News from ICLMG

The ICLMG signs an open letter to PM Harper urging him to intervene for the immediate release of Khaled Al-Qazzaz

Open letter from Canadians to Prime Minister Harper regarding Khaled Al-Qazzaz

To The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada

We, the undersigned, are calling upon you as concerned Canadian citizens and organizations to use the full power of your office to demand the immediate release of Canadian permanent resident Khaled Al-Qazzaz who has been illegally detained in Egypt for over 365 days without charge and is in present danger of suffering a heart attack. He should have been promptly charged with a recognizable criminal offence or released.  One year is most certainly not prompt.  His illegal detention was, in fact, recently extended by an Egyptian court. Your intervention is critical in securing his immediate release and safe return home to Canada.

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New LDL magazine on mass surveillance

revueldl_printemps2014La Ligue des droits et libertés is launching this week the spring 2014 issue of its magazine Droits et libertés. In a context where the revelations of Edward Snowden sparked a healthy public debate on the establishment of a system for monitoring populations, this edition aims to shed further light on the evolution of issues of surveillance and of privacy and personal information protection, their implications for democracy and human rights as well as the prospects in terms of resistance and alternatives (in French only).

ICLMG’s National Coordinator, Roch Tassé, and ICLMG’s Communications and Research Coordinator, Xan Dagenais, have each written an article in this issue.

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The Shrinking Space for Dissent in Canada

Written statement by Lawyers Rights Watch Canada to the 26th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council and endorsed by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group.

Recommendations

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada calls on the Human Rights Council to fulfill its duty to promote and protect the rule of law and fundamental rights and freedoms in Canada by monitoring and recommending:

  1. An immediate cessation of the surveillance of human rights defenders, Indigenous groups, and environmental organizations in Canada.
  2. An immediate end to discriminatory inquiries and audits by the Canada Revenue Agency of Canadian charitable organizations.
  3. The creation of an enabling environment for civil society organizations (CSOs) and human rights defenders, including,
  4. An immediate cessation of public rhetoric by the Government of Canada calling environmental protection and other groups “radicalized” and suggesting that their receipt of international funding makes them foreign agents working against Canadian interests.
  5. Amendments to the Income Tax Act and/or the regulatory and policy framework, which unduly limit charitable activities by restricting policy and advocacy work.

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