On April 5, we sent out our stakeholder submission to the United Nations for Canada’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in November 2023 entitled: “The Continuing Impact of the War on Terror on Human Rights in Canada.”
Through the UPR, the Human Rights Council reviews, on a periodic basis, the fulfilment by each of the 193 United Nations Member States of their human rights obligations and commitments.
A review of a State is based on: (a) a national report prepared by the State under review; (b) a compilation of United Nations information on the State under review prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and (c) a summary of information submitted by other stakeholders (including civil society actors, national human rights institutions and regional organizations), also prepared by OHCHR.
The submission has to be quite short but we managed to cover many anti-terrorist laws and national security actions and their negative impact on human rights, including:
- The National Security Act, 2017 (C-59) and particularly the lack of guarantees that all use or sharing of information won’t lead to or hasn’t been obtained through torture; the no-fly list; the lower threshold for terrorism peace bonds; preventative detention powers; CSIS threat reduction powers and immunity for offences; the oversight and review agencies’ lack of binding powers; the erosion of due process the Anti-terrorism Act, 2015 extended in security certificate proceedings; CSE “active” cyber security powers; and CSIS and CSE mass surveillance powers
- Security Certificates and the case of Mohamed Harkat
- Extradition and due process – The Hassan Diab Case
- Criminalization of dissent
- Discretionary powers, secret evidence, and CSIS misleading the courts
- Surveillance, facial recognition and artificial intelligence
- Provision of humanitarian aid and other forms of international assistance
- Canadians detained in Northeastern Syria
- Lack of full redress regarding complicity in torture in the cases of Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin, Omar Khadr, Abousfian Abdelrazik & Mohamedou Ould Slahi
- Systemic Islamophobia, including the CRA prejudiced audits against Muslim charities, Canada’s planned armed drones purchase, and dubious counter-radicalization programs
We have also sent a much longer Annex containing issues that were included in previous UPR submissions but have yet to be fixed, additional details on issues that are mentioned in this UPR submission, and developments that are not yet final or enshrined in law but that we must keep an eye on.
Since you’re here…… we have a small favour to ask. Here at ICLMG, we are working very hard to protect and promote human rights and civil liberties in the context of the so-called “war on terror” in Canada. We do not receive any financial support from any federal, provincial or municipal governments or political parties. You can become our patron on Patreon and get rewards in exchange for your support. You can give as little as $1/month (that’s only $12/year!) and you can unsubscribe at any time. Any donations will go a long way to support our work. |
