Foreign Affairs Committee on Feb. 17th, 2015

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Good morning, everyone.

We will begin our meeting.

This is the 45th meeting of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Today we'll continue our study of Canada's response to the violence, religious persecution, and dislocation caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.

Our witnesses today, we have the pleasure of having Ms. Jane Pearce, who is country director for the United Nations World Food Programme. Beside her is Mr. Martin Fischer, director of policy for World Vision Canada, and Mr. Bart Witteveen, director of humanitarian and emergency affairs at World Vision Canada. Lastly, appearing remotely via your screen from Erbil, Iraq, is Mr. Emmanuel Gignac, coordinator for northern Iraq from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Without any further ado we'll begin. Each of the witnesses will have up to 10 minutes to speak and then we'll proceed with questions.

Ms. Pearce, if you will begin the proceedings....

[Jane Pearce, Country Director, United Nations World Food Programme]

Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody.

I’m honoured to be here today as a representative of the United Nations World Food Programme, a voluntarily funded organization whose work has so often been made possible by the generosity of the people of Canada. Canada is a key partner in combatting hunger, and consistently a top donor to WFP's global operations. WFP remains the largest recipient of Canadian humanitarian funding, which is a tribute to our partnership.

If 2014 was a year of turmoil, 2015 is proving to be just as turbulent for WFP's operations around the world. Nonetheless, WFP continues to respond effectively and efficiently. Despite the daunting challenges of operating in countries like Iraq, WFP continues to be innovative in its delivery of food assistance. This is a testament to the commitment of WFP staff on the front lines. They listen to donors like you. They listen to the cooperating partners, without which our work would not be possible. Most of all, they listen to the people they serve.

On behalf of WFP, let me thank you for the contributions made to our emergency operations thus far. Thanks to the support of steadfast donors like Canada, WFP has been able to reach 1.7 million IDPs in Iraq since the onset of the crisis in 2014. When Canada made its first distribution to WFP's emergency response in March 2014, we were severely underfunded. That initial contribution could not have been more timely. I look forward to briefing you on Canada's contribution of $13 million to Iraq's conflict-affected people.

Before I move on to the current crisis, let me just give you a snapshot of WFP's presence in Iraq over the years. WFP has been working alongside successive governments since 1991, providing food to people whose lives and livelihoods were jeopardized by conflict and natural disasters. Despite being an oil-rich country with enormous economic potential, Iraq's development has been held back by conflict after conflict. Protecting the poorest, most vulnerable Iraqis from the effects of this violence is a continuing challenge.

Iraq has one major social safety net, the public distribution system, which aims to help break the cycle of poverty by providing each Iraqi with a monthly food ration.

At the beginning of 2003, when it became clear that the PDS was likely to be interrupted by war, leaving 27 million Iraqis—60% of whom were totally dependent on it—without food, the WFP took over this system before handing it back to the government in 2004. Capacity building for government staff in the relevant ministries was key to this operation and is central to the working relationship between WFP and the Government of Iraq today.

As Iraq worked to stabilize politically and economically in the aftermath of war, WFP committed itself to improving opportunities for Iraq's next generation, with special nutritional support for mothers and children.

As sectarian violence overwhelmed Iraq in 2006, WFP launched an emergency operation to support internally displaced persons and Iraqi refugees in Syria. Active until June 2010, the operation assisted over one million people.

From 2010 WFP shifted its focus to government capacity-building and development of social safety nets. In 2012 Iraq opened its borders, welcoming Syrian refugees in both northern and western governorates. Canada came forward with $3.4 million Canadian of much-needed funding to support WFP's operation. We were engaged in providing food to Syrian refugees in Iraq when this new crisis struck in January 2014.

The last year in Iraq has seen WFP evolve and expand, working to provide food assistance to the victims of ISIL's rampage through the country. The recent crisis in Iraq has made an estimated 2.8 million people food-insecure. This includes IDPs, host communities, and other vulnerable groups impacted by the conflict, requiring immediate food, agricultural, and livelihoods assistance.

Much of Iraq's wheat production comes from the presently volatile northern parts of the country, and nearly all of Iraq's water resources flow through areas under ISIL and affiliated armed group control, putting the food security of many Iraqis at risk.

