Foreign Affairs Committee on April 12th, 2016

[Beth Woroniuk]

In terms of how we get this across as a key message, I think it's important for the ministers to talk about this. I understand that there's something like broadcast policy announcements. This was never done with the previous C-NAP. Many of the people interviewed for the mid-term review had never heard and did not know that Canada had this as a policy within the department.

I think we also have to improve briefing core materials. We have to make sure that when people are looking at security writ large, this message is part of that, and we don't just say, “Here's our approach to security and, oh, by the way, we also have this women, peace, and security policy.” We have to find a way to bring that into those major discussions, and that's not easy, because the security sector is still very resistant to these kinds of messages. It's something that we need to do a lot of collective work on in terms of bringing the message to all parts of the department. We can try to bring the message from outside, but I think it has to come from many different angles.

[Diana Sarosi]

Also, as I mentioned, I think it's important to have high-level champions in various departments throughout the government. Right now within GAC, there's one full-time person who is responsible for women, peace, and security. That's not enough.

One strategy could be to publish an implementation guide along with the C-NAP. That is something that Norway has done, for example. Another thing that Norway has done is to establish a women, peace, and security fund. This is really the only women, peace, and security fund in the world. There are good examples out there from other countries, which we can reflect on, learn from, and incorporate in an overall whole-of-government strategy.

[Jess Tomlin]

Just to finalize that, one thing that used to exist but doesn't so much anymore is local funds for initiatives. It's an extremely powerful tool for getting money to the grassroots, but it's also an extremely powerful tool for getting diplomats out to the field. It's proven to be a great communication strategy as well.

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

Yes, I remember the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) well. In fact, I also instinctively thought of it as a funding source for those groups.

I would like to ask a question about Syria. As we know, female representatives act as advisors, but those are still marginal cases. My understanding is that they are not at the main table when real negotiations take place.

Is there a way to do something about it now? Can Canada encourage greater participation of women in the peace-building process?

[Diana Sarosi]

Yes, of course there is.

Yes, it is true. Stéphane, the minister, has appointed an advisory body. The advisory body is made up of various women's groups on a wide spectrum, from pro-Assad to completely opposing Assad. The problem is that, again, it's expected that all women have the same opinion when it comes to the process and the future of their country, which is not the case. It's been really difficult for them to bring a strong voice to the conflict because they have to speak as one. That is a requirement they need to do away with for this advisory body.

Of course, the advisory body was not the type of body that the women had chosen. It was the only thing that they were willing to give to them, so the women are still advocating for being 50% of participants in the talks and having their own group.

Again, investing in either working through international women's organizations or directly with women's groups from there, and really finding out what they want, and where they see the future of their country and how they're going to get there, I think is a key means to supporting these women.

As I always stress, behind-doors negotiations and diplomacy are, of course, necessary, but at some point we need to speak out publicly. It's really publicly speaking out that shows leadership. I think that's where Canada can do a lot more at the highest level.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Thank you.

Mr. Saini.

[Raj Saini, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Good afternoon. Thank you very much for your very compelling testimony. I appreciate your taking the time to come here today.

There are a couple of themes I've heard in all of your testimony. One, obviously, was sexually based violence, and the other was the marginal role that women are playing.

Taking the issue closer to the ground, maybe, we talked about prevention. What do you see as women's role in prevention? You also mentioned the justice issue as part of it, where women have a marginal role. On a more personal level, what you said, taking the context that rape is used as a weapon of war and there are pregnancies that emerge, what is the health component behind that?

My question is twofold. What would you advise, or what do you think the solution should be on the ground; and what do you think Canada's role should be in supporting that?

[Jess Tomlin]

To answer the first part of your question, the beautiful thing is that's not up to us to define the solutions. I think we all believe quite strongly that when the grassroots are empowered to lead, to create, to understand how to nuance the solutions that are going to work best in their culture, in their context, in that moment, in that political moment; and when they are properly supported to do so, those can be some of the most creative and innovative solutions out there. We've seen that. We know that strong movements move mountains.

It isn't to simplify your question, but as opposed to coming at you with a number of complex solutions, one of the best things we can do is to make a strong, sustained investment in women's organizations that are working at the grassroots. That, in turn, gives them a ton of access that they otherwise wouldn't have.

