Human Rights

The Federal Court is due to begin hearings December 5 (Docket No. T-1483-1) of a Charter-based challenge of the federal government’s refusal to repatriate six women. 13 children and some men being held in northeastern Syria by Kurdish forces which reclaimed the war-torn region from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However, Global Affairs Canada has recently reassessed the cases and decided the claimants meet a threshold for extraordinary assistance. [node:read-more:link]

A Spain-based human rights organization says China has set up more than 100 “police stations” around the world to monitor, harass and even forcibly repatriate Chinese citizens through agreements with European and African governments. Safeguard Defenders says four Public Security Ministry divisions are active in at least 53 countries, ostensibly to help the diaspora with things such as driver’s licences. China says they are staffed by volunteers, but Safeguard Defenders says one network hired 135 staff for its first 21 stations. [node:read-more:link]

Iranian Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri is reported to have suspended operations by morality police after weeks of widespread rioting. There has been no corroboration of his order, whether it is permanent, or any indication that the law mandating women’s dress code would be terminated. [node:read-more:link]

Even as his own government continues to violently suppress growing public protests, including sentencing some protesters to death, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi today lauded his country as a champion of rights and freedoms and the rule of law. “Iran has the most progressive constitution in the world,” he said at one point during a speech, insisting that it “guarantees fundamental rights and legitimate freedoms.” [node:read-more:link]

The military-backed government in Myanmar sentenced more critics to death this week, bringing the total to at least 139 since the junta seized power in February 2021. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volter Turk, said December 2 that at least seven university students were sentenced in a closed-door trial November 30 and that there were reports that four youth activists were sentenced the following day. [node:read-more:link]

Alex Jones, the U.S. conspiracy theorist recently ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion for claiming that a mass school shooting in 2011 was a hoax, filed for bankruptcy December 2. Jones claims to have no more than $10 million in assets and to $10 billion in debt. A lawyer for the families he defamed families said “the bankruptcy system does not protect anyone who engages in intentional and egregious attacks on others and “like every other cowardly move Alex Jones has made, this bankruptcy will not work.” [node:read-more:link]

The United Nations is asking its member states for a record US$51.5 billion in aid funding for 2023, some 25 per cent more than in 2022. Citing Russia’s war on Ukraine, drought in Africa and flooding in Pakistan, among other things, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said today that “humanitarian needs are shockingly high, as this year's extreme events are spilling into 2023.” [node:read-more:link]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other federal politicians are criticizing the University of Ottawa for banning cameras during a speech November 28 by China’s ambassador Canada. Cong Peiwu requested that no cameras be present when he spoke at a conference on “China and the World” and the university’s immediate compliance sparked a barrage of criticism about freedom of the press. [node:read-more:link]

The British government, responding to criticism from lawmakers and civil liberties groups, has abandoned a plan to force the removal of Internet content that is harmful but legal. While similar to initiatives in the EU and the U.S., the Online Safety Bill – designed address racism, sexual abuse, bullying, fraud and other material – was one of the most sweeping in giving regulators wide-ranging powers to sanction digital and social media. [node:read-more:link]

Russia’s ambassador to Canada, Alexander Darchiev, has been summoned by Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly to explain social media postings against LGBTQ2S+ Canadians, notably Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, a lesbian. In a series of posted images of a crossed-out rainbow flag and Orthodox Curch icons, the embassy accused Canada of “conflating the concepts of individual sexual preferences and universal human rights.” When St-Ange decried Russia’s discriminatory laws as “a disgrace,” the embassy asked her to “please explore and explain how you appeared in this world.” [node:read-more:link]

Likud Party Leader Benjamin Netanyahu, trying to form another Israeli coalition government after the country’s general election four weeks ago, agreed November 28 to appoint the head of an openly homophobic ultra-nationalist party leader as a deputy minister to oversee a “Jewish identity” authority. Outgoing Prime Minister Yair Lapid calls the alliance with the Noam party leader Avi Maoz “full-on crazy” while Palestinian leaders fear a “right-wing fascist coalition.” [node:read-more:link]

Iranian Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose forces have killed, injured or incarcerated hundreds of protestors in recent weeks, said November 26 that his Basij militia have sacrificed lives “to protect people from rioters.” Affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the civilian force has been at the forefront of the state crackdown, and Khamenei said their involvement “shows that Islamic Revolution is alive.” [node:read-more:link]

British Columbia today became the first Canadian jurisdiction to ensure that indigenous communities can provide their own child and family services, passing legislation as part of a general overhaul of child welfare programs. Statistics Canada said that some 68 per cent of children younger than 14 in provincial care programs in B.C. were indigenous in 2021 compared with nearly 54 per cent nationally. [node:read-more:link]

The Quebec government will appeal a provincial Superior Court court ruling that police were violating drivers’ constitutional rights by stopping them without cause and that the practice is “a safe conduit for racial profiling.” Public Security François Bonnardel said in announcing the challenge that it is “unjustified to abolish a tool that is so important to police services.” [node:read-more:link]