Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to our guests. I have a couple of quick questions, but a comment to start.
As much as I support and laud the government's reinvestment on the border of Burma and Thailand, I am concerned about the drawdown in their support to UNRWA. I know that's not your area because of the nature of it, but it remains a concern for many of us.
Regarding the proposals that we're hearing from the minister--and you spoke with him--just in terms of your perspective, I'm getting from you that if you're going to change anything, you should ensure that there is access to refugees. You've been clear about that. As well, notwithstanding that we might design a system that says we'll designate countries that are “safe”, there still needs to be access from refugees notwithstanding that nomenclature.
I say that because I think of instances where people are suffering from gender discrimination or sexual identification. I think of homosexuals, gays who are being persecuted. If it's seen as a designated safe country that they've come from, and yet there is persecution, I would submit that if we don't involve the system, or have access to the system, that actually we're failing in our responsibilities.
So I'd like you to just clarify; when we see streamlining, I'm hearing from you not to two-tier it, to make sure that we're still having access for all, and it should be based on your claim, not based on your designation of country according to us.
The second thing is on the DRC. We have been asked as a country to support the peacekeeping mission there. What I'm hearing you say is that there's a link between conflict resolution, obviously, and refugees, and since the DRC is one of the top five in terms of internally displaced...Canada has been asked and we have said no, we can't at this point contribute resources. However, in 2011 we are changing our commitment to the mission in Afghanistan.
You can't comment in terms of what we should do, but would you see it as a welcome move in terms of helping the situation in the DRC to support the peacekeeping mission in the DRC that is still under-resourced?