The June harvest has been severely impacted, reducing food availability at the national level. The conflict has also resulted in a disruption of the government’s public distribution system of food rations in parts of the country, impacting more than four million individuals who are not displaced but rely on the PDS for more than 50% of their energy intake.

As the needs of displaced people changed, so did WFP’s assistance. In the first quarter of the year, we worked with IOM to ensure that displaced people in Anbar had both food and stoves to cook it on. As families running from Mosul were forced to flee from place to place, carrying nothing, WFP developed a special package of ready-to-eat food rations specifically for Iraq, including dates, a national comfort food. When a tidal wave of people fled northwards escaping the ISIL advance into the Sinjar district of Nineveh, WFP opened field kitchens to receive them. These provided two hot meals per day to a peak of 224,400 individuals, much-needed relief for people who had lost their homes, belongings, and even friends and family members. We continue to work closely with partners such as UNHCR to monitor and respond to the needs of displaced Iraqis and Syrian refugees arriving in camps and other settlements.

Canada’s first contribution of $2 million Canadian to WFP Iraq was used to buy 1,500 metric tons of family food parcels. This fed 520,000 vulnerable people for one month. As a cold winter set in and the flow of displacement stabilized, WFP brought in food vouchers for displaced people in urban locations of the Kurdistan region. Worth $32 per month per person, these vouchers can be redeemed at local shops.

I'm happy to tell you that the success of this program in the governorate of Erbil is thanks to the strong collaboration between WFP and World Vision, our highly valued cooperating partner. We see vouchers being used to buy eggs and milk, bread and cheese, fruit and vegetables, cooking oil and tomato paste. Dietary diversity is increased, the local economy is boosted, and people are given the power to choose. Approximately 340,000 people have been reached with vouchers, injecting approximately $18 million into the local economy of Kurdistan, where markets are functioning well.

In 2015, WFP is looking to move forward with electronic vouchers. A gentleman spending his voucher in Erbil city last week told us that vouchers had brought him and his family more choice, dignity, and independence. I’m pleased to say that the contribution WFP received from Canada in late 2015, of $13.4 million has been allocated for vouchers. Your contribution will provide 260,000 people with a monthly food voucher.

Achieving these results has not been easy. Ongoing clashes, sieges and the unpredictable movement of battlelines has often frustrated WFP’s efforts to reach people in need in western, central, and northern Iraq. By May, fighting had made it too dangerous to distribute in Anbar governorate. With the cooperation of our local partner, we finally regained access in October, 2014. WFP continues to look for opportunities to provide assistance in hard-to-reach areas. We managed to get food into Salah al-Din governorate, and were quick to deliver for families returning to shattered communities in liberated areas of Nineveh governorate. Although WFP stands ready to provide assistance to all those in need, this requires increasing the capacities of local NGO partners. Currently, assistance in hard-to-reach areas such as Anbar is ad-hoc and largely relies on a single local partner. Unfortunately, WFP cannot use cash and voucher-based assistance in contested areas where there is no reliable market.

Despite the logistical and security obstacles, I’m glad to tell you that WFP was able to reach 1.77 million conflict-affected people in Iraq with food assistance in 2014. But there is a great deal more to do. We remain deeply concerned about the food security of an estimated 1.3 million people in militant-held areas, where food prices are skyrocketing, and basic services are functioning only intermittently. Even as I speak, ISIL militants are massed outside Kirkuk city and the possibility of a battle for Mosul looms.

As humanitarians, we are preparing for more and further mass displacements. To deepen our understanding of the situation in ISIL-held or besieged areas, WFP is using remote data collection to gather information on the food security of people there. Early survey results from Anbar show a huge inflation of food prices and shortages of staple food items and cooking fuel.

International and local partners continue strengthening collaboration in an effort to widen the areas of operation and reach the largest possible number of vulnerable people, including 1.3 million people in need residing in areas controlled by ISIL and affiliated armed groups. A combination of direct implementation, discreet oversight, and remote management will continue to be adopted whenever feasible. Humanitarian partners will also enhance collaboration with the private and other non-traditional sectors to boost the response.

The stakes are high.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Ms. Pearce, would you just wrap it up? We want to have as many questions as possible.

[Jane Pearce]

Certainly. I'm just about done.