They're right now working and they're extraordinarily resilient. They're organizations with $12,000 budgets and they're making stuff happen. It's really quite exceptional. If they had the force of sustainable funding behind them, we believe they could do a lot more.

[Diana Sarosi]

When it comes to addressing sexual violence, what we've seen is that in many cases a lot of the funding that is channelled toward addressing that issue is going bilaterally to other governments. It doesn't matter whether it's here in Canada or in the DRC, women are very reluctant to go to the local police station and report what happened to them, and then go see a lawyer, and then go to the clinic, and then.... It's just not the way to go.

Women's organizations like the one Jess mentioned.... Julienne Lusenge has set up a one-stop shop in an area the size of Spain. Women walk for days to get to this shop, where they get medical attention and psychosocial support. They receive skills to restart a life, because most of them will not be able to go back to their villages. They need to find new ways of living and making an income and so on. They have paralegals to help in taking cases to court. They are working with communities to try to resew the fabric of community that has been so destroyed by rape as a weapon of war. This is also the best practice, the gold standard, here in North America, a one-stop shop where victims can go to receive all the services they need.

But again, it's a huge investment.

[Beth Woroniuk]

Just quickly, one of the themes of the three reviews that were conducted last year by the United Nations is how, as a global community, we have not invested enough in conflict prevention. Some of the good practices that are emerging on how we stop wars before they become really violent are from our small local initiatives.

One in particular that is getting a lot of attention is women mediators in Burundi. They were trained in conflict resolution techniques at the local level. I believe there are about 500 women who were trained in this, and they resolve things from property disputes at the community level to all kinds of things. People have said this has been a very successful way of trying to unpack and diffuse tensions before they get full blown, and it's a way of trying to build that social fabric that's so important in conflict prevention.

I think if we look at some of these kinds of initiatives that often get overlooked.... Because how do you measure a conflict that didn't happen, right? That's a very difficult thing to do, but those are the kinds of initiatives we have to start investing in to deal with the prevention level.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

I think I'll wrap it up there, colleagues, to stick to our time frame.

I would ask our witnesses to think about one area that we've not spent a lot of time on, which I think is driving this narrow proposal process that we see now in governments generally. I'm very interested on behalf of the committee to talk a little more about the whole issue of accountability mechanisms.

It is my personal opinion that governments have moved away from core funding because they don't seem to think they have the abilities to figure out the accountability structure. I think that's the key for some of the issues you're referring to, that if we're going to go back to core, which I personally think is a pretty good idea, we're going to have to have an accountability structure that works.

With the limited time we have today we haven't really touched on that, but it is a very important part of government change—if there is going to be change in this process. I would really encourage you to get back to us in written form on how you would see that. I know Beth touched on it in her presentation, but we really didn't get into that kind of conversation. I think it would be useful for the committee to get your input on that.

On behalf of the committee, I would say thank you very much. This has been very helpful, and I tend to like the idea of the committee doing this on a regular basis to up the profile. Because it seems to me that the only way you can get people's attention is to keep talking about something, and that's the role of members of Parliament, especially in areas like this.

I want to say thank you very much. On behalf of the committee, we hope to see you again. Thank you.

Colleagues, we're taking a five-minute break, and then we'll go to the next presenter.

[Beth Woroniuk]

I'd be happy to appear in front of the committee again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Colleagues, could we get back to work? I'd like to call Mr. Thomson and Mr. Fairbairn to the table, please.

We want to welcome Mr. Fairbairn from Inter Pares and Mr. Thomson from KAIROS.

Before we get to their presentations, I'm seeking unanimous consent from the committee to transmit Mr. Fairbairn's presentation. It's in English only. With your permission, we will hand it out to everyone.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

We will give you all a copy.

For the record, could you introduce yourselves and the organizations you represent? Then we'll go straight to presentations.

[Bill Fairbairn, Latin America Program Manager, Inter Pares]

Good afternoon, my name is Bill Fairbairn and I'm a program manager at Inter Pares.

[Ian Thomson, Partnerships Coordinator, Africa, KAIROS]

Good afternoon, my name is Ian Thomson. I am the partnerships coordinator for Africa at KAIROS, Canadian ecumenical justice initiatives.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Mr. Fairbairn. You have the floor.

[Bill Fairbairn]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to a theme that's very close to the heart of my organization, Inter Pares.

