm sure members of the committee know of the worrying trends around religious garb and the limitations around the wearing of the hijab by Muslim minorities in Karnataka in southern India. There have been a number of wide-scale cases in which the Indian government has used politically motivated tax fraud allegations to target anyone who is independently voicing their concerns about the human rights abuses in the country.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I said earlier, we see a really worrying trend by governments to use counterterrorism legislation, to misuse counterterrorism legislation, to prosecute individuals and human rights defenders for their activities. As long as you can frame them as a national security threat, then it allows you to really undermine their work and threaten their work.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you so much. We are seeing really worrying trends in India. It's the world's largest democracy, but there's a really dramatic backslide in human rights. We've documented—with the BJP-led government, with support by Hindu nationalists—attacks against religious minorities and attacks against farm workers.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairperson and honourable members of Parliament, for inviting me to appear before this committee to discuss the challenges facing human rights defenders, journalists and media organizations around the world. I'll focus my remarks tonight on specific countries of concern, highlighting patterns in terms of the methods and tools being used to silence independent voices.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for the question. Detaining family members—the women and children —simply because of their familial ties with male ISIS suspects is collective punishment. Certainly the children are victims, first and foremost, and they should bear no responsibility for the actions of their parents.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm sorry, but I think you mean the same Canadian children we were speaking about earlier, because the number is exactly the same. We know that a remaining 24 Canadian children whose family members have ties to ISIS are detained by the Kurdish-led authorities in northeast Syria, the de facto authority there.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, certainly.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Kurdish-led authority, the non-state actor that is running these camps, has a line of communication with the Canadian government. We've been told repeatedly that the Canadian government does ask the Kurdish-led authorities about the well-being of Canadians there. The Kurdish-led authority certainly want these Canadians repatriated.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for your question. These are the figures that we have learned from humanitarian organizations on the ground. The Kurdish-led authorities as well have identified those individuals who.... We know that of the adults, there are eight Canadian men and roughly 13 Canadian women.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of Parliament, for inviting me to appear before the subcommittee. I will focus my remarks today on the humanitarian crisis in northeastern Syria, given the gravity of the human rights abuses on the ground and the urgent need for this government to address the plight of Canadians trapped there.