The stakes are high. To stop the cycle of sectarianism and violence, the basic needs and rights of Iraq’s population must be met. Food security is security, and the two should not be separated.

Thank you very much.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Ms. Pearce.

Mr. Fischer.

[Martin Fischer, Director of Policy, World Vision Canada]

Thank you, Chair, and good morning.

My name is Martin Fischer. I am the director of policy for World Vision Canada. I'll be sharing my time with my colleague Bart.

We want to thank all the committee members for inviting us to participate in this important study on the situation in Iraq and Syria.

World Vision responds to humanitarian emergencies by providing life-saving assistance such as food, health care, clean water and sanitation, and safe places for children. We are guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence, and deliver assistance to people regardless of their religion, ethnicity, race, and gender.

We are actively responding to the humanitarian situation in Iraq and Syria. In fact, I just came back from the Kurdistan region of Iraq yesterday where, together with our president Dave Toycen, I visited our projects and spoke with children and families, our project staff, as well as officials from DFATD and our humanitarian partners such as WFP.

Today, my colleague Bart Witteveen, our director for humanitarian and emergency affairs, and I would like to discuss with you the humanitarian situation in the region, which is particularly part of your study concerned with the dislocation of people, as well as World Vision's response. As we do so, we ask you to consider three recommendations. First, in the immediate term, use the upcoming pledging conference in Kuwait to champion the children of families of Syria and Iraq. Second, clearly distinguish between Canada's humanitarian response and its military and diplomatic engagements in the region. Third, use every opportunity to emphasize the importance of peace for the children of Syria and Iraq.

Last week in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, I spoke to children who yearn to be children. In the midst of chaos, they want to be able to play and learn, and they tell stories of anguish that no children should ever experience. Their stories of fleeing and living far away from home are heartbreaking.

Imagine Salma, for example, a 15-year-old girl who had to flee with her family after gunmen killed her father. Salma's mother is so distressed by the traumatic events that she's not spoken in more than three months. Today Salma, at 15, is the primary caregiver for her five younger siblings, the youngest of which is only two years old. Her younger brother Edo is 10. Back home he went to school and studied hard with dreams of being a doctor. While he still holds that dream, he's no longer in school and forced to work to provide food and other necessities for his family. Sometimes he makes enough only for sunflower seeds or chips. On a good day they can buy some vegetables. Medical care is expensive, and when one of Salma's siblings gets sick—as young children so often do—the family has to borrow money to pay for a doctor and medication. Her brother Edo's days are now filled with worries about earning enough money for food, perhaps a new tarp or propane gas—anything to help—while Salma now shoulders the responsibilities for her entire family. These worries about surviving are something no child should have to deal with. Salma and Edo appear far older than their years; war forces children to grow up quickly.

Yet Salma's and Edo's story is all too common. Millions of children in Syria and Iraq face similar challenges. The violent advances of armed groups, including ISIL, in both Syria and Iraq have affected the population of those countries at an unprecedented scale, including not only ethnic and religious minorities but also millions of Muslims. While a lot of the attention has been on Iraq lately, let us not forget the dire situation in Syria, where an estimated 5.6 million children—that is roughly as many as the total population of the greater Toronto area—are in need of life-saving assistance. As you have heard from witnesses in this study before, this truly is a humanitarian crisis at an unprecedented scale, one not seen since World War II.

[Bart Witteveen, Director, Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs, World Vision Canada]

I'd like to focus now on the needs of and the impact in particular on the most vulnerable. In our work, we see the direct impact this is having on families and children.

Like Salma's, many families have lost family members and have fled with very few possessions, sometimes leaving even their identity papers behind. Though there are formal camps, most displaced families, such as Salma's, live among local communities in villages, towns, and cities. Some—often multiple families together—rent houses and apartments in bad shape at very high rent, while many live in informal settlements of improvised structures in schools or abandoned buildings. Many lack protection from the elements—heat in the summer and cold, snow, and wetness in the winter—with little or no access to clean water and sanitation facilities. As a result, many children get sick from water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, and exposure to the cold has had deadly consequences for babies and small children.