We are a feminist social justice organization that's dedicated to empowering people in Canada and around the world to be at the centre of their own development. We work in long-standing partnerships with local organizations in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Canada. We've enjoyed support from Global Affairs Canada and its predecessors CIDA and DFATD for over three decades.

Since our founding some 40 years ago, we have sponsored numerous south-south exchanges with women on issues related to peace and security. We've convened round tables on the issue of sexual violence in countries in conflict or in post-conflict situations. We've been supporting programming, targeting women's involvement in peace processes and political decision-making in countries such as Burma, Guatemala, Sudan, and Colombia.

Within Inter Pares, I share programmatic responsibilities for Latin America, a region where, sadly, sexual violence against women and girls has been used as a weapon of war. Although most of the region's armed conflicts have ended, levels of violence, in general, and violence against women, in particular, remain extremely high. Indeed, femicide, the crime of murdering females because of their gender, is a leading cause of death among young women today in countries including El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Today I'd like to share some developments from the region that highlight the importance of enhanced support to the women, peace, and security agenda, and based on this, to present five recommendations for your consideration.

About a month and a half ago, I was in Guatemala's supreme court attending a trial and meeting once again with a group of indigenous Maya Kekchi women from the area of Sepur Zarco. These courageous women were making history as plaintiffs in what is both the first criminal trial for sexual violence during Guatemala's armed conflict and the first-ever sexual slavery case to be heard in a national court.

Sepur Zarco is a small rural community in the Polochic valley of north-eastern Guatemala. In the early 1980s, at the urging of local land owners, the military government established an outpost there. After forcibly disappearing 15 men from the region who had been engaged in a struggle to get legal title to their land, the soldiers assigned to the base went to the men's communities. There they set fire to the houses and crops. They stole the few belongings they found and before leaving, they raped the wives of the men they had abducted, and subsequently forced the women to move into shacks right outside the military base in Sepur Zarco.

In the following years, the women were held as slaves and were forced to do rotating shifts at the base. They were required to wash the soldiers' clothes; provide them with food, although their own children were starving; and to cook for them. They were repeatedly raped.

Guatemala's legal system has historically excluded and re-victimized indigenous women. This together with their feelings of shame and trauma meant that the women never sought legal redress. For over 25 years, they kept silent about what had happened to them. But very slowly, over a decade ago, and with the support of grassroots women's organizations that are long-standing partners of Inter Pares, the women began a slow and long path toward justice.

This past February, just a few weeks ago, after decades of impunity, two former military defendants were found guilty of war crimes and handed down sentences totalling 360 years in prison. The men sentenced in this case were just the tip of the iceberg, but the verdict is highly significant. It represents not only a major step forward toward justice for the women themselves but it also serves to promote long-term transformations and behaviours in society, so that what was once deemed to be acceptable or even celebrated is exposed to be unacceptable and repugnant.

If time permitted, I could give other examples of similar milestones that are taking place right now as a result of the persistence and courage of the victims, and the grassroots women's organizations that are supporting them.

Canada provides development assistance and in some cases diplomatic support. In the case of Sepur Zarco, the Canadian ambassador made a public presence at the first day of the trial. The Canadian government has contributed to these outcomes, but suffice it to say these achievements would not be possible were it not for the long-term accompaniment provided by the grassroots women's organizations.

Canada has been a leader in the promotion of women's rights globally, although we have lost ground in that area in recent years. The news that Canada has been elected to the governing body of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, as we heard a while ago, is a welcome development. It also means that with such a high-profile role, we have more responsibility than ever to ensure that we are walking the talk. There is much that we can do.

Firstly, it is clear that without the voice and participation of women, peace is not possible or sustainable. To advance implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace, and security, we must listen to, respect, and support the voices of women at the grassroots level who are actively experiencing conflict. This is done by working with women's organizations in the countries where we are engaged. As one of our partners in Burma told us, and Beth mentioned the same partners, “There should be nothing about us without us”.

Secondly, long-term, stable, and predictable core funding to grassroots women's organizations is essential to build local capacities that will hold governments to account. This isn't quick work.

Canada's funding architecture has shifted a great deal over the past years. It is doubtful whether organizations spearheading the cases I referred to would be able to count on the same levels of support from our government. Partnership branch once enabled Inter Pares and other Canadian civil society organizations to be responsive to the needs identified by our partners on the ground. The current framework, which privileges unpredictable funding through periodic calls for proposals based on themes that are pre-selected by the Canadian government, is simply inadequate.

