If clicking on a link brings you to the wrong page of the comment thread, CLICK HERE to get to its current page.
UPDATE December 23, 2017: Please see the following post for the latest information: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2017/12/15/un-human-rights-complaint-quadruples-its-signatures/
UPDATE November 28, 2017:
Also, see MuzzledNoMore’s updated post, United Nations Human Rights Complaint: Seeking Advice and Additional Signatures
**************
UPDATE November 23, 2017:
UN Complaint Final July 29 2014 – updated links November 23 2017
**************************
UPDATE JANUARY 10, 2017:
From MuzzledNoMore:
Just letting everybody know that we’re still waiting to hear from the UN about the status of our Complaint. With any luck we’ll have the matter taken care of within the next few months by the new Republican administration in Washington. Who knows? Maybe the UN is watching and waiting to see what happens as well. In any regard, the UN has informed us that it can take up to three years for a Complaint to reach the stage at which it will be considered or rejected.
If a “domestic” solution is possible, there will be no need for the UN to address the issue. When we filed the Complaint nearly two and a half years ago we could never have believed that repealing FATCA and switching to residence-based taxation would have made it to the 2016 Republican Party Platform. Now it remains to be seen if the party will follow through with its promises.
**************************
UPDATE MAY 21, 2015:
Today we received official confirmation from the United Nations Human Rights Council that our Complaint has been received and is in the queue pending approval (or not) for admittance into one of the Working Groups. The next session of the Working Group on Communications is scheduled from 17 to 21 August 2015. Further information will be shared with us after that date.
**************************
UPDATE NOVEMBER 6, 2014:
From MuzzledNoMore:
We have finally received confirmation that our Human Rights Complaint against the United States has been received by the United Nations. This is great news! But let’s not pop champagne corks just yet. There is no indication that the Complaint has been read or considered for acceptance into the complaints process in any way. That is all yet to come. But we have made a huge step forward! That deserves a few cheers all round … even without the bubbly!
UPDATE OCTOBER 27, 2014:
Permission has been given a university researcher to access to our UN Human Rights Complaint to analyze ethical assumptions on FATCA. That access will be used for academic purposes, content not to be released (as the UN has not yet acknowledged receipt of this UN Human Rights Complaint).
We view as a significant step that this document will be studied for moral dimensions and ethics. We continue to anticipate the time we will be able to publicly release contents of the Complaint, likely AFTER the next scheduled meeting to review such complaints, sometime in April 2015.
*********************
UPDATE SEPTEMBER 10, 2014:
“JC” commented, and he’s right:
Whenever that text for the human rights complaint comes out that, I believe, will be a big help at raising awareness.
The text of the Human Rights Complaint will be published when we know the UN has received and considered it. There has been no confirmation that our submission was considered for the meeting in August (…our submission was sent just before the August meeting so, just by number of other submissions received before ours, our Human Rights Complaint may not have been considered in the time allotted). It looks like the next UN meeting to consider Human Rights Complaints is scheduled for April of 2015 — that Committee meets twice a year.
In the meantime, our fundraising must be pinned to its stand-alone legal claim and importance which absolutely addresses our human rights issues.
Donate Now: http://adcs-adsc.ca/
***********************
August 7, 2014 UPDATE:
The Human Rights Complaint has been submitted. Thank you to those who worked on the document and made this happen. A very special thank you to all who came forward to put your names on this important document. We had a total of 41 signers, representing the countries of Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland and Belgium.
****************************
August 5, 2014 UPDATE:
Note: there is a confidentiality clause in the document that your name / nationality / country be kept confidential. My name and address will be the only one that might not be confidential. I wanted to share with you two notes waiting for me this morning:
Hi Carol,
I am very disappointed that more people did not come forward and sign this document, I do not understand why people are afraid to speak up for what they believe. People are so afraid of the bully acts of the USA, We must stand together, I am asking all people that the US government deem US citizens to step forward and stand up against the US and the Harper government for allowing FATCA into the Canadian banking system.
I am not on facebook or twitter. I give you permission to post this.
Disappointed
XXX
Hi Carol,
I am surprised that so few people have signed. This makes me uneasy. People must be frightened. Do you expect repercussions against the signers? At the moment I don’t have the strength to deal with any more troubles. Would you please put a hold on my name until I can evaluate your assessment of possible repercussions.
