Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Nov. 4th, 2014

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Mr. Chair, the issue of restitching a nation together following a traumatic event such as genocide is obviously absolutely critical to the question that's before this committee. I would suggest that the department is probably not prepared for that question today.

However, I think it's absolutely critical to understand the process in the country, and I believe you have a series of other witnesses in the future who I'm sure would be prepared to testify to that. If you would like a specific opinion or a view from the department, I would need to come back to you with further information on that. I didn't come prepared to speak about that today, Mr. Chair.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you.

How effective was the UN peacekeeping mission after the genocide in the mid-1990s and what has been done in terms of peace building since the UN left Rwanda? You can answer that.

[Leslie Norton]

I'm happy to take that, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for the question.

Again, I think we would say the same thing in that today we didn't come prepared to actually speak to the peacekeeping mission per se. What we can say, or what we could comment on, is the humanitarian effort immediately following the genocide and perhaps some of the results of that. I think you're aware that Canada was a very active partner with a range of really important humanitarian organizations in responding to post-genocide humanitarian needs.

If you'd like views on the effectiveness of the peacekeeping mission itself, that's something we would have to provide at a future date.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

In looking at the children of rape and sexual abuse in Rwanda, is there a practical first step to improving the quality of life through education, through training, or through care homes or something else? What can the international community do in that respect?

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Thank you for this question, which is fundamentally a development question, and a very important one.

As we have discussed today, following the genocide the role of the international community was initially very much a reaction to the immediate consequences of the genocide, but it very quickly transformed into addressing the fundamental needs of any nation, such as ongoing health care systems, not just emergency health care, education systems, public transport, judicial systems. All of those issues have been supported through Canadian bilateral programming in the years following the genocide.

As you are surely aware, Canada no longer has a bilateral development program with Rwanda following decisions by the government to focus development assistance on fewer partners. However, for many years following the genocide, Canada was an important bilateral partner of Rwanda and invested very heavily in a wide range of programs, including addressing health care issues, judicial issues around reconciliation, land use and land tenure issues, the whole range of the tissue of a society that is necessary for moving out of a post-genocide period into a period of normality.

Those kinds of initiatives continue now with some support from Canada through the United Nations family of organizations—our core contributions, for example—and through one ongoing project where we work through the World Bank, as well as the CECI project that I mentioned earlier.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, do I have some time left?

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

You do not, unfortunately.

Ms. Sgro.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Thank you to our witnesses for coming today and reminding us about the atrocity that occurred.

A lot has been done by Canada and from around the world, but is enough still being done? It was 20 years ago. As much a genocide as it was, people have a way of moving on to other things. It would be terrible to think that, but that is sometimes the realism that happens.

Currently how much attention is being spent on the survivors of the Rwandan genocide by the United Nations and elsewhere? How much attention is still on that issue, or do people just want to put it aside and not think about it?

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Thank you for the question.

I think we saw, with the 20-year anniversary recently, that this incident is still very much on the minds of the world, and that there is a lot of attention still paid to this. There are ongoing efforts, including the efforts I cited earlier in my statement, supported by Canada, to address the needs of the people who survived this terrible tragedy.

I think it's clear that this is still very much a present issue for people, and will be for a long time. A lot of the children now in Rwanda were born after these events, so I'm sure to some degree there's also a desire by some people to compartmentalize this and have a memory, but then also to seek some sort of normality in the society.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Ms. Norton.

[Leslie Norton]

I will just add a few points.

We are of the view that the Rwandan genocide has had a really profound impact on the way Canada and the international community actually provide humanitarian assistance now and how we go about protecting crisis-affected populations, including women and girls.

You may know that after the genocide, there was the first ever multi-donor evaluation of the international humanitarian response. It was the single most comprehensive system-wide evaluation of an international response at the time. It found many weaknesses and strengths in the humanitarian system around the areas of early warning, coordination, accountability, protection of civilians, security of humanitarian workers, as well as the provision of relief. That triggered quite a transformation in the international humanitarian system. There has also been a whole range of far-reaching efforts to professionalize the humanitarian system itself and the workers. We saw, for instance, the creation of what we call the Sphere standards, which is a set of universal minimum standards that are there to try to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance that's provided, as well as the accountability of humanitarian actors.

