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CTV News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Rule of law, judges ‘under attack' in many countries, Canada's chief justice says
Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner holds a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick OTTAWA — Chief Justice Richard Wagner says the rule of law and judicial independence are 'under attack' in many countries around the world. Wagner told a news conference today that when a government maligns the media, judges, lawyers and universities, it could be a sign of dictatorship or an autocratic regime. Wagner says while Canadians should not take anything for granted, they have reason to be optimistic about the legal system in their country. He says Canada, unlike many other countries, has a strong judicial system with good lawyers and well-trained, impartial judges governed by ethical principles. Wagner says the main 'stakeholders' in Canada respect judicial independence and are happy to live in a country where the rule of law prevails. But he stresses the importance of defending the roles played by the courts and the media outlets that cover judicial proceedings. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2025. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
CBC
29-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Radio Free Asia reporters sought safety in U.S. Now, they fear they're in danger
Social Sharing An ongoing U.S. retreat from defending liberal democracy has left some allies in danger of being exposed, stranded on a metaphorical battlefield. Under U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-nosed foreign policy, unapologetically based on profit, not principle, multiple democracy-promotion tools are being dismantled. This includes Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is being defunded. Created in the aftermath of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, it reports in nine Asian languages, using web sites, social media and short-wave radio to get news to audiences with limited access to uncensored media. With most of its U.S.-based staff laid off, some RFA employees who report from the safety of Washington. D.C., now risk losing not only their jobs but also their work visas and could face deportation to an uncertain future in their homelands. Hour Hum is one of them. He fled Cambodia in 2017 after some of his colleagues were arrested and RFA had to shutter its office. He went into hiding in Thailand. After seven years, he finally got a work visa and came to the U.S. with his wife. He likened it to reaching heaven after years in hell. Now, with a one-month-old to care for, he's clinging to his job as layoffs sweep across the newsroom. His wife is feeling anxious again as she did during those years in hiding, Hum said, fearing deportation. "If they don't kill me, they'll put me in jail," he said of his prospects in Cambodia, where reporters are routinely arrested and international organizations say independent journalism is increasingly impossible to do. "It's almost the same thing." Part of wider cuts The defunding of RFA comes amid a wave of similar cuts to foreign initiatives, including the complete abolition of the U.S. international-aid agency. The Trump administration sent a letter in March announcing that RFA's funding, $60 million US a year, was terminated. It was part of the same executive order that ended financial support for the main Canada think-tank in Washington and other U.S. government-funded news outlets, including Voice of America. Almost 90 per cent of U.S.-based RFA staff – nearly 400 people – have been laid off. Several dozen remain employed, as funding is still arriving in irregular spurts while the organization fights the cuts in court, arguing the president illegally undid funding already approved by Congress. Staff deemed most at-risk in their home countries are being kept on as long as possible while some money is still available. Some have opened asylum claims. 'It's what keeps me up at night' In her office, in a nearly empty bureau in Washington, RFA president Bay Fang recounted one anecdote after another of staff arrested over the years, along with some of their friends and relatives. In North Korea, a soldier was jailed in 2020 for just listening to RFA. "It's heartbreaking. It's what keeps me up at night," Fang said. "[They're] thrown in jail because of their reporting.… "Throughout it all, they wanted to keep going. They felt like it was their calling to actually let the world know what was happening in their country. The fact that now it could be the U.S. government silencing them is just heartbreaking." USAID workers carry belongings out of headquarters after massive program cuts 3 months ago Duration 0:53 USAID workers who lost their jobs were given 15-minute intervals to clear out their desks on Thursday amid a massive takedown of the widely successful program. Workers were greeted with cheers from supporters as they left the building for the final time. How RFA angered autocrats In the years since it was created in 1996, RFA's reporters have broken stories on camps in China for the Muslim Uyghur minority. They did early reporting on a strange new virus ripping through central China in 2020, getting tips from sources inside the country being arrested for speaking about COVID-19. They called up crematoriums in Wuhan and heard about staggering numbers of bodies and funeral homes publishing jobs ads seeking overnight staff. They broke stories about Chinese-controlled police stations within North America and intimidation of diaspora communities. In Myanmar, a villager found a phone with evidence of soldiers bragging about committing war crimes, with photos and evidence of throats being slit and decapitations. He got the phone to Radio Free Asia, which broke that story. So it's no surprise that reaction to the demise of RFA has been buoyant in some of those countries. In China, the government-affiliated Global Times called RFA and other U.S.