Foreign Affairs Committee on Oct. 7th, 2010

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Yes. Definitely this will be a great chance to lobby for these issues.

The problem with it is that they need support, and of course they need access. The media are controlled by the regime, so with the limited space that we have we try our best to send our message. Even with the newspapers.... Actually, they monitor all the newspapers, and if anything is written that they don't agree with, they stop the newspaper's being issued the day after. These are all constraints, but we try our best to do what we can do.

The women's agenda is another example to show how women can come together. Women from south Sudan had their own agenda. And then in our organization, because we had a draft but we didn't have a final one, we facilitated a round-table meeting and brought women from the north and women from the south together to have one agenda. After we finished with that, with the support of UNIFEM, they put these two together and they brought women from Darfur and from the east of Sudan. So by the end of the day, the one agenda that we have is actually for all women of Sudan: north, east, Darfur, and the south of the Sudan.

This is an example of how women can come together and put their needs and their priorities together and work together.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

How would you measure progress on the common agenda at this point?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Some of these things are clear. The 25%, as I said, was a good indicator of the effort by the civil society organizations. But women's issues, apart from the basic things, such as education and health, and all these services, are very.... In terms of legal reform, we don't have that much. We are just now addressing issues of rape laws, issues of public order, issues of private law. We are lobbying for these laws to be changed. But as they haven't changed yet, you cannot actually measure the awareness of people regarding the issues.

We conduct a lot of training and workshops to make people aware of the gaps in these laws, but unless we manage to change them, then we still have a lot to do.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Do I have time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You certainly have. We'll let you.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Okay, thank you. I'm not sure in this committee structure how long you get, so....

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have seven minutes, and you're just at five, so you're good.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Okay, great. Thank you.

I wanted to also touch on exchange. Is there currently a formal exchange between Sudanese parliamentarians and Canadian parliamentarians? Is there actually a formal exchange between parliamentarians?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

No, we don't have one, but as far as I know, Sudanese parliamentarians do these kind of things, extending experiences with other parliamentarians from other countries. I was wondering—and it's just a suggestion—whether this could happen. Maybe you can take the civil society in between, so that you sit with the civil society groups, women's groups especially, and discuss issues of concern, and then you sit with women parliamentarians and discuss the same issues. That might be helpful.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I don't know about some of my colleagues, but some of us have been paired up by international organizations, not through the parliamentary system, and have found it helpful for exchanges of information. I was paired up with a parliamentarian from Zimbabwe, not only for exchanges of information, but also around issues of safety for parliamentarians, and that network was organized by an international organization. So even if we couldn't do it formally through the parliamentary system, it might be something that an international organization would be willing to do, pairing willing women in the Canadian system with women who are interested in the Sudanese. It was just a network to share information and ideas, and sometimes it was actually a phone call to say: “Could you get this out in the media? I think my life is in danger.”

I think it's a piece of support that some women may be willing to offer, and it will be certainly worth pursuing.

I also want to echo Madame Deschamps' issue around Resolution 1325. Many of us believe that if we don't have women involved, there will not be peace, and many of us are absolutely committed to it. Speaking for New Democrats, I know that our party would be interested in looking at that. If you know of international organizations who would be willing to work with us on that, I can speak to the other women in our party. I think it would be an invaluable exercise.

Thank you for coming today.

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Thank you very much. We really appreciate that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Ms. Crowder.

We'll now go to our second round. I know we have a couple of quick questions here, and then we'll finish up this afternoon.

Mr. Van Kesteren.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for coming.

I want to understand something. I think I do, but I need some clarification. First off, I would say I'm sure there is nobody here who wouldn't endorse this and say we're all for it and want it to happen. In north Sudan--let's assume that there is a split--you stated earlier you're afraid that once the established governments take place the governments will then start to revoke some of the gains you've made. Are you concerned with the north and the south? Or is it only the north, or only the south?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Well, after the separation it will be just the north.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Only the north.

Which is the country of influence in the north at this point? Which country in the world has the most influence in the north?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

I'm sorry, I didn't get that.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Which country has the most influence in the north?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Which country, or which...?

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Which state, or foreign country?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Well, all the decisions are made in Khartoum in the Parliament, so--

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

I'm sorry to interrupt, but I would think there is probably.... Are the Chinese very active in the north?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

Oh, Chinese. Yes, they are in terms of oil, and when it comes to wealth.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Have you spoken to the Chinese about this as well?

[Zaynab Elsawi]

As civil society, no. At least, I am not aware that we have. Do you mean the Government of China?

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Yes.