Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, mesdames. Thank you very much for your evidence. It is both very sombre and disturbing.
UN Resolution 1325 was adopted 10 years ago now. It was the first acknowledgment that women were being used as weapons of war. In those past 10 years, there have unfortunately been cases in Darfur, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and even in Haiti, where there is no armed conflict at this time, but where there is devastation as a result of climatic events. A very large number of sexual abuses against women in Haitian refugee camps has been reported. Barely one month ago, the government presented its action plan to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security.
Ms. Breton-Le Goff, on November 17, the government, through CIDA, announced a project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although there are tools, an action plan, and Resolution 1325 was adopted 10 years ago, the violence is not declining, on the contrary. Women are increasingly being used. In the wake of the G8, donor countries have undertaken to invest more and to focus on the millennium objectives, but if we do not solve the problems of violence against women, if we do not provide the tools and training necessary to address this phenomenon, we will never be able to achieve the 2015 objectives. You tell us that 40 women are raped every day. That's incredible. If that happened here, I don't believe we would close our eyes to the situation.
Are enough women in those countries allowed to take part in reconciliation, to make their voices heard? It's their bodies; they are the ones who are the most used in these men's wars.