Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone.
What we' re going to discuss today is the vulnerability of Canadian children held as prisoners in refugee camps in northeast Syria.
In a June 2020 report, Human Rights Watch listed 26 confirmed cases of Canadian children held in the Al-Hol and Roj camps. Their only crime was to have been born of parents who had served in the armed group of the Islamic State .
In connection with the film being made about this deplorable situation, we sent a team of documentary filmmakers to Rojava, the Kurdish region of Syria. At the Al-Hol camp, the largest in the region, the team found that the authorities in charge had neither the financial nor human resources required to maintain minimal health standards. The camp is overpopulated and the refugees live in tents. They have no clean water, and just enough food to survive, with no access to basic medical care. Added to this are the conflicts that break out every day in this micro-society in distress. Living conditions in the camp are unhealthy and inhuman.
According to the Kurdish Red Crescent, in 2019, the year of our visit to Al-Hol, 517 people died, 371 of whom were children, mostly owing to illnesses. Under these circumstances, it' s not surprising to learn that the Kurdish authorities have been encouraging various countries to repatriate their nationals. The process is slow, and Canada has been dragging its feet in dealing with the situation.
Today, we would like to describe how COVID-19 has exacerbated the vulnerability of Canadian children detained in camps in northeast Syria.
When efforts began to combat the coronavirus, governments around the world adopted approximately the same health guidelines: physical distancing, frequent hand washing, and mask wearing, with a view to preventing western health systems from becoming overwhelmed. Al-Hol may well be the place in the world where it would be most unrealistic to apply these measures. How to enforce physical distancing in an overpopulated camp of 65,000 people crammed into an area of only 1.5 square kilometres? How to wash your hands regularly without running water or disinfectant? How to wear a mask when even basic clothing is not available? How not to overburden the health system when only five of the 24 small clinics at the camp are still operational?
While data may be very fragmentary, some of the most accurate numbers we have are for the health staff in the camps affected by COVID-19. They explain why many care centres in Al-Hol had to be closed, and are also indicative of the spread of the disease.
In August 2020, in a context where tests were not being carried out systematically, the Kurdish authorities reported a total of 54 people with COVID-19. At the same time, in a single week, seven children under five years of age died in the camp.
The situation is urgent, and other countries acknowledge it.
I'll turn things over to Mr. Paiement now.