International Trade committee  First, people have jobs deciding what the best method is for development and whether it's economic trade or whether development is best achieved by other means, and we're not here really to discuss that. For us, for me, and for PEN, and for IHRP—

International Trade committee  Of course we want to make it better. Really this is why we have the recommendations that we have, because if Canada chooses, if Canada believes that trade with Honduras is the best way to make things better for the Honduran people, there are a few things that we can do at this

International Trade committee  I guess there are two things. There are two ways to respond. The first is, what is really at the root of this failure of freedom of the press, or freedom of expression in Honduras? It's also at the root of the justice problems that Ms. Spring was talking about. Really this is a l

International Trade committee  Well, as my dad always used to say, if Bob jumps off a cliff and if Julie jumps off a cliff, are you going to jump off a cliff too? I think we really need to think about what it could possibly mean to increase our involvement in a country where these kinds of human rights abuses

International Trade committee  I can add to that, I have some examples. In the first five months of 2013, the former special prosecutor for human rights opened more than 400 cases examining police abuse, misconduct, and murder. A United States Senate caucus report on international narcotics controls states th

International Trade committee  It's a very good question, and of course it's a very complex issue, and it's hard to tell. But I think if we look at free trade zones like Ciudad Juarez or we look at Buenaventura, clearly throwing money at the problem hasn't solved anything. In fact in many cases, it has made th

International Trade committee  Thank you. My name is Tasleem Thawar, and I'm the executive director of PEN Canada. Before I begin, I'll tell you a bit about PEN Canada. We're the Canadian centre of PEN International, the oldest human rights organization in the world, working in more that 100 countries. Though