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International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group
Coalition pour la surveillance internationale des libertés civiles
March 16, 2024 - 16 mars 2024
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ICLMG’s Submissions to the Foreign Interference Consultation | |
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ICLMG 07/03/2024 - In February, ICLMG sent our submissions for the consultations on potential legislative changes - specifically to the CSIS Act, the Security of Information Act, the Criminal Code, and the Canada Evidence Act - to address foreign interference in Canada.
Here are our general concerns:
- The framing of “foreign interference” itself, the lack of information around the breadth and impact of it, and the overall solutions proposed are focused on greater securitization, greater police and intelligence agency powers.
- The politicization and vagueness of terms like “foreign interference” and how they can be usurped to achieve and support goals unrelated to ensuring security of individuals in Canada.
- Much like with counter terrorism, attempts to counter foreign interference – as demonstrated in recent public discourse – can lead to racial, religious and political profiling.
- Most of the proposals for legislative changes in this consultation are not supported by evidence that they are necessary, and would have impact far beyond addressing foreign interference. Read more - Lire plus
Submission of the Office of the Intelligence Commissioner in response to the public consultation on modernizing Canada’s toolkit to counter foreign interference
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Open Letter Urged Canadian Government to Reject Private Sector Carve-Out in Council of Europe AI Convention Negotiations | |
ICLMG is among the 117 organizational and individual signatories to the letter | |
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OneTreatyForAll 27/02/2024 - Civil society organizations, AI and human rights experts call on the Government of Canada to unequivocally commit to safeguarding human rights from AI risks and harms no matter the source. As the first binding international treaty on Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the Council of Europe Framework Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law enters the final stages of negotiations, signatories urge Canada to ensure that the treaty does not include any private sector carve-out that will water down rights and limit the accountability of technology companies.
The Council of Europe is an international organization mandated to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Its Treaties are open for ratification by like-minded countries around the world. Canada has contributed to several Council of Europe treaties, including currently the Framework Convention on AI, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law.
Unfortunately, as the Convention enters final phase negotiations, reliable news sources and the publicly available draft Convention indicate that the Canadian delegation to the Council of Europe is urging the Committee on AI to curtail the scope of the Convention by removing provisions that would establish safeguards for private-sector AI systems.
We strongly oppose this position.
A hollowed-out Convention will provide little meaningful protection to individuals who are increasingly subject to powerful AI systems prone to bias, human manipulation, and the destabilization of democratic institutions.
The current position of Canada puts a question mark on its commitment to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law domestically. It sends a very worrying signal with regard to the ongoing negotiations of Bill C-27 - An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts. Read more - Lire plus
Algorithm Watch: The Council of Europe’s Convention on AI: No free ride for tech companies and security authorities!
Statement by Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić on the occasion of the finalisation of the CoE AI Convention
ACTION: Canada: Remove the national security exemptions from Bill C-27!
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Lawsuit filed against Canadian government to stop arms exports to Israel | |
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CLAIHR 05/03/2024 - A group of Canadian and Palestinian applicants have commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court against the Canadian government to stop arms exports to Israel.
The applicants are seeking a court order that the Government of Canada cease issuing export permits for all military goods and technology destined for Israel, and that the issuing of these permits be declared unlawful under Canadian and international law. “It’s cruel and reprehensible that our government has continued to provide material support to Israel’s atrocities, while at the same time cutting off humanitarian support to the victims of those same atrocities,” said Hammam Farah, one of the applicants.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of the near unanimous January 26, 2024 ruling of the International Court of Justice which found that a “plausible” case for genocide in Gaza was made out and reiterated the obligation of States to prevent genocide. On February 23, 2024, UN experts released a statement warning that “[a]ny transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law”, and urged States to immediately halt arms transfers to Israel.
The applicants argue that the Export and Import Permits Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prevent Canada from allowing Canadian companies to export military goods and technology to Israel due to the substantial risk that these items could be used to commit serious violations of international law and serious acts of violence against women and children.
The application lists Israel’s reported violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and its serious acts of violence against women and children arising from its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, including the plausibility that Israel is violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
In the past weeks, Canadians have demonstrated growing concern about the continued flow of arms from Canada to Israel amid credible reports of serious violations of international law by the latter in the course of the conflict in Gaza. According to Rachel Small from World Beyond War, Canada’s arms exports to Israel have actually spiked dramatically during the conflict.
“Despite recent statements by Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly denying that Canada was exporting any weaponry to Israel, the Trudeau government had in fact authorized at least 28.5 million dollars worth of new permits for military exports to Israel during the first two months of the state’s bombardment and starvation of Gaza, more than in the entire previous year,” said Small.
As a result, people across Canada are escalating their demands for an arms embargo. Small noted that last week, hundreds of people held blockades at seven weapons facilities and companies that produce military components and weapons systems that are being used by the Israeli military. “In both the courts and the streets it is critical to hold the Canadian government to account until the flow of weapons to Israel ends,” she said.
The lawsuit is part of a growing trend of similar lawsuits filed in countries like the US, the UK, and the Netherlands, where an appeals court found that “it is undeniable that there is a clear risk that the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law”. Other countries like Spain, Italy, and Belgium have also announced that they have suspended arms sales to Israel due to the ongoing atrocities.