-funded news operations a relic of Cold War ideological propaganda and welcomed its entry into the dustbin of history. "The so-called beacon of freedom," it wrote, referring specifically to Voice of America, "has now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag." There was a celebratory Facebook post from Cambodia's longtime leader, Hun Sen, accused of rampant corruption and the killing and jailing of political opponents. He applauded Trump for leading the world in combating what Sun called the scourge of fake news. And as the U.S. pulls back on funding news, China and Russia are expanding their footprint, with state-run outlets like RT and CGTN opening dozens of stations and bureaus in Africa alone. A different world Such moves reflect a world where autocracies are spreading and the number of democracies has been shrinking for decades. And, indeed, one argument for scaling back funding for foreign state-funded news organizations such as RFA is that the world scarcely resembles the one in which it was founded. It was inspired by an earlier Cold War model: Radio Free Europe. Originally funded by the CIA, RFE broadcast in over a dozen Eastern European languages since the 1950s. There was overwhelming political support for RFA as it was built over the 1990s and entrenched into law in 1997 in a 401-21 vote in Congress. A year later, when China's government blocked RFA's reporters from covering a presidential trip there, Bill Clinton personally met with those reporters and granted them interviews. But the world and the U.S. position in it have changed. Back then, the internet barely counted as mass media. Today, there are more smartphones in the world than people, allowing myriad ways to communicate. The U.S. no longer has the same power to set the terms of the global conversation as it did when it had 10 times China's GDP, unrivalled military dominance and a balanced budget, as opposed to exploding debt today, and a less-dominant military. Part of wider cuts to government-funded media The Trump administration itself has said virtually nothing about its rationale for eliminating Radio Free Asia, specifically. It has justified gutting government-funded media in general, from the agency that oversees Radio Free Asia, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe to NPR and PBS. "He was elected in large part to reduce the federal bureaucracy, right?" State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said when asked about the cuts to Radio Free Asia. "It's about waste and fraud, mismanagement. This is something that has to occur." Fang is emphatic, however: That even in a world with countless ways to communicate, there's still a role for an organizations like hers. She described a staffer working day and night, relentlessly calling sources in China to report on the Uyghur internment camps. "That was broken from here," she said. U.S.-based staff, working in Mandarin, also broke stories about COVID for which there was voracious appetite inside China, she said. Video views increased eightfold at the time, including clicks from Wuhan, Fang said. One Ipsos poll conducted for RFA in 2018 suggested as many as 44 million people a week may have accessed its content within China, about three per cent of its population. A Gallup survey commissioned by the service in 2023 found that almost three-quarters of Cambodians surveyed were aware of RFA, and 8.5 per cent saw its work on a weekly basis. "When we were created, it was with the understanding that having an educated citizenry in these different countries supporting democratic values would actually lead to awareness that is beneficial to U.S. interests," Fang said. Reporters share their stories A few remaining reporters were working on stories last week in the near-vacant newsroom in downtown Washington. One involved a bullet-train project in Vietnam — with a look at a sole-source contract and questions about oversight. Others touched on struggling tariff talks; a journalist arrested in Cambodia; and a Cambodian official telling Japan to avoid raising human rights during a political summit. A few days earlier, there was an unusual story about a Cambodian police officer charged with drunk-driving. The arrest came after RFA posted an extraordinary crash video that drew millions of views and attention to the case. "We made that big," said Poly Sam, director of the Cambodian service, himself a survivor of ghastly violence under the Khmer Rouge. During a work pause, the few remaining reporters discussed their own personal stories. Vuthy Tha is a single father of two young children, from Cambodia. He described threats from Cambodian officials, including from a cabinet minister and a spokesman for the governing party. "We know where you live," he recalled the spokesman telling him when he was in hiding in Thailand. Some time after, he saw someone standing outside filming his home. Asked what would happen to his kids if he's deported, Tha said he hopes co-workers might care for them. His colleague Hum just became a dad last month. In the weeks before the birth, Hum had been worrying he'd lose his job and with it, his health coverage. When the baby arrived March 26, and Hum still had his job, he took it as a sign and named the baby Lucky. Khoa Lai of the Vietnamese service said he arrived in the U.S. months ago, hopeful that, here, he could write without fear, unlike in his home country, where he still uses a pseudonym for some reporting.