Global Affairs Canada needs to increase its support to fund responsive, comprehensive, long-term, and grassroots initiatives that promote women's active participation.

Thirdly, we have seen a shift in the past years away from supporting the broad range of women's rights and instead focusing narrowly on supporting women as mothers. There has been a further narrowing of support, excluding women's sexual and reproductive rights.

UN Security Council resolution 2122, which one of my colleagues referred to earlier, provides important directions in this regard, in particular, the need of women affected by armed conflict and post-conflict situations to have access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services without discrimination, including regarding pregnancies resulting from rape.

Fourthly, and here I am thinking particularly of the situation in Colombia, it is crucial that women play an active role in formal peace processes and in monitoring the implementation of accords reached.

Women are still largely under-represented at the main negotiating table in the current process between the Government of Colombia and the FARC. With the process beginning now with the National Liberation Army, the ELN, announced in the last days, the situation might be better. The jury is still out on that process. As a result of women's mobilization, relentless advocacy, and international support, it's become impossible for both sides to ignore their concerns.

It is critical for countries like Canada to maintain pressure on all sides to ensure that women's proposals will be transformed into policy options that promote sustainable peace through gender equality and empowerment of all girls and women, and that there is gender parity in the committees charged with the eventual implementation of the accords, especially with respect to indigenous and Afro-descendant women.

In Columbia, our main counterpart, Project Counselling Service, has facilitated exchanges with women who took part in the peace processes in Central America. One of the key messages was that the eventual signing of peace accords does not necessarily mean the end of conflict.

Too frequently, with the formal signing of peace agreements, international support moves elsewhere, or it is directed principally at large government entities, leaving aside the community-based organizations that have made these processes possible. It has been the historic exclusion of marginalized peoples that created the conditions for the conflict in the first place.

Therefore, continued support to women's grassroots and community-based organizations will be crucial to strengthen participatory and inclusive democracy in post-conflict scenarios.

Finally, it's essential to look more closely at conflict prevention and address the root causes of conflict. In my meetings over the past years with the women of Sepur Zarco and the organizations that have been supporting them, and in many other conversations, I've been struck by their comments about conditions for Mayan women in Guatemala. Mayan communities in Guatemala are very similar to those existing prior to and during the armed conflict.

Little has changed in terms of entrenched racism, poverty, and the exploitation of indigenous peoples. Land ownership, which was at the root of the Sepur Zarco case, remains highly unequal. Fifty-seven per cent of the country's land is owned by only 2% of its people, while 3% of the land in Guatemala is shared among almost half of the population.

Today we are seeing a remilitarization of citizen security, including declarations of states of emergency, judicial persecution of community leaders, and once again, the establishment of military bases on territories of indigenous communities where there are existing land disputes. Today, this is happening to support large-scale resource development projects, in particular, mining and hydroelectric projects.

Today another group of Maya Kekchi women, 40 years younger but from the same region and the same ethnicity as the women from Sepur Zarco, are plaintiffs in a case before Canadian courts involving gang rapes committed by private security forces employed by a Canadian mining company, along with Guatemalan police and soldiers. This took place during a forced expulsion of the families from their farms and homes in the remote community of Lote Ocho.

Whereas Canada was once known for its role in peace building and the promotion of human rights, in my travels I am increasingly hearing repeated concern expressed regarding the actions of a number of our mining companies and doubts about the commitment of the Canadian government to the imperative of free, prior, and informed consent.

Inter Pares and our counterparts have a wealth of experiences that relate to this study, but to conclude and sum up, our key recommendations are that Canada must listen to local women directly impacted by the conflict; provide long-term, stable funding to women's organizations before, during, and post-conflict; support access to the full range of sexual and reproductive health services; insist that women are at the negotiating table for peace processes; and invest in conflict prevention and address the root causes of conflict.

Thank you very much for your attention. I look forward to answering any questions you have.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Thank you, Mr. Fairbairn.

Now I'll go to Mr. Thomson.

[Ian Thomson]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

On behalf of KAIROS let me begin by thanking you for this opportunity to address the committee as a part of its study on women, peace, and security. It's good to be here with you today.

KAIROS is a national ecumenical organization that works with partners both in Canada and internationally for human rights and ecological justice. We unite 11 national churches and religious organizations from eight Christian denominations.