The lawsuit follows a letter sent by the applicants in January that notified the government that approving the export of Canadian military goods and technology destined for Israel violates both Canadian and international law. The letter demanded a response from Canada confirming that it had stopped this illegal activity within fourteen days. After receiving no response, the applicants commenced legal proceedings.
“Canada's contempt for international and Canadian law by approving a dramatic increase in military exports to Israel since the latter commenced its bombardment of Gaza compels us to seek legal action to hold Canada to account,” said Ayman Oweida, another one of the applicants.
The applicants are Hammam Farah, Hiba Farah, Ayman Oweida, and a confidential Palestinian applicant, as well as the Canadian organization Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR) and the Palestinian organization Al-Haq - Law in the Service of Man. They are represented by a team of lawyers including Barbara Jackman, C.M., James Yap, and Veromi Arsiradam. Read more - Lire plus
NEW ACTION: Vote for a ceasefire. Stop the genocide. Defend human rights for all. Email your MP before March 18
ICJP: Canadian government served notice that it has 21 days to end complicity in genocide in Gaza – issued on behalf of Canadians with family in Gaza
Trudeau’s denials are “patently false” on weapons exports to Israel: Ploughshares
U.N. Rapporteur Francesca Albanese Urges Arms Embargo & Sanctions on Israel over War Crimes in Gaza
ACTION: Tell Ministers Joly, Hussen, and Miller to stop genocide or resign!
NEW EVENT: Save our Gaza Families: Urgent Two-Day Silent Vigil for Family Reunification - March 19-20 in front of Parliament Hill
‘Our families are dying’: outrage as program fails to bring Palestinians to Canada
ACTION: Save This Gaza Family: Palestinian Refugees Must be Allowed to Bring Loved Ones to Canada
‘Abuse of power’: Hospitals, med schools crack down on Palestine advocacy
Kathleen Ruff, Right on Canada: When will we stop fuelling an endless cycle of hatred and violence?
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UNRWA report says Israel coerced some agency employees to falsely admit Hamas links | |
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Reuters 08/03/2024 - The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says some employees released into Gaza from Israeli detention reported having been pressured by Israeli authorities into falsely stating that the agency has Hamas links and that staff took part in the October 7 attacks.
UNRWA fired 12 staffers earlier this year following allegations from Israel that they actively participated in Hamas’s terror onslaught. The assertions are contained in a report by UNRWA reviewed by Reuters and dated February 2024, which detailed allegations of mistreatment in Israeli detention made by unidentified Palestinians, including several working for UNRWA.
UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma says the agency planned to hand the information in the 11-page, unpublished report to agencies inside and outside the UN specialized in documenting potential human rights abuses. “When the war comes to an end there needs to be a series of inquiries to look into all violations of human rights,” she says. The document says several UNRWA Palestinian staffers had been detained by the Israeli army, and added that the ill-treatment and abuse they said they had experienced included severe physical beatings, waterboarding, and threats of harm to family members.
“Agency staff members have been subject to threats and coercion by the Israeli authorities while in detention, and pressured to make false statements against the Agency, including that the Agency has affiliations with Hamas and that UNRWA staff members took part in the 7 October 2023 atrocities,” the report says. UNRWA declined a Reuters request to see transcripts of its interviews containing allegations of coerced false confessions.
In addition to the alleged abuse endured by UNRWA staff members, Palestinian detainees more broadly described allegations of abuse, including beatings, humiliation, threats, dog attacks, sexual violence, and deaths of detainees denied medical treatment, the UNRWA report says. [...]
Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts of coercion of UNRWA staff and mistreatment of detainees, although the allegations of ill-treatment accord with descriptions by Palestinians freed from detention in December, February and March reported by Reuters and other news media.
Responding to that assertion about the detainees' credibility, Touma said the report was based on "first-hand testimonies that people told us. In some cases there were clearly some physical impact on people's bodies. And also psychological impact. So this is what's also been documented."
UNRWA provides education, health and relief services to about 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees around the Middle East. The U.S. has been by far the biggest donor to its $1.4 billion annual budget.
The Israeli accusations led 16 countries including the United States to pause $450 million in UNRWA funding, throwing its operations into crisis. UNRWA fired some staff members, saying it acted in order to protect the agency's ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, and an independent internal U.N. investigation was launched. Norway, which has continued to finance the agency, said on March 6 that many countries that paused their funding are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon. Read more - Lire plus
Torture of Gazans in Israeli prisons 'worse than Guantanamo Bay': human rights monitor
Canada confirms it will resume funding United Nations relief agency for Palestinians
DHS using Hamas to expand its reach on college campuses: “Foreign malign influence” and disinformation are now targets of new government efforts
Palestine Legal and NYCLU Sue Columbia University Over Suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace
Will Aaran Bushnell's death trigger anarchism witch hunt? Sen. Tom Cotton demands the Pentagon root out "leftist extremism"
Le conflit Israël-Hamas s’invite dans les tribunaux français : de plus en plus de procédures pour « apologie du terrorisme »
Islamophobia: How the UK government rebranded protest as extremism
ACTION: Israel: Ensure Humanitarian Aid Delivery to Gaza
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Reasonable Cause to Suspect: A Discussion on a Hidden Human Rights Crisis | |
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A Book Launch and Discussion on the obstacles preventing the repatriation from Northeast Syria of over two dozen arbitrarily detained Canadian Muslim men, women, and children.