Thank you,
YYYY
I answered YYYY:
Absolutely. I can take your name off the list of signers if you are not comfortable with that — you must be OK with your decision. We will probably be sending the Complaint on Thursday, August 7th .
No, we don’t expect any repercussions against any of the signers. We will ask for confidentiality in one of the clauses.
As with everything else of this with this (persons on blogs, getting together for protest, etc.), people are afraid to step forward. The US weapon toward its people always is FEAR. That is what we see here. That is our biggest obstacle and what may defeat us in the end.
Dr. Stephen Kish, Chair of the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty signs his name on behalf of the millions of *US Persons* Abroad who are afraid to sign.
Thanks, YYYY.
FEAR: the most effective tool the USA has at its disposal is at work in all we see regarding US Persons Abroad coming forward in unison to fight the good fight. If anything defeats us, it will be our FEAR.
As you all know, I fear too for my son’s name to be out there as it is my duty as a parent to protect his best interests. Because of my own fear, I went through all the complex back US tax filings through use of professionals in the US compliance industry. That was my choice as I could absolutely not do it myself and I so wanted this behind me, to stop the leak of my hard-earned retirement funds to be passed to the US IRS. I’m still in this game. I replied to a commenter at Isaac Brock yesterday and Stephen Kish picked part of what I said to update the ADCS-ADSC Charter Challenge post yesterday:
UPDATE August 5, 2014 (http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/06/01/its-time/)
Carol, an ADCS-ADSC Board Director, explains why she donated to this lawsuit:
The purpose of the lawsuit, to me, is to stop the obscene injustice of all of this, regain rights waived by the Canadian government’s implementation of the US FATCA IGA, thereby putting the financial institutions before individuals and families who are being criminalized!
I’m in for that just as I’m on this blog, hoping people learn from all of the stupid mistakes I made along the way — I don’t want others to make those same mistakes.
It’s about people getting their lives back, along with their dignity and their mental and physical health and to stop the the handing over to the US a good portion of what they’ve saved for their retirements.
It is about wanting Canada to remain a sovereign country, not taken over by the USA. It’s about what I think is right and not wanting to silently stand by and let this happen. It’s because I believe in free speech and don’t want to be shamed into not speaking out, at this point especially for other families who have a family member with some developmental disability or some other ‘mental incapacity’.
My update for now and my regards to all,
August 2, 2014 UPDATE:
Thank you very much for everyone who has corresponded to me at calgaryfouroneone@gmail.com to request the password and give permission for your signatures to be added. Your supportive emails are wonderful.
He is what we have for signers to the Human Rights Document:
18 – Canada
2 – UK
1 – Australia
1 – Belgium (US/Dutch Citizen)
1 – Denmark
1 – Germany
1 – Japan
1 – Switzerland
Note that one of the Canadian signers is Dr. Stephen Kish (Canadian, US)–signing personally, and on behalf of the “Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty” Board of Directors, and the millions of U.S. persons living abroad who are too frightened to sign this document.
Also waiting to hear back from 4 in Canada (one from Quebec) and one from New Zealand.
*********************
July 30, 2014 UPDATE:
Here is the FINAL Human Rights Complaint, available to those that are considering signing. To access the password for this document, contact and request from calgaryfouroneone@gmail.com.
Each person sending a request will receive a copy from calgary411 “in Confidence” with the CLEAR understanding that it is NOT to be published. For anyone who wants to have another person read/sign the document, that other person also needs to obtain it through the Isaac Brock Society or Maple Sandbox channels. Signatures will only be accepted from those who have gotten the document through calgary411. This stipulation is necessary to keep some lid on the proliferation of this information.
We will announce when we know the timing for the agency committee looking at this document for review. We will update on this post any feedback from the agency as it is received.
This document is the collaboration of contributors to both blogs and took over a month to write, discuss and edit in consensus with a group of 15 who have vetted and approved it in its entirety. It stands as presented to them. Bloggers can have their say but there will be no further changes to the document. It is what the agency says that matters.
Sign if you are in agreement and can do so by providing to calgaryfouroneone@gmail.com your name and your nationality and/or country of residence. The Human Rights Complaint will be submitted electronically. Submitters’ names and nationalities will be typed onto the lines provided on page 1. No physical signature is required.
If you are not comfortable with the document, you do not have to sign.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.
