Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Canada has obligations under the convention. Article II of the convention reads as follows:
Article II In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Just one of those acts constitutes genocide. The convention goes on to state the following in articles III and IV:
Article III The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide. Article IV Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
In his opening statement, the minister recognized that some of the acts listed in the convention are taking place. Why, then, does the Government of Canada still refuse to recognize that a genocide is under way in Xinjiang?