Featuring:
- Sally Lane, author of "Reasonable Cause to Suspect," whose son Jack Letts has been wrongfully defamed by an inflammatory UK media and illegally held almost 7 years under conditions the UN calls “akin to torture”
- Monia Mazigh is the author of "Hope and Despair: My Struggle to Free My Husband Maher Arar," "Mirrors and Mirages, Hope Has Two Daughters," "Farida," and "Gendered Islamophobia."
- Alex Neve, a Senior Fellow, University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Member of NE Syria August 2023 Delegation
- Matthew Behrens of Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, who has worked closely with the targets of Canadian and U.S. “national security” repression for over 25 years.
Presented by Justice and Equality Action Group, First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa and Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, with support of Octopus Books.
Background:
Guantanamo in the Desert: where 50,000 Muslims are off-shored in NE Syria, beyond reach of law & rights, respect & dignity. Over two dozen Muslim Canadians – men, women & kids – are illegally detained there under conditions the UN calls akin to torture because Ottawa either refuses to repatriate them or has offered to repatriate children only if they are forcibly separated from their mothers. There is no clean water, nutritious food or proper medical care. The men’s prison cells are packed with bone-thin prisoners, many with amputated limbs.
In January 2023, a Federal Court judge called on Ottawa to repatriate them, noting: “Canadians are dying or at risk of dying every day this matter is adjourned.” Over one year later, Canada still refuses, going all the way to the Supreme Court to block their return, thereby participating in the illegal practice of forced exile. Source
NEW EVENTS: End Arbitrary Detention of Canadian Muslims in NE Syria; Ontario Speaking and Book Launch Tour, March 16-19 in Toronto, Guelph, Kitchener, London, Hamilton
ACTION: Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now!
Nearly 30,000 children suffering rights abuses in Syria: UN backed commission
France Repatriates 35 from Syrian Camps: Families of Jihadists Return Amid Security Debates
UN experts deplore continuing failures of protection for Shamima Begum
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Seeking Truth: The Hassan Diab Awareness Even | |
Punch Up Collective - Join us for an awareness event to learn more about Hassan’s case and who your support.
March 20 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Room 282 Nideyinàn (University Centre, Carleton University, Ottawa)
In 2023, Hassan was found guilty of terrorism charges by the France government for a bombing that occurred decades before – for which he was not in the country for, and for which there is no reliable evidence connecting him to. He has spent the last 15 years in a constant state of unknowing what will happen to him next. Hassan’s case is one of Islamophobia and human rights violations. Helps prevent Hassan’s extradition by joining us for the event, signing petitions, and increasing awareness among the student population. Source
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Michael Geist 13/03/2024 - [...] Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, offered the chance for a fresh start given that the government seemed to accept the sharp criticism of its first proposal, engaging in a more open consultative process in response. As I noted when the bill was first tabled, the core of the legislation addressing the responsibility of Internet platforms was indeed much improved. Yet it was immediately obvious there were red flags, particularly with respect to the Digital Safety Commission charged with enforcing the law and with the inclusion of Criminal Code and Human Rights Act provisions with overbroad penalties and the potential to weaponize speech complaints. The hope – based on the more collaborative approach used to develop the law – was that there would be a “genuine welcoming of constructive criticism rather than the discouraging, hostile processes of recent years.” Two weeks in that hope is rapidly disappearing.
The government’s shift in approach has come as the criticism has increased. From former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverly McLachlin (“I’m virtually certain that many of these provisions will be challenged if they stay in their present form”) to Margaret Atwood (“The possibilities for revenge false accusations + thoughtcrime stuff are sooo inviting”), the government seemed caught off guard by the harsh response to its bill. After a second briefing failed to quell the concerns, the Minister and officials in the PMO have gone back to the gaslighting playbook by dismissing the criticism as clickbait, suggesting they involve a misunderstanding of the law.
There are plenty of reliable sources on Bill C-63 (my Law Bytes podcast this week features Vivek Krishnamurthy, who was on the government’s expert panel on online harms, and I participated in another podcast with Senator Pamela Wallin) and the emerging consensus is that there are legitimate, serious concerns with the bill. These include:
- The poorly conceived Digital Safety Commission lacks even basic rules of evidence, can conduct secret hearings, and has been granted an astonishing array of powers with limited oversight. This isn’t a fabrication. For example, Section 87 of the bill literally says “the Commission is not bound by any legal or technical rules of evidence.”
- The Criminal Code provisions are indefensible: they really do include penalties that run as high as life in prison for committing a crime if motivated by hatred (Section 320.1001 on Offence Motivated By Hatred) and feature rules that introduce peace bonds for the possibility of a future hate offence with requirements to wear a monitoring device among the available conditions (Section 810.012 on Fear of Hate Propaganda Offence or Hate Crime).
- The Human Rights Act changes absolutely open the door to the weaponization of complaints for communication of hate speech online that “is likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination” (Section 13.1). The penalties are indeed up to $20,000 for the complainant and up to $50,000 to the government (Section 53.1).
