Foreign Affairs Committee on April 25th, 2012

[Bob Dechert, Conservative, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

So designated travel bans on some of those individuals would be helpful. I think we have done some of that.

In your opinion, what kinds of additional measures could the Government of Canada implement or impose to put added pressure on the Sudanese government to do better in human rights and the rights of women in Sudan? What would you suggest we do?

[Dr. Asha Elkarib]

Pressure on the Sudanese government, particularly on human rights, works. It has worked before. They have moved a little bit from being very brutal in the treatment of human rights defenders to not doing the same things they used to do, mainly because of resistance inside and pressures from outside.

However, continuing the pressure is important. It's not just one-time pressure. It is important for the international community to continue hammering on the issue of human rights, because they are changing their strategies and using different ways of harassing and violating human rights, without necessarily the awareness of the international community. So the continuation and consistency of the pressure are very important.

The collectivity of the pressure is also important, because sometimes when the pressure comes from an individual government it isn't the same as when it comes from a group. We have seen that, for example, when one country talks. But when the EU talks about human rights, the effect is different.

Again, liaising and connecting to the civil society so the international community has fresh knowledge of what is happening on the ground with human rights is very important in order to embarrass and put more pressure on the government.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you very much, Ms. Elkarib, for being here and telling us about your story and the great work you're doing with your organization in Sudan.

The meeting is adjourned.