*******************
Two dedicated individuals who participate at both the Isaac Brock Society and the Maple Sandbox blogs have prepared a comprehensive Human Rights Complaint that will be submitted on behalf of all *US Persons Abroad* the world over. Others offered suggestions on how that information should best be presented in the constraint of number of pages allowed for the Complaint. We appreciate the legal eye and suggestions for going forward with this Complaint from Professor Allison Christians.
The document now complete, I have been asked to post an announcement on their behalf. Unfortunately, because of their personal situations, they cannot lend their names to the document and this will be the end of Phase I, produced for all of us, with their great care.
I so appreciate the incredible work that has gone into this on behalf of all of us. Here is what they say:
A group of writers from the Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox blogs has prepared a document that challenges citizenship-based taxation (CBT) as a violation of internationally recognized human rights. This document will be submitted as a formal complaint to a major international human rights organization within the next ten days.
Any readers who would like to support this effort by “co-signing” (having their names added to the list of those filing the complaint) should so indicate by sending an email to: calgaryfouroneone@gmail.com.
****************
The Canadian writers of the complaint hope to make this a truly international effort. Bloggers from all over the world are welcome to lend their names to this historic document. Signers do not have to be US Persons.****************
Signers should feel comfortable with using their own names (pseudonyms are unacceptable in this instance) and should provide their nationality and/or country of residence as well.
@George
Because of US policy, is there any nation’s citizens that become bigger losers than the US’s when they emigrate? That’s not to say that one can’t enjoy a better quality of life, you just can’t maintain it with the ball-and-chain of US citizenship when it carries the responsibilities it has. The US has priced its citizenship out of the market in any practical sense.
Thanks, everybody, for the comments going on here.
Perhaps, when U.S. homelanders find out that their “greatest country in the world” stands formally accused of human rights violations by its own sons, daughters and “associated” individuals “overseas” they will start to engage in some sober reflection.
JC and all: the Human Rights Complaint will, indeed, be made available for all to read once it has been submitted and accepted into the process. The committee to which the Complaint is addressed meets from August 18 – 22 to determine the admissibility of complaints. We will be learning the status of ours sometime after that date and will keep everyone apprised.
The article below resonated with me re FATCA and the extraterritorial CBT demands and enforcement tactics of the US – oppressing all those abroad as if they are tax evaders, money launderers, drug kingpins, terror funders, etc. – until the deemed “US taxable person” proves otherwise, over and over and over – for life – and beyond:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/un-human-rights-report-and-turning-tide-against-mass-spying
…..”This report turns the tide in the privacy debate at the United Nations and opens the door for more substantive scrutiny of states’ surveillance practices and their compliance with international human rights law. .”..
…”Forget The “Haystack”
The report issues a powerful condemnation of the “collect-it-all” justification that an infinitely large “haystack” of personal data must be accumulated in order to find the needles. The report points out that few “needles” that have been uncovered, and that in any event:
Mass or “bulk” surveillance programmes may thus be deemed to be arbitrary, even if they serve a legitimate aim and have been adopted on the basis of an accessible legal regime. In other words, it will not be enough that the measures are targeted to find certain needles in a haystack; the proper measure is the impact of the measures on the haystack, relative to the harm threatened; namely, whether the measure is necessary and proportionate…..”…..
..”everybody is entitled to equal protection before the law.
International human rights law is explicit with regard to the principle of non-discrimination. Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law” and, further, that “in this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
In this regard, the Human Rights Committee has underscored the importance of “measures to ensure that any interference with the right to privacy complies with the principles of legality, proportionality and necessity regardless of the nationality or location of individuals whose communications are under direct surveillance…”
The UN report referred to is here:
‘The right to privacy in the digital age Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=14874&LangID=E
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/DigitalAge/Pages/DigitalAgeIndex.aspx
@ Badger. I am most impressed with this UN document (UN Human Rights Report and the Turning Tide Against Mass Spying), especially the following:
International human rights law provides a clear and universal framework for the promotion and protection of the right to privacy, including in the context of domestic and extraterritorial surveillance, the interception of digital communications AND THE COLLECTION OF PERSONAL DATA (emphasis mine)
There is a clear and pressing need for vigilance in ensuring the compliance of any surveillance policy or practice with international human rights law, including the right to privacy, through the development of effective safeguards against abuses. Steps should be taken to ensure that effective and independent oversight regimes and practices are in place, with attention to the right of victims to an effective remedy.