Like Salma and Edo, families struggle to provide such essentials as food, clothing, and fuel to cook and stay warm. Lack of food leads to increased malnutrition, and like Edo, many children in Syria and Iraq have to work to help provide for their families. This need forces them out of education and into situations in which they are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Children's education is also disrupted, as schools have become unusable, and they have difficulty transferring school documentation. When they do get into school, language differences and their absence from school for months or years often make it difficult for them to follow classes.

Medical services are hard to access. Many cannot afford them. Health facilities have been damaged or destroyed, and medical personnel have been forced to flee, making health care simply unavailable for many. Parents of new babies face difficulties registering their births. These unaccounted children risk not being able to access services such as education and health care for the rest of their lives.

Finally, the cycle of social consequences has a devastating impact on children. There are credible reports of wide-scale grave violations of their rights by all parties to the conflict, including the killing and maiming of children, child recruitment by armed groups, sexual violence against girls and boys, and obstruction of their right to education. This leaves children such as Salma and her siblings in urgent need of normalized routines and safe places to learn and play.

We've been actively working to reduce the burden on the families and children of Syria and Iraq. So far World Vision has raised almost $185 million, including grants from the Canadian government, to reach 1.7 million beneficiaries, with projects in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where Martin just was. Our programming targets the greatest need in each context. We select beneficiaries based on vulnerability criteria and in coordination with UN agencies and other NGOs to ensure greatest reach.

Our projects include food assistance through the provision of food vouchers or cash; essential non-food item support, for items such as soap and fuel and such winterization items as blankets or stoves; water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions; education activities, including remedial and life skill classes; child-friendly spaces, where children can find safe places to play and receive the psychosocial support they so badly need; and health programming, providing primary medical care and referral services to displaced populations.

The Government of Canada has consistently been a generous contributor to the humanitarian response for Syria and Iraq, for which we are grateful, and DFATD has been a responsive donor, allowing the flexibility that the fluid situation in this crisis requires.

[Martin Fischer]

Allow me to wrap up with a little bit of elaboration on the recommendations.

As the Syrian crisis enters its fifth year now, it continues to have a regional impact, including the conflict we are now seeing in Iraq. The urgency for impartial, neutral, and independent humanitarian action to assist and protect families and children has never been greater. For this reason we would like to offer three recommendations.

First, given Canada's solid track record as a humanitarian donor, we ask that the Government of Canada champion the urgent humanitarian response and the needs of children by encouraging its international partners to contribute as generously as Canada has. The upcoming pledging conference in Kuwait on March 31 is an excellent opportunity for the Minister of International Development to do this.

Second, we ask that parliamentarians clearly distinguish between Canada's humanitarian response and its military and political strategies. As we deliberate the future of Canada's military role in the House of Commons, we ask you to make those decisions independent of considerations about humanitarian assistance, which need to be based, as we've before, on the humanitarian imperative and principles.

Lastly, the children of Syria and Iraq want peace. No matter which forum each you find yourselves in, here in Canada and internationally, dealing with the challenges of this region, we urge you to think always of Salma and her siblings. The only way for her and her friends to have a real, sustainable future is to have a peaceful solution to the underlying conflicts.

In conclusion, I want you to imagine the children that I met last week, children who, in spite of all the chaos and violence, continue to have hopes and dreams for the future of living in peace and dignity. Canada can and does play an important role in ensuring that these hopes and dreams do not evaporate.

We thank you for giving World Vision Canada an opportunity to share its views during this important study. We would be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Fischer.

I now yield the floor to Mr. Gignac.

On a more personal note, I would like to say that it's a pleasure to see you again. We met briefly at the Baharka camp in September.

Go ahead.

[Emmanuel Gignac, Coordinator, Northern Iraq, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to address the members of the standing committee. This is an honour for me and the organization I represent today.

I will continue in English, which is my working language. That will make my presentation easier.

My name is Emmanuel Gignac. I'm the head of UNHCR in the Kurdistan region. I've been now in Iraq for a bit more than a year, based in Erbil, covering the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

I will be fairly brief. I will give you an overview of what has now become a unique situation, with the Syrian refugees on the one hand and the newly erupted IDP crisis on the other. I will move on after that to talk briefly about the challenges ahead and then finish with the funding situation.