This is the plain text of bill. The Spectator article that the Minister suggests is clickbait may overstate some aspects of Bill C-63, but the core elements are accurate. Those supporters of the bill that are clinging to the Internet platform regulation provisions would do well to keep scrolling through the full text. The most obvious solution is to cut out the Criminal Code and Human Rights Act provisions, which have nothing to do with establishing Internet platform liability for online harms. Instead, the government seems ready yet again to gaslight its critics and claim that they have it all wrong. But the text of the law is unmistakable and the initial refusal to address the concerns is a mistake that, if it persists, risks sinking the entire bill. Source
Explaining Bill C-63, The Online Harms Act: An OpenMedia FAQ
| RCMP C-IRG assisted North Vancouver detachment after injunction prohibits protests on highway overpass | |
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PBI Canada 13/03/2024 - Following Amanda Follett Hosgood reporting in The Tyee that RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) officers supported local police at rallies in southern British Columbia, most likely in October 2023, in opposition to Israel’s attack on Gaza, Vancouver Is Awesome now reports that C-IRG officers also assisted a local RCMP detachment with a protest in North Vancouver in July 2023 that had been organized by opponents of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) lessons in schools. The full story can be read at Controversial RCMP unit aided local detachment during North Vancouver overpass protests.
Bob Mackin explains in the article: “A senior officer from the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) contacted an operations manager with the province’s highways department, after a judge granted the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure an injunction last May aimed at stopping weekly protests on the Mountain Highway overpass above Highway 1.
‘One of the functions of this unit is addressing injunctions within the province,’ explained Staff Sergeant Jason Charney in a July 6 email to Michael Braun, obtained under the freedom of information law.
‘I have been tasked with assisting the North Vancouver RCMP detachment with the injunction which is currently in place for the Mountain Highway overpass. I was hoping that we could meet next week and go over the injunction.’ The remainder of the paragraph was censored because the ministry feared disclosure would reveal information about policy advice and law enforcement.”
The article then quotes Const. Mansoor Sahak, public information officer with the North Vancouver RCMP, who says: “CRU-B.C. did assist last July but generally they are called upon by detachments to assist with large protests.” CRU-B.C. refers to the “Critical Response Unit-British Columbia”, the rebranded (but seemingly still not officially announced) name for the C-IRG. The article also quotes S. Sgt. Kris Clark, spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP, who says: “While originally created to respond to gas and pipeline-involved protests, the C-IRG has been deployed to logging protests, homelessness protests, has overseen anti-COVID mandate demonstrations (a.k.a. convoy) and been deployed to natural disaster events across the province including floods and seasonal wildfires as well.”
The Tyee has previously reported that Staff Sgt. Clark says the C-IRG’s approach to public disorder has been adopted as a “national best practice”. This despite a “systemic investigation” of the C-IRG by the federal Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC). The Ottawa-based CRCC began its investigation more than a year ago after receiving nearly 500 complaints about the C-IRG. The CBC has reported: “More than 100 grievances accepted for investigation contain allegations of excessive force, illegal tactics, unprofessional behaviour, racism, discrimination and charter violations.”
The rebranding and expansion of the mandate of the C-IRG does not suggest it will stop intervening against Indigenous and community land defence struggles against oil and gas pipelines and the logging of old-growth forest. Source
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Surveillance and the Global War on Terror: Muslims and 21st-Century Racism | |
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CAIJ 11/03/2024 - The talk is about the new book: A Global Racial Enemy: Muslims and 21st-Century Racism. Prejudice against Muslims has a long and complex history, shaped over many centuries. In recent decades, discrimination, violence, and human rights abuses against Muslims have taken a significant turn, with rising reports and discussions of Islamophobia across the globe. However, as the authors of A Global Racial Enemy argue, much of the conversation has missed the key features of this increasingly insidious phenomenon.
This original book puts race at the center of the analysis, exposing the global racialization of Muslims. With special attention paid to the United States, China, India, and the United Kingdom, the authors examine both the unique national contexts and – crucially – the shared characteristics of anti-Muslim racism. They uncover how a range of counterterrorism policies, from hyper-surveillance to racialized policing, and the ensuing representation of Islam have taken a decisive role in shaping social life for Muslims and have worked across borders to justify and institutionalize an acceptable, state-sponsored face of racism.
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“Everything is by the Power of the Weapon”: Abuses and Impunity in Turkish-Occupied Northern Syria
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Human Rights Watch 29/02/2024 - In swathes of northern Syria, Türkiye is an occupying power. It exercises administrative and military control on the Syrian side of its southern border both directly and through a de facto proxy it helped create, the Syrian National Army (SNA), a loose coalition of armed opposition groups that is largely made up of former Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters.
The Turkish government has stated that it aims to turn the areas it occupies into “safe zones,” both to create a security buffer on its southern border and to accommodate returns of Syrian refugees living in Türkiye. But these areas are not safe; they are rife with human rights abuses primarily perpetrated by factions of the SNA and life for the region’s 1.4 million residents is characterized by lawlessness and insecurity. “Everything is by the power of the weapon,” said one former resident who lived under SNA rule for just under 3 years.