Don’t you think this alligns itself well with the Human Rights Complaint that we have just sent (or are about to send)??? I mean, isn’t FATCA mainly a surveillance policy/practice? How does it fit in with international human rights laws? Not very well I think…..
LM, Badger,
We will send the Human Rights Complaint tomorrow. I will work this into the introductory email to which I attach the document — what do you think?
Seems most timely and appropriate to me!!!!!
“We will send the Human Rights Complaint tomorrow.”
Great !!!
Is it possible to send the same or a similar complaint to other recognized international human rights organizations? The more recognized bodies that receive complaints, the better.
Badger: You have made a very timely find. Thank you!
calgary411, if the need arises to have names public, I signed on believing mine would be public. I have absolutely no problem with that.
@calgary, LM and MuzzeledNoMore,
I just came upon it today by chance, and I think that many of the points raised in the UN report are very relevant to the imposition, intent, design and enforcement of US FATCA and CBT – and I hoped that readers might see parallels with how FATCA offends some of the very same principles and considerations this UN report refers to in the context of other information collection and surveillance by states/nations. It refers many times throughout to the international human right to privacy, and to be free from discrimination, the need for recourse, remedy and restitution, the need for proportionality, the issue of relying on private or third parties for information collection and enforcement which is contrary with international human rights principles, the need for government accountability and oversight, the sharing, use and dissemination of data for purposes beyond those cited, etc
This part of the report is interesting too; “………..The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, endorsed by the Human Rights Council in 2011, provide a global standard for preventing and addressing adverse effects on human rights linked to business activity. The responsibility to respect human rights applies throughout a company’s global operations regardless of where its users are located, and exists independently of whether the State meets its own human rights obligations..”. I can see direct parallels to what the FFIs and NonFFIs are to be doing to their accountholders in the name of complying with FATCA – even with the IGAs in place. ‘The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ http://www.unglobalcompact.org/issues/human_rights/the_un_srsg_and_the_un_global_compact.html may provide ammunition against how the FFIs and NonFFIs act in complying with FATCA.
August 7, 2014 UPDATE:
The Human Rights Complaint has been submitted. Thank you to those who worked on the document and made this happen. A very special thank you to all who came forward to put your names on this important document. We had a total of 41 signers, representing the countries of Canada, Germany, Japan, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Estonia, Switzerland and Belgium.
@X
“Until the American people take their heads out of their asses and do something about the abuses being done in their name, they will continue to be lumped in together with Uncle Sam. It is that simple.”
This might have been a valid argument pre-FATCA.
But now, with FATCA, virtually every so-called democracy on the planet has signed on to FATCA and collaborated. No so-called democratic nation on the planet has, so far, gotten their heads out of their asses and done something about it–although I recognize that ADCS is certainly going to give it a good try.
FATCA is a very bad law for the entire planet but I believe that, by collaborating, most other countries have lost any possible claim that their people are somehow morally superior to the American people.
@Calgary. Thanks for your work on this. BTW, will there be ongoing updates on what if any feedback comes of this either to you or publicly?
I recall Stephen mentioning a press release of some kind. Is that still on for both this submission and our legal challenge being launched? Can we now mention this in our commenting? How do we get this front page, above the fold?
Absolutely, Only a Canadian. Any feedback or reply that I get will be posted immediately. There may be further announcement regarding the Human Rights Complaint submission. I’m waiting to get instructions from others involved.
Hi, Charl.
As replied to Only A Canadian, I’m waiting for instructions from others involved re next steps. I’m the go-between person.
@Dash1729
“FATCA is a very bad law for the entire planet but I believe that, by collaborating, most other countries have lost any possible claim that their people are somehow morally superior to the American people.”
A very valid point, particularly when they are selling out their fellow citizens (duals) to a foreign empire.
@George
“As I have said many times on here, this is NOT a tax problem. This is a Citizenship problem. What I think we want is for the USA to throw us out and cut the cord!! ”
My personal focus is on doing what I can to resist FATCA and its collaboratory legislation on both sides of the border. I believe that if FATCA and possibly CBT is struck down, the US won’t be so anxious to hang on to its citizens. In the past the US was in fact much like you would want it to be: it was in fact hard to hang onto US citizenship and easy to lose it. That’s changed relatively recently as the US has decided its expats might be a good source of extorted tax and penalty $$$. I believe that if the US saw that it wasn’t going to get any money–and just as importantly data–from its expats, it would very quickly start cutting the cords again.