First, on the refugee situation, the Syrian refugees have been flowing into the Kurdistan region of Iraq already since 2012, with an influx in 2013. Over 50,000 refugees arrived in two days. The figures show that at the beginning of 2014 there were 190,000. They have now reached 220,000 to 230,000, since we started getting a new influx of refugees who came from the town of Kobani into Turkey and from Turkey into the Kurdistan region. This has been happening since October so you can...[Inaudible--Editor]...the IDP crisis, which started a bit earlier in 2014.

A majority of the people are living outside camps. About 60% of the refugee population are sharing services and living inside the host community. The vast majority of the refugees are in the Kurdistan region. There are nine camps. One, however, is in the Anbar province and that is now an area being controlled by ISIS. We are still able to provide assistance there, but in a very ad hoc way and not very reliably.

The other camps are in the Kurdistan region, three in Dohuk, four in Erbil, and one in Sulaymaniyah. The UNHCR, as you know, has the lead on the coordination of the refugee response. This has been organized through the refugee response plan, which this year has seen.... We've added a component of resilience, which led to the development of the 3RP, the refugee response and resilience plan, which was launched initially in Berlin last December.

As to the achievement on the refugee front, certainly since 2013 eight camps were built. They were further improved in 2014 and we now have a living standard that is quite impressive in these camps: infrastructure, sanitation infrastructure, water supply infrastructure, but the shelter as well. This has improved considerably the situation of the refugees.

We registered all refugees in 2014. We also rolled out biometric registration in the context of a verification that is still under way and will be completed by the beginning of this year. Part of the achievement is also the services to children, psychosocial services in child-friendly spaces in partnership with UNICEF. There is also work that has begun with the community regarding sexual or gender-based violence, an important issue that is not very easy to address in the context of Kurdistan. In 2014, up to 54,000 community members were reached through the awareness campaigns that were carried out.

I talked already about the shelter. There are numerous other achievements, but I do not wish to enter into them in order to remain within my limits of time. I pass now to the IDP crisis, which erupted, as you know, in June here in the Kurdistan region. However, the first wave had started in Anbar. Basically, the IDP crisis has been composed of three waves. The first one was from January to June, which concerned mainly central Iraq. About half a million IDPs were displaced, people were displaced. The second wave followed the fall of Mosul and threw another 550,000 people into displacement. The third wave was the most important one. It occurred at the time of the offensive in Sinjar and the Nineveh plains, which added another 830,000 people. We're talking nowadays about, in Iraq, 2.2 million people being displaced. Almost half of that population is located in the Kurdistan region, a region whose population amounts to about five million. So you get a good idea of the pressure that it is putting on the public services in the northern Iraq area.

As far as the UNHCR is concerned, we've taken on the responsibility for three clusters in the complex of the IDP. This is always under the leadership of OCHA, who are in charge of the coordination of the IDP response. Clusters had been established in Baghdad in January 2013. They've been extended to January 2014, and activated here in northern Iraq.

In terms of achievement, it's been a bit of a roller coaster since June. One of the main issues was shelter of the people. We had a massive number of people who were, let's say, in the open, in unfinished buildings, and also in schools, which needed to be evacuated in order to have the school year started. We had to scramble to build a large number of camps. The UNHCR, with the funds that we have received, was able to complete eight camps. Two are still under construction. These camps will be hosting up to 90,000 people. We've been also supporting 537 collective centres across Iraq, benefiting 26,000 people.

One of the key issues, of course, back in August, was the approaching winter and the need to protect people and give them the necessary equipment to go through winter. Thanks to the funding that was generously given to UNHCR, 70,000 families were provided with winter kits, which was quite a challenge. But we were able to finalize our winterization in mid-January—it had started in October. In addition to core relief items, kits have been distributed to all new arrivals.

We have currently 25 camps that have been constructed throughout Iraq and there are 10 that are under way. Out of these 25, 17 are located in the Kurdistan region, and of the10 under way or under construction, five will be located in Kurdistan region. This gives you a good idea of the massive proportion of the displacement there is.

Inside this, we remain below the needs when it comes to shelter. The most recent assessment unveiled that we still have 450,000 people who are living in unsuitable shelters that are not adequate and are therefore in need of better shelter.

