Evidence of meeting #128 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was things.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Okay, thank you.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Lowcock.
You said earlier that Canada was a world leader as a result of everything that it has been doing. Canada is the fifth largest donor of money to help ensure global security. I'd like you to elaborate on this.
How could we convince the other countries? You spoke earlier about the lack of funds for the services that should be provided to people in conflict situations. What are your suggestions?
11:45 a.m.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Let me say, to start with, that I think there's scope for lots of donors to provide more assistance. I think there is scope, actually, for Canada, like others, to do a bit more than is being done at the moment. As some of you will be aware, there's a UN commitment that was established following the work of a great Canadian, Lester Pearson, that countries around the world should provide 0.7% of their national income in official government assistance. I think it would be very good if more countries were able to do that. Canada, nevertheless, has an important role to play, and lots of other countries have important roles to play as well.
In terms of the arguments I make, which is your question, there are two broad arguments. The first is that there is a moral responsibility. The truth is, the people whose stories I hear—in Cox's Bazar, where the Rohingya refugees ran to, in Yemen, in Homs in Syria or in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo—are just the same as you and me in every material respect, except that life's lottery has been kinder to us than it has been to them. There's something about our common humanity that makes it an imperative and something that every member state in the United Nations has signed up to—which, for me, is argument enough to be generous in helping other people.
The second argument—and you probably know that I spent quite a lot of my working life in a kind of national security environment—is that, in our very small world, it's much smarter for rich countries worried about problems spreading from one place to another to try to tackle problems where they start. It's cheaper, by the way, to do that than to allow too many things to get out of control, cross borders and so on. I think there's a realpolitik rationale, as well as a moral responsibility.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Thank you.
You said earlier that you receive a daily report on what's happening in the world. We haven't heard you talk about Haiti. I'm from the Montreal area, where over 120,00 Haitians live. In Quebec, we're very concerned about what's happening. We have before us briefing notes from February 12, but the situation in Haiti has deteriorated since then.
I want to know how, at the very least, we could ensure that the aid reaches Haiti. That's the challenge.
11:50 a.m.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
I was in Haiti in July, visiting the work of the humanitarian agencies. Some months ago, after the latest typhoon hit Haiti, I provided money from the central emergency response fund—which is a fund of $550 million a year that I manage, including with contributions from Canada—to help meet the immediate needs there.
Obviously, Haiti is a country extremely vulnerable to natural disasters. We saw it with the earthquake, and we've seen it with a series of storms and typhoons. The reason Haiti is particularly vulnerable is not just where it sits geographically in weather patterns; it's also that it is an extremely poor country. The poor countries are the ones that have the least resilience to cope with disasters when they occur.
Alongside trying to provide assistance to Haiti when the next disaster strikes, I think another smart strategy is to try to help them develop their country to become more resilient, particularly in a way that recognizes that intense storms seem likely to become more common and more furious. Trying to develop in such a way that you build your resilience to that is one of the things that maybe it would be good to help Haiti with.
11:50 a.m.
Mr. Michael Levitt (York Centre, Lib.)
Thank you.
It looks like these will be our last questions.
MP Genuis, I think you're splitting time with MP Sweet.
11:50 a.m.
Garnett Genuis Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC
Thank you. I'll be as quick as I can here.
Mr. Lowcock, thank you for your presence here.
You said earlier that you weren't aware of allegations of UN aid being deviated. I read an article—and maybe you saw it in the Foreign Affairs magazine, September 20, 2018—provocatively titled “How UN Humanitarian Aid Has Propped Up Assad”. Essentially, the concern the author has, and the concern I have, is how the UN system is overly deferential to the state in which the aid is delivered. As part of your mandate, “humanitarian assistance should be provided with the consent of the affected country...and the affected State has the primary role in the initiation, organization, coordination, and implementation of humanitarian assistance”.
Could you speak to what co-operation you have with the Assad regime in the context of delivering aid in Syria?
Thank you.
11:50 a.m.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The earlier example I was giving was in respect to Venezuela, and to repeat, I haven't seen a case of alleged diversion in respect to Venezuela. Of course, it's very common to run into problems with terrorist groups trying to steal assistance or governments trying to misdirect it. That's the nature of too many of the environments in which we're operating.
The starting point for the United Nations is that we operate on the basis of principles—the principles of need, independence, impartiality, neutrality. One of the things I've been saying to the government of Syria, which not incorrectly observes that there are more humanitarian needs and more people suffering acutely than we're able to raise resources for, is that, if they improve the extent to which they allow us to assess the need dispassionately and increase the monitoring and review exercises, we may be able to persuade countries to give us more resources. We have hundreds and hundreds of staff on the ground in Syria. We have very rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems. We provide all the information we can get on where assistance reaches, and—
11:55 a.m.
Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, CPC
Thank you. I'm sorry. I promised to split my time with Mr. Sweet, and we're up against that promise.
Go ahead, David.
February 21st, 2019 / 11:55 a.m.
David Sweet Flamborough—Glanbrook, CPC
Mr. Lowcock, thank you very much for your testimony today, and more important, thank you for your good work.
I have two questions. One would probably fit under your role as an under-secretary, and the other under your role as permanent secretary in the U.K. I'll make them as concise as I can.
You mentioned that when things get out of control they get very expensive, and I couldn't agree with you more. You wake up with the reality that sovereignty oftentimes means that your hands are tied. The principle of responsibility to protect has been around for a while. It hasn't really gone past the conceptual stage. Some countries have taken the first step, but the next two, which are more aggressive, have never been taken, to my knowledge. I'm wondering if you could speak to whether there are conversations in the United Nations about that and how to make that more of a reality as we go forward.
My second question is this. We had a prime minister in the past, Brian Mulroney, who used the Commonwealth quite effectively to help end apartheid in South Africa. I think in the case of the Rohingya, as Bangladesh is a Commonwealth partner, there's still a role for the Commonwealth to do very good work with respect to security so that aid can be delivered. I'm wondering if you could comment on that.
11:55 a.m.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
On your first question, I guess the heyday of the responsibility to protect concept and doctrine was the 1990s, and things have definitely eroded since then. The only way we'll see that turn around is if the member states in the United Nations collectively decide they want to change. We will continue to make the arguments to member states about why that's actually in their interests, especially in the Security Council and in those countries keen to come onto the Security Council.
On the second question, I probably have to be a bit careful, as a UN official, in how I address this. I do think that lots of countries have a strong role to play in, to be honest, being more generous to Bangladesh in helping them deal with the fact that a million refugees have literally fled for their lives, fled brutality and sought refuge. Bangladesh has been exceptionally generous. I think your point about the Commonwealth is an extremely good point. There are networks of dialogue. There are networks of friendship. There are diasporas. The case, I think, for the Commonwealth to be generous to Bangladesh, as they continue to bear this enormous burden, is a strong one.
11:55 a.m.
Mr. Michael Levitt (York Centre, Lib.)
Thank you very much.
With that, we've come to the end of our time, but I really want to thank you for being here and briefing us. I know I'm going to be seeking out a copy of your speech for tomorrow, so maybe that's something we can get your office to send through, and we can distribute it to members of the committee as well. I'm sure there would be a great deal of interest.
The meeting is adjourned.