Based on interviews with 58 victims, survivors, relatives, and witnesses of violations, as well as various representatives of non-governmental organizations, journalists, activists, and researchers, this report documents abductions, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, including of children, sexual violence, and torture by the various factions of the SNA, the Military Police, a force established to curb such abuses, and members of the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkish intelligence agencies, including the National Intelligence Organization (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) and a number of military intelligence directorates. It also documents violations of housing, land, and property rights, including widespread looting and pillaging as well as property seizures and extortion, and exposes the abject failure of most of the accountability measures introduced in recent years to curb abuses or to provide restitution to victims. As long as impunity for grave and systematic human rights abuses and possible war crimes reigns, hopes of return for the hundreds of thousands displaced and dispossessed Syrians who fled their homes during and after Türkiye’s successive military operations into the region continue to diminish. Many live in overstretched and underserved camps and collective shelters across northeast Syria today.
Because the Turkish authorities equate the People’s Protection Unit (Yekineyen Parastina Gel, YPG) and the Women’s Protection Unit (Yekineyen Parastina Jin, YPJ), the largest components of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which they view as a terrorist organization and existential threat to Türkiye, Kurdish residents who lived in their homes and tended their lands under SDF rule, and who were thereby effectively considered loyal to the SDF or to any of its various components, have overwhelmingly borne the brunt of the abuses documented. Arabs and others who were also perceived to have had ties with the SDF and the Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria (AANES), the civilian governing body in SDF-controlled areas, were also targeted. Read more - Lire plus
Türkiye: Drop terrorism charges against journalist Furkan Karabay
New report examines redress for systemic human rights violations in Turkish messaging app prosecutions
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"They Should Be Beaten and Skinned Alive": The Final Phase of India's War on Kashmiri Civil Society | |
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Kashmir Law and Justice Project 10/03/2024 - "They Should Be Beaten and Skinned Alive": The Final Phase of India's War on Kashmiri Civil Society describes Indian authorities’ escalating efforts to silence Kashmiris during the period from October 2020 to October 2022, specifically targeting Kashmiri human rights defenders, including journalists, human rights activists, scholars and other Kashmiris who attempt to hold India to account for its ongoing human rights violations. This report also describes the ongoing failure of international accountability in Indian-Administered Jammu and Kashmir, why the systematic, widespread, ongoing violations in IAJK merit urgent action and provides recommendations within the existing legal authority of the international community to remedy the ongoing failure of international accountability. [...]
Indian authorities’ escalating pattern of repression targeting Kashmiri human rights defenders has made Kashmiris defenseless against widespread human rights violations. Indian authorities have silenced all Kashmiris who would report on violations or demand accountability—including journalists, human rights activists, scholars, and dissenters. The key legislation utilized by Indian authorities to silence Kashmiris and enable repression include the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (the “PSA”), the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990 (the “AFSPA”) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (the “UAPA”).
• The PSA is an Indian Administered Jammu and Kashmir (IAJK)-specific law that authorizes detention without charges or trial for two years for the “maintenance of public order.” It has been described by Amnesty International as a “lawless law” and widely used to pretextually, arbitrarily and prolongedly detain Kashmiris without remedy or recourse.
• The AFSPA is an IAJK-specific law that authorizes the use of deadly force while granting Indian forces immunity from prosecution (unless approved by the Government of India). As reported by the OHCHR, the Government of India has never approved such a prosecution. The UN Human Rights Committee has recognized that the AFSPA “contributes to a climate of impunity and deprives people of remedies.”
• The UAPA, India’s leading counter-terror law, was amended in 2019 to expand Indian authorities’ power to designate individuals as terrorists and impose sanctions even before the allegation against the accused is proven in court. Although the UAPA is applicable outside of IAJK and many Kashmiri dissenters are persecuted pursuant to the PSA rather than the UAPA, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted during the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council that IAJK has “among the highest number of cases” in India. According to official Indian government statistics, the people of IAJK represented 1.04% of the population under India (with the Kashmiri population targeted by Indian authorities under the UAPA constituting approximately 55% of the people of IAJK, or approximately 0.57% of the population under India) and 26.19% of those arrested under the UAPA in 2020.
As recently noted by the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures, these laws form part of a broader “architecture” that is “ripe for human rights abuse… particularly the obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights to equality and non-discrimination, the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association, and the right of liberty and security of person. Indian authorities have increasingly sought to target Kashmiri human rights defenders— including journalists, human rights activists, scholars, and other dissenters—for repression, including legal restrictions on their work, raids on their homes and places of employment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and physical abuse. This repression has been highly successful in silencing Kashmiri human rights defenders and has practically eliminated the work of human rights defense in IAJK. [...]
[For information, the title of this report references the following event:] in October 2021, an Indian lawmaker and official from India’s ruling party made various violent, racist anti-Kashmiri statements, including that Kashmiri students’ “degrees be cancelled, their citizenship too must be revoked. They should be beaten up and skinned alive.” Read more - Lire more
Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan rearrested days after release
5-Year Ban On Jammu Kashmir National Front Under Anti-Terror Law
FATF response to Amnesty International's Joint Letter on the Misuse of FATF standards to undermine civil society groups in India
YouTube blocks access to Fifth Estate story on killing of B.C. Sikh activist at India's demand
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The EU AI Act: a failure for human rights, a victory for industry and law enforcement | |
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Access Now 13/04/2024 - The EU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act was voted through and adopted today, 13 March, in a plenary session of the European Parliament. Despite its intention to protect people’s rights, the final text of the AI Act is an unambitious piece of product safety legislation. Following outrageous lobbying by industry and law enforcement agencies, the final text is full of loopholes, carve-outs, and exceptions, which mean that it will not protect people, nor their human rights, from some of the most dangerous uses of AI.
