Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Mark Gwozdecky, and I am the assistant deputy minister for international security and political affairs. I'm one of those “thematic” assistant deputy ministers that Mr. Rigby referred to.
We try to take a leadership role in coordinating what we call coherent whole-of-government responses to international peace and security challenges. Depending on where those challenges are, we will typically work in tandem and in partnership with our geographic colleagues, such as Ms. Bugailiskis. Because of the nature of her region, the Middle East, we find ourselves working together a great deal.
In my branch, we also are responsible for the promotion of Canadian values such as democracy, inclusive and accountable governance, peaceful pluralism, and the respect for diversity and human rights. These are a core part of our engagement with allies and international partners.
In addition, I have a role as a political director, which means I provide direct support to our Minister of Foreign Affairs in coordinating with our partners and allies on issues of security or political crisis and on major deliverables for summits such as the G7.
Now I will turn to the issue of international crises.
A key responsibility of the branch is responding to international crises, both man-made and natural disasters. The crisis in Syria and Iraq is a case in point. Working with our geographic partners, like Ms. Bugailiskis, as well as a range of other government departments such as the departments of National Defence and Public Safety, we have contributed to the whole-of-government strategy that was announced last week.
While Ms. Bugailiskis' team were the lead on that file, we contributed in several important ways–by ensuring that our strategy would complement the overall approach of the global coalition against the so-called Islamic State, by making sure that key issues such as sexual violence and the protection of civilians in conflict areas were adequately addressed as part of our efforts, and by applying several important security and stabilization programs that I manage on behalf of Minister Dion. These programs play critical roles in terms of stabilizing communities post-conflict, helping countries manage threats related to weapons of mass destruction, and building the capacity of countries to counter terrorism and crime.
I am also responsible for the stabilization and reconstruction task force, known as START, which plays a lead role in coordinating Canada's whole-of-government response to international conflicts, complex political crises, natural disasters, and the risks associated with fragile and conflict-affected states. Canada's responses to the Nepal earthquake in 2015, Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, and the Haiti earthquake in 2010 all serve as notable examples of START's role in these efforts. The global peace and security fund is a key instrument in delivering that support.
I will speak more about security and stabilization programs later. At present, pursuant to the government's commitment, we are updating our approach to multilateral peace support operations, which is part of a broader effort to reinforce UN capacities for conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding.
The issues of international terrorism and transnational organized crime are also major responsibilities of our branch. We coordinate Canada's whole-of-government international engagement on preventing and combatting violent extremism, including the threat posed by foreign fighters. This includes our response to the UN Secretary-General's recently announced plan of action on preventing violent extremism.
One of the security programs referenced earlier is something we call the counter-terrorism capacity-building program. This program allows us to buttress our policy with concrete capacity-building support provided to partner countries. The program focuses on six areas: support to law enforcement, military, and intelligence; legal assistance; border and transportation security; combatting the financing of terrorism; countering improvised explosive devices; and combatting violent extremism and foreign terrorist fighters.
Our anti-crime capacity-building program supports foreign states in their anti-crime efforts. Like the counterterrorism program, it provides this support in the form of training, equipment, and technical advice to address the following problems: migrant smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering, security sector reform, crime prevention, and cybercrime.
Both of these programs are based on the understanding that when our partners are better able to address terrorism and crime, the risk to Canada and Canadians will be reduced.
Disarmament, the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and space security are also important areas of engagement. We are the custodian of the full suite of Canada's commitments under a wide array of international conventions in this area. We're responsible for ensuring that Canada fully complies with its international obligations under these treaties and that others do as well.
Through another of our security programs, the so-called global partnership program, we implement projects with partner countries and international organizations to mitigate threats posed by proliferation or by terrorist acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. In doing so, the program addresses the full spectrum of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons and related materials security.
Promoting core Canadian values is fundamental to our efforts in addressing international security. My branch works with our large network of ambassadors to champion the values of inclusive and accountable governance, peaceful pluralism, and respect for diversity and human rights. Our goal is to ensure that these values inform our decisions and are supported in our actions and programs.
Yesterday, for example, Minister Dion hosted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Ottawa and announced new core funding for the important work of that office worldwide. The minister also announced that in two weeks he will be travelling to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva as a demonstration of Canada's engagement on human rights in the multilateral context.
That ends my statement. I'd be happy to answer your questions at a later point.
Thank you.