Very importantly, then we saw the creation of a code of conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in disaster relief. There are also a couple of other landmark elements that have arisen. While you might not be able to trace a direct link back to the post-genocide response, that really did lead to a lot of transformations in the system that we see today.

It also led to and was part and parcel of why today Canada requires our partners to be signatories to this Red Cross code of conduct, why they follow the guidelines for gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian settings, and why they have gender policies. They have to report back to us when they receive grant funding from the Government of Canada. It's led to more studies on the need to protect women and girls in humanitarian settings and why they've created protection mechanisms out there such as a thing called GenCap, which is a surge capacity, in that they can draw upon a pool of candidates when there is a gap in the humanitarian response. That type of tool exists.

I also want to say that we're also very, very vocal in all of the multilateral settings where Canada sits as a board member or a member state to the UN or with regard to our other partners that have donor support groups. We are one of the most vocal on the need to ensure that policies are engendered and that, if there is not enough awareness through their programming and their policies about gender-based violence.... Many of the partners have moved there because of Canadian stances in these international fora.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

I think Canada can be applauded for the leadership it has shown on this issue.

In many other countries, rape continues to be a weapon used against many, many women. It seems as if it is always done with impunity. It never seems as if anyone ever pays a price, except for the woman and the children that result from these rapes.

Is there any action being taken to go after those who do these terrible things?

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Yes, thank you. Absolutely, this is an issue that Canada, along with the international community, is very seized of and has taken a lot of concrete actions as I alluded to in my statement. The Rwandan genocide and the sexual violence that was an integral part of that and following it can be seen to have been a moment of change of international attitude. A number of very concrete resolutions have been taken, and a number of very concrete measures in order to implement the intent of those resolutions have been taken.

The most recent forum was the meeting, which I mentioned, in the U.K. in 2014 where the global community got together to discuss how to first of all work to prevent sexual violence and then to find ways to remove the impunity of those who use this as a weapon of war. I don't think there's any doubt that this is a work that is very much ongoing and in historical terms very recent and very new, but I think the efforts that have been taken recently really show the determination and the will of the international community to do whatever can be done to address this issue.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Mr. Schellenberger, please.

[Gary Schellenberger, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you very much for your presentation today.

Does sexual violence as a weapon of war come from the tribal history of the Hutu or Tutsi, or is this a religious tool used by certain groups as we see happening in so many places today?

[Kenneth Neufeld]

The roots of sexual violence as a tool of war must surely be a very complicated and fraught subject. I'm not prepared to address that question. I would suggest, Mr. Chair, that this is the kind of question I would take note of and go back to my department for the guidance on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

[Gary Schellenberger, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Okay.

Do we totally understand the tribal history in this region? After all the sexual violence and this terrible event, have any of these women returned to their former homes, or have they been shunned by their families and former communities? After all, as Ms. Sgro said, this was 20 years ago. Has there been some...returned for these people?

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Mr. Chair, I would ask that we be able to come back to the committee with details of this. However, I can say that Rwanda had a very active and widespread truth and reconciliation process, which was supported by the international community, and there has certainly been a considerable normalization of the society in Rwanda in the years following the genocide.

[Leslie Norton]

If I could just add—

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I apologize for interrupting you, Ms. Norton, but I just wanted to ask, did the truth and reconciliation commission produce a single final report? Was that the nature of how its process worked? The reason I ask, of course, is that this may prove to be a useful source of material, if it exists, for us vis-à-vis such chimerical questions as the one raised by Mr. Schellenberger.

[Kenneth Neufeld]

I would have to come back to you on exactly what the product was. My understanding is that it was more aimed at dealing with divisions at the community level.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Right, but it would be a unique data source, in that it was working in a very widespread way across the country in a manner not likely to be replicated by any other process.

[Kenneth Neufeld]

Understood.