Afghanistan Committee on March 25th, 2010

[Francine Lalonde, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Forgive me, but the information we received indicates that the British have extended their moratorium.

[William F. Pentney]

I know, but as Minister Cannon has just said, the government has information indicating that the British are still transferring detainees.

The commander on the ground has to be satisfied, according to the laws that govern, that there is not a substantial risk of torture and that sufficient measures have been taken to address the issue. So there is on the one side a series of engagements the Government of Afghanistan has made with respect to how it will conduct itself in the handling of Canadian transferred detainees.

Second--and others can speak to this--there is capacity-building work to improve the quality not just of the prisons but of those who guard. We work very actively as a government, through correctional services and other officials, to try to build the justice capacity and the capacity of the members. The commander on the ground receives continuing reports of the monitoring visits and other information so he is satisfied, every time he makes a decision to transfer, there is not a substantial current risk that Canadian transferred detainees will be subjected to torture.

In summary, under the current arrangement there's a three-part strategy of trying to ensure that....

the focus is on the risks. We know that there are still risks. We can generally avoid those risks. However, Afghan officers and the government know very well that it is extremely important for Canada to have this agreement with them and that it be upheld.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you.

Mr. Bachand, you have three minutes.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

I would simply like to make a distinction.

You say that the British have not extended the moratorium. Perhaps Mr. Davidson can enlighten me, since he is an officer. It appears that the British are conducting operations with Afghan kandaks. When prisoners are taken, the British tell the Afghans who are with them during the same operation to arrest those prisoners because the British do not want to be responsible for them. So it's basically the same thing. This is what is happening on the ground.

Can you confirm this for me, Mr. Davidson? After all, the people who gave this information were highly ranked British officials.

[Rear-Admiral Robert Davidson, Director of Staff, Strategic Joint Staff, Department of National Defence]

I cannot exactly confirm that information. But I know that, as we speak, the British are still transferring their detainees. They have not ceased to do so. Perhaps, as you said, there are some operations where detainees are taken by Afghan authorities. I don't know. However, in all of my discussions with the British, they have told me that the transfers are continuing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

You have another 40 seconds, Monsieur Bachand.

[Claude Bachand, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Fine.

I don't know who can answer my question, Mr. Chair.

I had a question on the academy which is to be created to train customs officials beginning around mid-January of this year. Has this academy been opened yet? Is it already operating? I would like to know.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Ms. Bossenmaier.

[Greta Bossenmaier]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Canada Border Services Agency is not represented here, but I will reply about some of their operations there.

A new customs academy has recently opened in Afghanistan. Our ambassador was part of that opening ceremony in January. We've now seen the first set of students who have already completed a course through the customs academy.

Canada has played a number of important roles there, everything from the development of curriculum, of material, and also has the role of being the associate dean, and also has a trainer there. So Canada is playing an important role in terms of helping to build the customs capabilities within Afghanistan.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you very much.

Go ahead, Ms. Gallant.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Through you to the witnesses, we heard about the great work the Rotarians have been doing, most recently in Haiti. With respect to Afghanistan, I understand they are working together with the Canadian government to eradicate polio. I have some questions regarding our commitment to eradicate polio among the Afghan population.

How does this project support what Canadians want to see accomplished in Afghanistan, namely, the six priorities?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Go ahead, Ms. Bossenmaier.

[Greta Bossenmaier]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In our six priorities and three signature projects, one of those signature projects, as has correctly been pointed out, is working on the eradication of polio. It is a really important project for the overall health of Afghan citizens.

We have a representative here with us from the Canadian International Development Agency. I will turn it over to Ms. Ducros to provide some additional information.

[Françoise Ducros, Vice-President, Afghanistan Task Force, Canadian International Development Agency]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Indeed it is one of the signature projects. We've supplied funding to the World Health Organization. We work with other organizations as well in the inoculation of children. We also work with the forces in ensuring days of tranquility to inoculate children against polio.

Polio has been eradicated in about 84% of the territory of Afghanistan. As was suggested earlier, we did not meet the 2009 target to eradicate polio. Part of that is actually owing to the cross-border transmission of the virus. In order to address that aspect, we also have a certain amount of funding that goes to the eradication of polio in Pakistan.

That said, we have inoculated 95% of the targeted children and we've committed to an ongoing effort to eradicate the disease.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

There has been a report saying that the incidence of polio has increased lately.

[Françoise Ducros]

The number of cases in the south has increased. The World Health Organization has attributed that increase to the transmission of the disease from across the border. We have actually managed to eradicate it in the north, and there are ongoing efforts to deal with the issue in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What's the process for producing the quarterly report?

[Greta Bossenmaier]

Mr. Chairman, as Minister Cannon pointed out, the quarterly reports are one of the hallmarks of the interdepartmental effort, the whole-government effort, on Afghanistan. The Manley panel in 2008 called for more frequent and frank reporting on Canada's efforts. These reports are focused on Canada's six priorities and three signature projects.

We work with our colleagues in the field and in Ottawa to compile the results and to challenge ourselves in terms of the results that have been achieved. At the end of every quarter we work across the whole of the government community to produce the reports. The reports come out a couple of months after the quarter, and that's attributed to the significant amount of work that it takes to compile information and report on information from a conflict zone.

This is the seventh quarterly report. It represents the whole-of-government effort, both from the field and from headquarters.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What is Canada's position on recent changes to Afghanistan's electoral law that impact the electoral complaints commission?

[Jillian Stirk]

Mr. Chairman, let me say that we were concerned by some of the changes that the president initially proposed to the electoral law, specifically the provisions with respect to the electoral complaints commission. We were concerned that some of the proposed changes could mean less independent oversight of the electoral process. We also had some concerns about what some of the changes might mean for participation for women and whether we would be able to monitor the possibility of fraud as effectively as we would like.

Since the initial decree on elections, there have been a number of consultations and discussions. Our understanding is that there is now agreement that there will be international representation on the electoral complaints commission. The U.N. special representative there will be involved in the appointment of those international representatives. While we're watching carefully and believe that further reforms are required before the next round of parliamentary elections, we feel that things in that respect are moving in the right direction.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What was achieved at the London conference?

[Jillian Stirk]

As Minister Cannon said, the London conference was really an opportunity for the new Afghan government to present its programs to the international community. Of course, a lot of the focus was on security issues and ensuring that the Afghans are ready to take on greater responsibility for their own security.

There were also, of course, important announcements around development and governance, and a new focus on local governance, if you like. I think people saw this as a positive sign. In addition, there were some announcements about the intentions of the Afghan government to pursue reconciliation and reintegration, and the announcement of a trust fund at that time.

As Minister Cannon mentioned, it was also a good opportunity to bring the international community together to reiterate support for the Afghan project. We hope we'll see the Afghans take on greater responsibility for all of these areas and that we'll see some results in the near term.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We'll move over to Mr. Harris, please, for seven minutes.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, panel. I'll give you an opportunity to explain one of your successes. We all understand that literacy is probably one of the most important long-term development indicators and supporters for development and self-determination.

I see from this quarterly report that you note you've achieved a target, completing literacy training for over 23,000 individuals and exceeding the target of 20,000.

Could one of you, any one of you, describe why that was successful, if it was, in the sense that you trained the right people? What people were given literacy training? Are we talking about women in villages who are now able to do certain things, or are we talking about giving literacy training to police officers so that they can actually follow instructions or read manuals or learn things they might need to learn to be good police officers?

Can you describe what the intent was with the goal of 20,000? How was it achieved? And is there anything you can say that would indicate that this program needs more help and more support, or anything at all about it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Ducros.