KAIROS approaches all of our work through the lens of gender justice, understanding gender justice as full equality and equity among women, girls, men, and boys in their diverse identities and in all spheres of life. KAIROS is committed to working for a more just world in which power and responsibility are shared equally by all and to supporting those individuals and organizations working to transform power relations and end historical injustices.

KAIROS and our global civil society partners have a noteworthy history of working together on issues of women, peace, and security, and human rights in countries of protracted conflict.

Together with these partners, KAIROS has developed our women of courage program. This work is rooted in the understanding that while women around the world face many injustices, women are also key catalysts and agents of change when they create and exercise leadership in human rights and peace building. KAIROS works with partner organizations in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the West Bank in Israel-Palestine, the Philippines, and South Sudan to respond to the needs of women in their local contexts. In addition, KAIROS works to build solidarity relationships with women in Canada who are affected by gender-based oppression, particularly indigenous and migrant women.

Our women of courage programming is multi-faceted.

It includes a psychosocial support and counselling to women who are victims of human rights abuses and survivors of sexual violence, as well as legal support to increase their access to justice and reparations; as well as training and capacity-building workshops for women's organizations and women human rights defenders to assist them in using national legislation and international frameworks and resolutions to protect women's human rights in contexts of militarized conflicts and to advocate for women's participation in peace-building processes.

The program also includes grassroots education campaigns on such things as the women, peace, and security agenda, the UN Security Council resolution 1325, and the other resolutions to increase awareness of these commitments among women and all members of society. Finally, it includes international exchanges between women's organizations and human rights defenders that allow the sharing of experiences and best practices in order to help develop joint strategies and recommendations.

For example, in Colombia in the context of the current peace process and the victims' law KAIROS and our partner, Organización Femenina Popular, are supporting individual and collective reparations for victims of human rights abuses and gender-based violence, as well as the victims committees in which women receive legal representation and support to prosecute abuse and violence.

In South Sudan, KAIROS works with the national women's program of the South Sudan Council of Churches to engage women across tribal lines on advocating for peace locally, while developing an understanding of the international frameworks on women's role in peace building, including UN Security Council resolution 1325.

Although historically women have been at the forefront of movements for peace and human rights, peace-building processes are often dominated by men's voices and experiences. From 1992 to 2011, only 2% of chief mediators and only 9% of negotiators in peace processes were women.

At the same time, studies have shown that peace processes that involve women are not only more equitable and inclusive, but are also more sustainable. There are convincing reasons to support the participation of women's civil society organizations and women human rights defenders in peace process and post-conflict development: equity, inclusivity, justice, sustainability, and the efficiency of the process.

Our first recommendation to this committee would be that the Government of Canada should provide more in the way of financial support to women's rights organizations and grassroots civil society organizations for peace-building efforts in conflict affected and fragile states.

KAIROS supports the recommendation brought to you by the Women and Peace Security Network—you heard from them just a moment ago—around the target of 15% of our support towards a peace and conflict context going towards programming with women's empowerment or gender equality as the principal objective of the programming.

We were very encouraged by Canada’s remarks at the UN Security Council in March that recognized the critical importance of supporting the participation of local women’s organizations in peace building. In contrast, the Government of Canada has focused much of its official development assistance in recent years through large multilateral organizations, such as UN agencies and the World Bank, and less through partnerships with civil society organizations in Canada and internationally.

There are cases where this makes sense, when Canadians' support can leverage contributions from other donors, but experience in peace building has shown that lasting peace is achieved by supporting the women, peace, and security agenda at all levels. I'd like to offer you an example.

In February I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo. KAIROS and our Congolese human rights partner, Héritiers de la Justice, run a legal clinic that provides legal accompaniment and counselling to victims of sexual violence. To enable these women to defend their rights and engage in peace building, paralegals and women’s rights educators from the clinic hold training workshops on domestic law, international human rights instruments, and UN Security Council resolution 1325. Supported by Héritiers de la Justice, local women’s committees have been established in the cities and the villages to help women support each other, and most importantly, to break their silence around sexual violence.

