The video is finally here!

Featuring:

Farea Al-Muslimi

The Yemeni activist who delivered a powerful testimony in a congressional hearing on American drone strikes in Yemen and basically made Obama admit to the use of drones.

Alex Neve

Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. Amnesty released a report on the use of drones in Pakistan and the status of U.S. drone strikes under international law.

John Packer

Constitutions and Process Design Expert, Policy and Mediation Division, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations. He was then advising the political transition in Yemen.

By Alex Neve, John Packer and Roch Tassé

A timely conference on Wednesday reminded us that as debate swirls about new national security measures in Canada, vital lessons have emerged over the past decade about protecting human rights.

In the wake of last week’s attack in Ottawa the government is rolling out proposed changes to Canada’s security laws and practices. We don’t yet know the full extent.

On Wednesday, a remarkable group of judges, lawyers, journalists, activists, former diplomats, academics and community leaders came together in Ottawa. We were joined by individuals whose lives have been turned upside down by human rights violations associated with national security investigations, charges, arrest and imprisonment.

The conference marked the decade since the ground-breaking judicial inquiry into the shocking treatment of Canadian citizen Maher Arar was established in 2004. That inquiry found that Canadian actions, negligence and dysfunction had set Maher Arar up for grave human rights violations, including torture, in Syria.

Read more

Also read an op-ed by Omar Khadr: Misguided security laws take a human toll

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group is honoured to receive a Community Partner award from one of our member organizations, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, for our collaborative work over the past twelve years. Our national coordinator, Roch Tassé, will be accepting the award at the NCCM’s upcoming Ottawa fundraising dinner on Sunday, October 26, 2014, themed “Be Empowered: Standing Up for Canadian Muslims”.

Learn more about the NCCM’s work