Japan Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Viktor Orban tightens grip on freedoms in Hungary ahead of election next year
Two years after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, he told an audience of entrepreneurs that Hungary was a nation that he "hoped to God' wouldn't one day need to replace democracy. Hungarians are now wondering if their leader is doing just that. The parliament in Budapest on Tuesday was set to start debating legislation that seeks to cut off money to civil society and media receiving foreign funding and which a state agency set up by Orban's government deems a threat. The rules aim to "strengthen national sovereignty' by guaranteeing the "transparency' of groups working in the public interest, the draft bill states. Critics have likened the move to President Vladimir Putin's attempts to crack down on domestic rivals in Russia, and thousands protested in Hungary's capital on Sunday. But with Orban facing a tight election next year and emboldened by his ally Donald Trump back in the White House, the European Union's renegade leader is unlikely to back down. Over the past 15 years, the premier has expelled a university, overhauled the judiciary and whipped up propaganda campaigns against political opponents. Now the attack on political pluralism in Hungary has accelerated, according to Daniel Hegedus, a regional director at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. "The proverbial frog that's being boiled is always trying to stay optimistic about the water temperature,' he said. "Hungary is getting to the point where it's only the absence of violence that differentiates it from what civil society and the media face in places like Russia.' Orban, the first European leader to congratulate Trump on his reelection, saw the American president's return as vindication of his own brand of nationalist populism on the world stage. The Hungarian prime minister is also an ally of Putin, and has been forging closer ties with autocratic leaders in Central Asia while hitting out at fellow EU and NATO members. The EU has regularly censured Orban, but it took years before the bloc suspended some funds for Hungary. The U.S.'s retreat as a critic has given Orban "free rein,' said Peter Kreko, the head of the Political Capital Institute, a Budapest-based think tank. The latest crackdown started in March after Orban's Fidesz was overtaken in the polls by Tisza, an upstart movement led by former ruling party insider Peter Magyar. Orban vowed to crush dissent, comparing independent journalists and judges to insects. Two months later, a ruling party lawmaker submitted a bill proposing to bar blacklisted organizations from receiving donations from the 1% of personal income tax Hungarians can channel to causes. Organizations will also face stricter reporting requirements, onerous fines and even asset freezes. People gather in Budapest on Sunday to protest against a bill that would crack down on foreign-funded organizations. | Reuters The bill is incompatible with Hungary's EU membership, according to Katalin Cseh, a former European Parliament member who's now an opposition lawmaker in Hungary. "This is an admission,' Cseh wrote on Facebook about the ruling party legislation. "It tells us where they're headed and it's away from Europe.' Separately, non-EU dual citizens can now have their Hungarian citizenship suspended. A constitutional change also opened the way for police to ban the annual Pride parade for the LGBTQ+ community, while authorities will be able to use facial recognition to identify people participating in protests. While Hungary's parliament discusses the new bill, Orban will host leaders of Turkic states from the former Soviet republics and Turkey, an organization that Hungary joined as an observer member. Indeed, in his 2012 speech about the possibility of jettisoning democracy, Orban referred to his country's "half-Asian' heritage and need for strong governance. The EU has tried to counter Orban, who was able to build his self-proclaimed "illiberal democracy' while a member of the bloc, by suspending billions of euros in funding due to rule of law and corruption concerns. Brussels has also explored ways of circumventing Hungarian opposition on key decisions ranging from aid to Ukraine to sanctions against Russia. Yet what might appear to be another show of strength could instead be a desperate attempt to cement his control, said Gabor Gyori, chief political analyst at Policy Solutions, another Budapest-based think tank. For the first time since