First proposed in 2021, the EU’s co-legislative bodies finally announced a deal on the EU AI Act in December 2023. The European Parliament entered the last trilogue negotiations with a very strong text, but it fell at the final hurdle; protections for people’s rights have either been watered down or fully removed in the text voted through today.
"EU officials boast about being global trendsetters when it comes to regulating AI, but with this law they’ve set the lowest bar possible. The new AI Act is littered with concessions to industry lobbying, exemptions for the most dangerous uses of AI by law enforcement and migration authorities, and prohibitions so full of loopholes that they don’t actually ban some of the most dangerous uses of AI." - Daniel Leufer, Senior Policy Analyst at Access now
Access Now notes in particular that the final version of the AI Act:
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Fails to properly ban some of the most dangerous uses of AI, including systems that enable biometric mass surveillance and predictive policing systems;
- Creates a glaring loophole via Article 6(3) for developers to exempt themselves from obligations for high-risk AI systems,;
- Exempts law enforcement and migration authorities from important public transparency requirements when they use high-risk AI, meaning they can continue deploying dangerous systems in secret;
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Further broadens the national security exemption beyond what is allowed for in the EU treaties, allowing governments to exempt themselves from obligations under the AI Act in order to pursue cases deemed relevant to national security;
- Creates a separate regime for people migrating, seeking refuge, and/or living undocumented, leaving with them far fewer rights than EU citizens and almost no access to remedy when these rights are violated.
"The EU AI Act will only entrench police and migration authorities’ existing culture of impunity – encouraging them to keep deploying harmful AI systems against the most marginalised communities. Once again, the EU’s digital policies are being used as a testbed for oppressive surveillance representing a blatant attack on everyone’s fundamental rights." - Caterina Rodelli, EU Policy Analyste at Access Now. Read more - Lire plus
#ProtectNotSurveil Joint statement – A dangerous precedent: how the EU AI Act fails migrants and people on the move
“Smart borders” and the making of a humanitarian crisis
US governement seeks "unified vision of unauthorized movement": Homeland security towers are to be powered by artificial intelligence
Israel under pressure to justify its use of AI in Gaza
ONLINE EVENT: Robotic Warfare: The Dangerous New Artificial Intelligence Race, March 20 at 8PM ET
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What’s in the UK’s new definition of ‘extremism’ | |
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Al Jazeera 14/03/2024 - United Kingdom Communities Secretary Michael Gove has unveiled the government’s new definition of “extremism” to the House of Commons amid heightened domestic tensions since the onset of Israel’s war on Gaza in October. The veteran Conservative Party politician said on Thursday that the new definition seeks to tackle the rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in Britain.
Gove’s statement to parliament comes just four days after three former Conservative home secretaries – Priti Patel, Sajid Javid and Amber Rudd – signed a joint statement with others, including Neil Basu, the former head of counterterrorism policing, warning about the risks of politicising “anti-extremism” measures. [...]
According to the government, this new definition has been made more “precise”, so individuals or groups that meet the new definition can be identified and essentially blacklisted. Its focus is ideological, in contrast to the last version drafted in 2011, which placed greater emphasis on acts of violence.
According to the new definition: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others” or “undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights”. It also includes anything that would “intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve” either of the above aims.
The strategy is nonstatutory, which means groups would not be prosecuted merely as a result of meeting the parameters of this new definition. Instead, those labelled as “extremist” by the government would become ineligible for any government funding. Groups that are blacklisted under the new definition would also be barred from meeting with ministers. A full list of those identified as “extremist” is expected to be published in the coming weeks. Gove told The Times on Thursday that people and organisations on the list would be identified by “academics, officials and ministers” who would “carefully consider a person or group’s behaviour over a longer period before labelling them extremist”.
However, in parliament on Thursday, Gove took the step of naming the neo-Nazi British National Socialist Movement, the far-right Patriotic Alternative, the Muslim Association of Britain, the Cage advocacy group, and Muslim Engagement and Development as UK-based organisations that will be held “to account to assess if they meet our definition of extremism and [we] will take action as appropriate”. [...] The archbishops of Canterbury and York, Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell, said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the new definition “risks disproportionately targeting Muslim communities, who are already experiencing rising levels of hate and abuse”.
A Muslim Conservative peer, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who has long urged her party to tackle Islamophobia among its members, said on X on Wednesday: “Michael Gove will not divide us in his ideological pursuit of a policy that has been rejected and criticised by victims of terrorism, ex Home Secretary’s and even the Archbishop of Canterbury.” John Mann, an independent adviser to the government on anti-Semitism, told the BBC: “I think that the government needs to listen to people who are advising that the politics of division will not work.” He said it should prioritise “bringing communities together”.