When we talk about challenges, there is the fact that the last wave of people was in August and we're almost six or seven months after that. We still suffer with this huge number of people displaced. It's still a big challenge how to reach these people and how to provide support to everyone. Among the refugees and the IDPs the majority are staying outside camps, in public buildings or unfinished buildings in the host community. They are using public services, the health services, education, sanitation, electricity, etc. There is a huge pressure on the public services in Kurdistan.

The other big challenge of course is the fact that the military operations are still ongoing and further displacement is likely to occur. We are thinking of course of Mosul in particular. Should there be a military operation that would take Mosul, we are fearful that this would lead to other waves of large numbers of displaced people.

Lack of access to conflict areas is also a challenge that we need to see how we can address...[Inaudible--Editor]...also the fiscal crisis that we see in the Kurdistan region, hampering their ability to support the crisis.

I want to highlight one of the potential impacts of the crisis, which has been very much on the news—

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Mr. Gignac, if you could wrap it up.

[Emmanuel Gignac]

—the violation of human rights. We have constant reporting in the community and we...[Inaudible—Editor]...of widespread human rights abuses that have taken place at the time of conflicts on populations that were fleeing. These include rape, and also the abduction and killing of civilians. It is a problem that we are uncovering progressively, especially the sexual and gender-based violence on women. It's a problem that we'll require a lot of time to address and provide proper assistance.

I will conclude, Mr. Chair, on funding and just do a quick overview of where we stand regarding the refugee response. The total requirement in 2014 was $474 million U.S. That's for Iraq, specifically. We were able to mobilize 43% of this requirement, mobilizing more than $200 million U.S. When it comes to the IDP response, the total requirements were in the range of $340 million, and we were able to mobilize a bit more than 50%, 53% to be more exact. The gaps still remain important. Even with countries that contribute generously, there are still a lot of gaps that we are not able to address because of this gap.

I want to highlight the Canadian contribution. In 2014 Canada contributed over $2 million to the Syrian refugee response plan but also to the new IDP situation, as well as the ongoing Iraq situation. In 2015 Canada has already contributed $27.5 million, which we received already and will be covering both the Syrian refugee response and the Iraq situation, addressing the needs of the IDPs. To be more precise, $22.5 million will go to the IDP response and $5 million to the Syrian refugee plan.

That's all, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much. I'm open to any questions.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Mr. Gignac.

We will now proceed with the first round of questions, which is seven minutes per person. I would just remind all of the witnesses that we stick to the clock on that one, so please try to be succinct in your answers. I know our fellow MPs have many questions to ask.

We'll begin with Madam Laverdière, followed by Ms. Brown.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank everyone who testified before the committee today.

We know that the situation on the ground is absolutely horrible, but every time figures or personal experiences are shared with us, we are even more struck by the horrors of this crisis.

I would like to use this opportunity to congratulate the United Nations agencies on the extraordinary work they are doing in the field.

However, I would like to highlight the work done by Word Vision in this initial round.

You said you select beneficiaries based on vulnerability criteria.

Could you elaborate on those criteria and the way you proceed?

[Bart Witteveen]

First, we need to recognize that the overall response to the crisis takes place on many fronts. We are working in Lebanon, Jordan, inside Syria, as well as in Iraq, so it is difficult to give you a detailed response that would cover the whole humanitarian response.

But in each context we try to look at some of the key indicators that would clarify which people and which groups are the most vulnerable. Typically, some can be direct indicators, such as health indicators that are quantifiable and objective. In some cases you use proxy indicators to get an understanding of the particular vulnerability of particular groups. For example, in Dohuk you will find that there are people who are living in an encamped situation, in which case it's relatively straightforward in terms of trying to develop your programming in response to everybody. But you also have large numbers—I would say the greatest numbers—who are settling in cities in improvised situations throughout the more secure areas. In those cases we'll look, for example, at those who are unable to rent accommodation but are finding refuge in abandoned buildings, in school buildings, and that sort of thing. That would be a key indicator in terms of vulnerability.

The other issue of course is that we are looking at families where the head of household is a woman or in some cases children. These are all indicators that we would use. There is usually quite an exhaustive list of questions and indicators that we would go through in each context, trying to make sure that the assistance we have and that we are allocating is targeting those most vulnerable.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Thank you very much.