This notion that other nations may want to claim morally superiority to the US is sheer projection on your part. Let’s just let the facts speak for themselves, Dash. What moral position can a victim of extortion claim when they are portrayed as complicit as you are attempting to do?
@Bubblebustin
”Let’s just let the facts speak for themselves, Dash.”
The facts are very simple. Both Canada and the USA have signed on to this. I will quote Mr. Mulroney the one time in his life when he wasn’t lying:
“Mr. Prime Minister, you had an option. You could have said no.”
I would amend it slightly to say:
“Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, you had an option. You could have said no.”
No doubt, Dash, but what does that have to do with any imagined claims to any moral high ground on Canada’s part?
@Bubblebustin
It’s got nothing at all to do with it.
I was returning to a discussion of the facts as you requested.
fantastic! Waiting to see the document!
I see that this document from Australia anticipates complaints based on international Human Rights principles. See pages 21-25, Chapter 2 ‘Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights’
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/bill_em/tlaotfab2014510/memo_0.html
TAX LAWS AMENDMENT (IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FATCA AGREEMENT) BILL 2014
2013-2014
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
TAX LAWS AMENDMENT (IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FATCA
AGREEMENT) BILL 2014
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by the authority of the
Treasurer, the Hon J. B. Hockey MP)
It is interesting that they make explicit acknowledgement of some of the Human Rights issues that FATCA raises in a democracy as practiced in Australia – and even cite resources they consider relevant ( and importantly, there may be significant others they chose not to cite). Their choice of argument/s as to why it is allowable for them to implement FATCA despite the significant issues they identify in this publicly available document may not stand up to legal scrutiny by an international body, or even domestically. They may perhaps be relying on the APPEARANCE of legitimacy rather than the actuality, and like Canada’s Harper government, rely on their access to and (mis)use of taxpayer monies to fund a defense against individuals who might be inclined to put their actions to the test. It reminds me of the weak defense cited by the IRS/US Treasury re the imposition of the FATCA faux ‘reciprocity’ within the US via the IGAs – as skewered by Allison Christians http://taxpol.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/irs-claims-statutory-authority-for.html .
Governments may rely on the ignorance and limited understanding and limited resources and ability to organize and of the citizens they control by applying a very thin veneer/gloss and appearance of legitimacy to questionable policies and legislation such as FATCA.
The post by schubert http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/08/07/cbc-news-article-on-harper-strategy-of-legal-confrontation-important-comment-opportunity/ demonstrates that this may very well be the tactic at play here in Canada re FATCA. They can apply a thin veneer of legitimacy by (ab)using their majority to pass legislation like the FATCA IGA and sit back and wait for opposition to be forced to dedicate limited resources to taking it to court.
Hence the critical importance of the success of the ADCS challenge in Canada and the Human Rights complaint to an international body. A challenge in the EU on human rights grounds would be extremely helpful to this as well. And the US based challenge to FATCA will contribute to making taxpayer funds spent on legal defenses by FATCA IGA signatory governments against their own citizens and taxpayers look very foolish.
More and more I think that the governments who signed up to FATCA under duress made a judgement that using their majorities/clout to pass the IGA enabling legislation – plus mis-using their control and access to their own taxpayers’ resources to squash any legal opposition would be sufficient to impose FATCA discrimination on their own citizens in the name of doing their Bankster’s bidding and placating the US. They were counting on the unequal contest between individuals vs. the State apparatus and its monolithic control of our own taxpayers funds and government departments and resources such as the Justice department – wielding them against us as taxpayers and citizens.
The US and later, the FATCA IGA signatories (and despite the early and still valid and contradictory comments of our late Finance Minister James Flaherty http://business.financialpost.com/2011/09/16/read-jim-flahertys-letter-on-americans-in-canada/ ) were counting first on no-one noticing that the FATCA-Emperor has no clothes. Then they counted on our limited access to media to publicize the nakedness of the Emperor (remember that no US media printed Flaherty’s letter). Now they are counting on our limited resources to get to a court in order to prove what we know – that the Emperor has been mooning the globe all along, and that our sycophantic and craven home governments have cast their lot in with the fiction.
Contribute to the ADCS http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/Issue_Cost.html . Expose the Emperor’s shrunken pitiful dangling appendages for what they truly are!
badger,
Amazing and right-on comment. Had I the research skills and the analysis and the words that you have!!