Cage, which campaigns on behalf of communities it says have been adversely affected by the West’s “war on terror”, posted on X: “We reject the counter-extremism and counter-terrorism powers that allow for arbitrary and authoritarian interventions against dissenting citizens. We will explore all avenues, including legal, to resist the Government’s deep dive into authoritarianism.” Meanwhile, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said in a statement on Thursday: “As the coalition of groups who have been organising the national marches calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, we condemn Michael Gove’s statement today. His redefinition of extremism, framed as a defence of democracy, is in reality an assault on core democratic freedoms, seeking to silence dissenting voices.” [...]
The Scottish-born MP began espousing his views on “extremism” 18 years ago when he published his book exploring the roots of “Islamism” in Britain, Celsius 7/7, in the wake of the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on the London transport system on July 7, 2005. In a review of Gove’s book for The Sunday Times in 2006, acclaimed Scottish historian William Dalrymple alleged that Celsius 7/7 was “riddled with … factual errors and misconceptions” and said Gove’s work was fatally undermined by his having “never lived in the Middle East … [and having] barely set foot in a Muslim country”. And in 2014, Gove – then the education secretary – was accused of leading an “Islamophobic witch-hunt” against schools in Birmingham, England. Eight years later, a New York Times podcast on the issue alleged that Gove had ignored warnings that assertions of an “Islamic extremist takeover” of Birmingham schools, known as the Trojan Horse affair, were “bogus”. Read more - Lire plus
‘An appalling direction’: UK activists criticise plans to redefine extremism
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Socialism, anti-fascism and anti-abortion on Prevent list of terrorism warning signs | |
The Guardian 07/03/2024 - A document from Prevent, the official scheme to stop radicalisation, includes believing in socialism, communism, anti-fascism and anti-abortion in a list of potential signs of ideologies leading to terrorism. It comes as the Conservative government considers widening what it will consider to be extremism.
The document is part of online Prevent awareness training for those covered by the duty to inform if they suspect radicalisation. That includes teachers and youth workers. The guidance was updated last year and published with little or no fanfare, after William Shawcross’s controversial government-ordered report on Prevent was released. A former head of counter-terrorism said it risked damaging Prevent, and human rights groups said the government was playing political games under the guise of stopping terrorism.
In a section on the left wing it states: “Two broad ideologies: socialism and communism. Each are united by a set of grievance narratives which underline their cause.” In a section on single-issue ideologies, the document reads: “Narratives are likely to come from those who seek to change a specific policy or practice, as opposed to replacing the whole economic, political or social system. Examples include animal rights, anti-abortion or anti-fascism. Single-issue narratives can be politically agnostic, meaning they may be neither right nor left aligned.”
Neil Basu, a former police head of counter-terrorism, said: “That is far too nebulous, and there is no qualification. It might lead to unforeseen consequences such as overwhelming the system and bringing the system into disrepute. “The reputation of Prevent is still very fragile. It makes the haystack unnecessarily bigger in which you are trying to find the needle.”
Jacob Smith, from Rights and Security International, a human rights advocacy group, said: “For years, we have expressed concern about how the government’s broad concept of ‘extremism’ could be open to politicised abuses. Our concern is only heightened by government rhetoric during the past few days that appears to be targeting British Muslims and protesters for Palestinian rights. If ‘extremism’ can mean anything the government wants it to mean, that’s a clear problem for democracy.”
Ilyas Nagdee, from Amnesty International, said: “This is yet another crackdown from the UK government to stifle freedom of expression – including political speech and activism – using the blunt instrument that is Prevent. Prevent is brazenly being used here to target political expression as it has long been criticised of doing. The government should not be in the business of rolling out training and guidance on what they deem acceptable or unacceptable political ideologies and forms of activism.” Read more - Lire plus
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OTHER NEWS - AUTRES NOUVELLES | |
ICLMG ACTIONS DE LA CSILC | |
Canada Must Oppose Genocide in Gaza and Defend Free Expression at Home | |
The UN Genocide Convention – which Canada has ratified – stipulates that “states that have the capacity to influence others have a duty to employ all means reasonably available to them to prevent genocide.” Canada therefore has the obligation to not only call for a permanent and immediate ceasefire, but to immediately halt any arm sales, transfers and military aid to Israel.
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Canada: Remove the national security exemptions from Bill C-27! | |
Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, has been introduced by the federal government with the promise that it would enhance privacy protections, adequately regulate artificial intelligence (AI) and protect human rights. The bill, however, is not up to the task. Please join us in denouncing the dangerous national security related exemptions in the bill. | |
Canada: Do not purchase armed drones | |
The ICLMG is a member of the No Armed Drones campaign | |
In the government's proposal seeking bids for its drone program it laid out disturbing scenarios for Canadian military drone use: One scenario described drones being used to surveil activists protesting a (theoretical) G20 Summit in Quebec, helping the security team intercept and identify the occupants of a vehicle, who are “anti-capitalist radicals” intending to “hang a banner concerning global warming.” Another scenario modeled after US drone strike programs features a drone bombing “Fighting Age Males” in the Middle East after spotting one of them “holding a small radio or cell phone." The initial cost estimate is $5 billion with billions more to operate the drones over their 25-year lifespan. | |
CSIS isn't above the law! | |
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In recent years, at least three court decisions revealed the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) engaged in potentially illegal activities and lied to the courts. This is utterly unacceptable, especially given that this is not the first time these serious problems have been raised. CSIS cannot be allowed to act as though they are above the law.