In 2013 the Government of Canada made a significant investment of $18 million through the United Nations Development Programme to fight impunity around sexual violence in Congo. Through this project, mobile tribunals have been created to travel deep into rural areas in eastern Congo and facilitate access to justice. While this institution-building is critical, it requires the participation and trust of women at the local level. Without investing in such grassroots capacity-building by local organizations, Canada’s commitment to ending impunity through this larger multilateral project will not be fully realized. In our view, it’s not an either-or scenario. For peace building and women’s empowerment to be truly lasting, top-down national and regional initiatives must be accompanied by grassroots civil society-led initiatives.

KAIROS was already planning to expand the legal clinic in Congo in 2009. Back then, we approached the Canadian International Development Agency to partner with KAIROS on this work in Congo and other conflict-affected states. As many of you will recall, notwithstanding a recommendation from the CIDA president, the KAIROS proposal was not approved.

In January of this year, KAIROS submitted a new proposal to Global Affairs Canada seeking support for our women, peace, and security partners. While we are still awaiting a response, we remain hopeful that the work of KAIROS and our partners will complement and help to ensure the success of Canada’s current programming in these areas.

We believe our global partners and our international program are transformative, and they deliver long-lasting, sustainable results. We see the lives that are changed, the communities that have been empowered, and the women who regain their dignity and are able to exercise their rights. However, more resources are needed to support women's civil society organizations and women's human rights defenders. Despite the research that they have been the key drivers to defending rights and promoting peace all over the world, the resources they receive are shamefully scarce and dwindling.

Our second recommendation for the committee is regarding the national action plan. We would like to see the national action plan on women, peace, and security be expanded, such that it can serve both as a strategic vision for how Canada will implement and strengthen its international commitments around women, peace, and security, and as a monitoring and tracking tool to facilitate reporting on financial commitments, activities, gaps, and the progress to date.

KAIROS recognizes that the Government of Canada has played an important role in supporting the passage of the first UN Security Council resolution on women, peace, and security in the year 2000, in welcoming subsequent resolutions, and in adopting the national action plan in 2010. As I mentioned earlier, we appreciate Canada’s recent statements at the UN Security Council regarding its commitment to women, peace, and security.

Through our participation in the Women, Peace and Security Network, KAIROS has been monitoring Canada’s implementation of these resolutions and its commitment to working with partners on the implementation of the subsequent resolutions. We hope the renewal of the C-NAP in 2016 will produce a strategic vision for how Canada can best implement its international commitments on women, peace, and security. The plan must allow Canadians to gauge how Canada as a country is making this a policy priority, where we are headed, and what Canada's particular contribution will be to this global effort.

Therefore, our third recommendation for consideration by this committee is that the Government of Canada hold consultations and collaborate with women's rights organizations and their international partners on policy development and programming around women, peace, and security.

In the first instance, a broad-based public consultation should be held across Canada to inform the renewal of C-NAP. We believe this is an opportunity for the government to enhance the plan with input from a wide range of stakeholders. These parliamentary hearings are building a good foundation, but we hope that Global Affairs Canada will conduct a broad-based public consultation in cities across Canada in 2016 to inform the development of the new plan.

Women's organizations and other civil society organizations like KAIROS have a great deal to share on experiences from other countries, and lessons learned from efforts in Canada to end violence against women and promote women's political participation and empowerment.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to answering your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Nault]

Thank you very much, Mr. Thomson on behalf of KAIROS, and Mr. Fairbairn of Inter Pares.

We'll go to the first round now, and we'll start with Mr. Allison.

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and to our guests here today, thank you very much for your involvement in this very important issue.

My question is around national plans. We're talking about trying to refresh this one and maybe seeing if we could do more around that. Are there any national plans that you've seen in other governments that have been effective, and if there are, would you care to share those with us?

[Bill Fairbairn]

In Colombia, in particular, I know that women's organizations have been pressing the Government of Colombia to adopt a plan. The women's movement in Colombia is extremely strong and courageous. What I'm hearing about the Organización Femenina Popular is that these are women who have borne the brunt of the armed conflict, and they're coming forward to push their government for an effective plan.

I have to admit that I haven't been following their interventions with the government on their plan. That is certainly something I'd be quite happy to inquire about with our partners, as well as with my other colleagues who are working on Africa and Asia, to find out if there are any positive experiences from other situations. Other than knowing that the Colombians are on this right now, I don't know of any other examples.

[Dean Allison, Conservative, Niagara West, ON]

Mr. Thomson, do you have anything to say?