As for the subject of my next question, we have had enlightening discussions on it in the past. Could you tell us more about the challenges you face on the ground as a humanitarian organization when delivering supplies and gathering the civilian population's feedback?

[Martin Fischer]

I think speaking from my experience last week and just placing.... I know that Mr. Garneau and Mr. Dewar were in Erbil late last year with then-minister Baird. Speaking about the context and the perceptions that one may have of a humanitarian emergency, on the logistical part, oftentimes we talk about logistics being a challenge or roads being a challenge very concretely. Especially in Kurdistan, that is not the case. The roads and the logistics are very much in place.

I think from our perspective the key challenge really is access. It's finding and determining where displaced populations are and being able to access them in the most effective way. Very concretely, then, a challenge obviously is the ongoing violence that is still occurring within close proximity of our operational area. We're not able at the moment, obviously, to access populations that are behind the front lines, if you will, just outside of Kurdistan. But that is a concern that I think the humanitarian organizations share in Iraq as well as inside Syria, specifically where you have large numbers of people being caught in areas that we're not able to access because either it's too dangerous to access or we can't actually negotiate the kind of access that we need to negotiate.

That points to one of the recommendations we've made. Unless there's a political solution to this process, to the ongoing violence, we will not find ourselves in a situation where we can actually operate in those areas that are affected by violence.

I don't know, Bart, if you have anything to add.

[Bart Witteveen]

Absolutely. I tried to articulate some of the issues we look at in terms of determining who is the most vulnerable. At the same time, we have to recognize, as Martin has indicated, that there are large areas where we simply don't have access and where we can be quite confident that there are very vulnerable people.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

You have 45 seconds left.

[Hélène Laverdière, NDP, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I will be brief. Perhaps we will come back to this.

You also talked about sustainable peace and a political solution. Bridges will have to be rebuilt. You hope to one day be able to rebuild bridges and engage in long-term democratic development in Iraq.

How can Canada contribute to this effort?

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Very quickly, please....

[Martin Fischer]

As we articulated—and maybe we can elaborate on that in the next round—it's really to look at the various elements that need to be put in place for Iraq and Syria distinctly. What Canada can do very concretely is to look at the political dimension and to look at the military dimension as separate from the humanitarian element. There are things very concretely that we think Canada can do. We can get into that later.

I remember that last year around this same time we talked about the Geneva peace conference. That process is struggling, to put it in the best terms, but there are things that I think Canada can still do politically. But I know that I'm out of time and I want to respect the seven minutes.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Marc Garneau]

Thank you, Ms. Laverdière.

Up next is Ms. Brown.

[Lois Brown, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for being here. It's sad that we need to have this revolving conversation. Fundamentally, I have three questions.

Martin, you've started on some of them. I would like you to carry on about the peace process.

I have a question regarding humanitarian personnel.

Ms. Pearce, you've given us a map that has identified a whole section of Iraq. It says there is limited access. First of all, I wonder if any of you could comment on what access you may have in identifying those vulnerable populations that are there. Are there humanitarian actors who are able to get in? You say you have limited access. Perhaps you could give us a bit of a picture there. Are there any resources getting into those areas?

[Jane Pearce]

Thank you, very much.

The map that you have in front of you will show three distinct areas. The top area is the Kurdish area that we've just spoken about, where we have easy access. I say that I know roughly 95% of what is going on there. From Baghdad in the south we have quite good access. I have local staff that travel there often. They interact with government and we have good knowledge of who the people are and what their needs are. The big issue for all of us, and in particular for the United Nations World Food Programme, is the area covering the governorate between Baghdad and the Kurdish region, which is controlled by ISIL and other armed opposition groups.

We distribute in all 18 governorates of Iraq. We have IDPs in all of the country. The areas in the middle section are areas that we access whenever we possibly can. We work with national NGOs, cooperating partners, and we have agreements with them that they deliver food when it is safe to do so. Nobody wants a situation where a food distribution is compromised in any way; either the implementing partner comes into a problem or the people who are receiving the assistance. It is ad hoc, but it is going on and we are getting more and more information from these areas. We've now put in place a monitoring system that we do with telephone technology that is safe for the people to respond to, and we are starting to get good information back from them. Thank you.