Send a message to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino demanding that he take immediate action to put an end to this abuse of power and hold those CSIS officers involved accountable, and for parliament to support Bill C-331, An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act (duty of candour). Your message will also be sent to your MP and to Minister of Justice David Lametti.
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Canada must protect Hassan Diab! | |
Canada must repatriate all Canadians detained in NE Syria now! | |
On January 20, 2023, Federal Court Justice Henry Brown ruled that Canada must repatriate Canadians illegally and arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria. On February 6, 2023, the Canadian government filed an appeal and asked that the Brown ruling be set aside and placed on hold while the appeal plays out. This is unacceptable.
Every day the government fails to bring these Canadians home, it places their lives at risk from disease, malnutrition, violence, and ongoing military conflicts, including bombing by Turkey’s military. United Nations officials have even found that the conditions faced by Canadians in prison are akin to torture. Please click below to urge the federal government to repatriate all Canadians illegally & arbitrarily detained in northeast Syria without delay.
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20 years of fighting deportation to torture: Justice for Mohamed Harkat Now! | |
Canada must protect encryption! | |
Canada’s extradition system is broken. One leading legal expert calls it “the least fair law in Canada.” It has led to grave harms and rights violations, as we’ve seen in the case of Canadian citizen Dr Hassan Diab. It needs to be reformed now.
Click below to send a message to urge Prime Minister Trudeau, the Minister of Justice and your Member of Parliament to reform the extradition system before it makes more victims. And share on Facebook + Twitter + Instagram. Thank you!
Regardez la vidéo avec les sous-titres en français + Agir
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Protect our rights from facial recognition! | Facial recognition surveillance is invasive and inaccurate. This unregulated tech poses a threat to the fundamental rights of people across Canada. Federal intelligence agencies refuse to disclose whether they use facial recognition technology. The RCMP has admitted (after lying about it) to using facial recognition for 18 years without regulation, let alone a public debate regarding whether it should have been allowed in the first place. Send a message to Prime Minister Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Bill Blair calling for a ban now. | |
July to December 2023 - Juillet à décembre 2023 | |
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Thanks to your support, in the second half of 2023, we were able to work on the following issues or with the following entities:
- Bill C-20, Public Complaints and Review Commission Act
- Bill C-26, An Act respecting cybersecurity and amending the Telecommunications Act
- Bill C-27, Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022
- Bill C-41: International assistance and anti-terrorism laws
- Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria
- Justice for Dr Hassan Diab & reform of the Extradition Act
- Security certificates & inadmissibility
- Combatting Islamophobia
- National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA)
- Prejudiced audits of Muslim charities
- Federal anti-terrorist financing consultation
- Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
- Canada’s 4th Universal Periodic Review
- Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Counter-terrorism
- UN Counter-terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) Canada assessment
- UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights global study on counter-terrorism and civic space
For more details on each item and to see all the media articles we were mentioned in or were interviewed for, click here.
What we have planned for 2024!
Your support, will allow us to continue our work on these issues and much more in the next year:
- Ensuring that the Canadian government’s proposals on “online harms” do not violate fundamental freedoms, or exacerbate the silencing of racialized and marginalized voices
- Protecting our privacy from government surveillance, including facial recognition, and from attempts to weaken encryption, along with advocating for good privacy law reform
- Addressing the lack of regulation on the use of AI in national security, including proposed exemptions for national security agencies
- Fighting for Justice for Mohamed Harkat, an end to security certificates, and addressing problems in security inadmissibility
- Ensuring Justice for Hassan Diab and reforming Canada’s extradition law
- The return of the rest of the Canadian citizens and the non-Canadian mothers of Canadian children indefinitely detained in Syrian camps
- The end to the CRA’s prejudiced audits of Muslim-led charities
- Greater accountability and transparency for the Canada Border Services Agency
- Greater accountability and transparency for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service
- Advocating for the repeal of the Canadian No Fly List, and for putting a stop to the use of the US No Fly List by air carriers in Canada
- Pressuring lawmakers to protect our civil liberties from the negative impact of national security and the “war on terror”, as well as keeping you and our member organizations informed via the News Digest
- Publishing a collection of essays written by amazing partners on the work of the ICLMG for our 20th anniversary
- And much more!
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Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement les positions de la CSILC - The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the positions of ICLMG. | |
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THANK YOU
to our amazing supporters!
We would like to thank all our member organizations, and the hundreds of people who have supported us over the years, including on Patreon! As a reward, we are listing below our patrons who give $10 or more per month (and wanted to be listed) directly in the News Digest. Without all of you, our work wouldn't be possible!
James Deutsch
Bill Ewanick
Kevin Malseed
Brian Murphy
Colin Stuart
Bob Thomson
James Turk
John & Rosemary Williams
Jo Wood
The late Bob Stevenson
Nous tenons à remercier nos organisations membres ainsi que les centaines de personnes qui ont soutenu notre travail à travers les années, y compris sur Patreon! En récompense, nous nommons ci-dessus nos mécènes qui donnent 10$ ou plus par mois et voulaient être mentionné.es directement dans la Revue de l'actualité. Sans vous tous et toutes, notre travail ne serait pas possible!
Merci!
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