returning to power, Orban is facing a real possibility of losing an election, so must resort to other political strategies, he said. "Orban is trying to put the genie back in the bottle,' Gyori said. Opposition leader Magyar put the government on the back foot, with relentless campaigning and savvy social media skills. That's helped him skirt the government's campaigns to assert Orban's dominance. His party placed second behind Fidesz in European and municipal elections last year. Magyar has capitalized on a cost-of-living crisis and the perception of widespread corruption. Hungary's economic outlook continues to be shaky, with gross domestic product shrinking in the first quarter and the inflation rate and borrowing costs still one of the highest in the EU. In an effort to jolt his supporters and connect with a younger crowd, Orban on Sunday staged what was headlined as a "Fight Club,' a high-tech event where the five-term premier urged the party faithful to create a "digital army' to combat Magyar's online presence. "You know how I do things,' said Orban, who started out as a pro-democracy campaigner during Hungary's communist era. "Unity in important things, freedom in the rest, love in all.' Orban's need to project strength now will likely mean that the crackdown on civil society and the media isn't an empty threat, said Hegedus of the German Marshall Fund. Even larger organizations with bigger budgets that include foreign funding, including EU grants, may shut down within a year or so, he predicted. "Orban can't afford to look weak now.'
Bloomberg
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Orban Moves to Root Out Dissent a Year Before Hungary's Election
Two years after Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, he told an audience of entrepreneurs that Hungary was a nation that he 'hoped to God' wouldn't one day need to replace democracy. Hungarians are now wondering if their leader is doing just that. The parliament in Budapest on Tuesday will start debating legislation that seeks to cut off money to civil society and media receiving foreign funding and which a state agency set up by Orban's government deems a threat. The rules aim to 'strengthen national sovereignty' by guaranteeing the 'transparency' of groups working in the public interest, the draft bill states.
The Sun
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Pope Leo urges release of jailed journalists around the world in passionate speech backing free speech
POPE Leo spoke up for the 'precious gift of free speech' yesterday and called for the release of jailed journalists. Leo told of the scourge of fake news and online hatred in an address to 6,000 members of the media in Vatican City. 3 3 The pontiff echoed his predecessor Francis's plea for careful communication 'in favour of peace' rather than inflammatory rants. His speech took aim at nations including China, Israel, Myanmar, Belarus and Russia, which have jailed the most journalists. Those held by tyrannical regimes include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. He was released 16 months after being held on trumped-up charges in Vladimir Putin's Russia in 2023. Pope Leo said: 'Peace begins with each one of us… 'In the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance. 'We must say 'no' to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war. The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press Leo 'Let me reiterate the Church's solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking to report the truth, and I also ask for the release of these imprisoned journalists. "The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.' Leo hit out at social media bullies and trolls who try to dominate online debates. Robert Prevost elected as Pope Leo XIV - the first from North American He said: 'We have experienced — we can say together — truly special days. 'We have shared them through every form of media: TV, radio, internet, and social media. 'I sincerely hope each of us can say that these days unveiled a little bit of the mystery of our humanity and left us with a desire for love and peace. 'For this reason, I repeat the invitation by Pope Francis: 'Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred; let us free it from aggression. 'We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.' Leo added: 'You are at the forefront of reporting on conflicts and aspirations for peace, on situations of injustice and poverty. I ask you to choose consciously and courageously the path of communication in favour of peace.' 3
