Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on March 22nd, 2011

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

Well, it institutionalizes it. When I say women's groups, the women's groups that we support are mixed; they're men and women. Also, there's the relationship between men and women. They hold hands. There's a solidarity there.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Okay.

Are you familiar with UNAMID, the United Nations and African Union hybrid? What is their role as far as women's rights and defence of women is concerned?

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

I'm familiar with it, but I can't speak to it. I could find out more, but I'm not well versed in that.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Okay. That's good. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

We have 10 minutes left.

Mr. Hiebert drew to my attention that he wanted to introduce something, but before he does that--because I want to allow our witness to wrap up and leave--I have one question. Then I'll ask if you have any closing observations.

We have the north and the south. It tends to get described as being a split based simply on religion: there's a Christian south, a Muslim north. I have a sense that it's a little more complicated than that.

Could you give a little bit more context to help people like me, who aren't that familiar with it?

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

Sudan is a very big country. Its history is complicated and has a lot of exchanges and movement of people, so it is an oversimplified version of Sudanese reality to qualify it as Christian and Muslim and to separate along those lines and attribute the conflict only to that. There are many different angles. You could look at it in terms of resources, natural resources, land use, drought, or the movement of people. There are many ways to look at the conflict, and I want to make that clear. I'm not saying that the only split is along religious lines. It is a very complicated situation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

One of the problems they have is that the border between the newly independent south and the north is not clearly defined. Will the result be that you're going to wind up with a residual...?

I realize I'm now going back to the oversimplification that I've just stressed we should avoid, but will there be a Christian minority left in the north and a Muslim minority in the new South Sudan, or is it effectively going to result in a cleavage along whatever the natural breaking point is?

[Dr. Rachel Gouin]

There are Christians in the north and Muslims in the south, and one of the key concerns around the referendum and independence is respect for citizenship rights and what that means. A lot of the southerners went back to South Sudan out of sheer fear, but there are still some left in the north who have grown up there, who were born there, and who are committed to staying. Before all the parties pulled out, some of them ran, or tried to run, in the previous elections.

The region of Abyei I don't quite understand fully. I know it's heavily armed. There are a lot of armed personnel there, and there's a big chance of it exploding, just by human error or ill will, and there have been increased conflicts. The issue of citizenship rights is a very important one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

All right. Thank you very much. We appreciate the fact that you came here today. You have a very informative presentation about an area that is very confusing to some of us, but vitally important to the overall project of this committee which, of course, is looking into the widespread problem of the sexual abuse of women and children. Thank you very much for your testimony.

Go ahead, Mr. Hiebert.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Thank you.

There was a request from Mr. Marston that we seek to have the motion that I put before this committee on February 8 dealing with North Korea brought forward to the House for concurrence. I am simply moving that motion at this time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

I'm advised by the clerk that because we don't have a notice, we need unanimous consent, but we normally work with a consensus anyway. We're just starting it earlier.

Do we have agreement that Mr. Hiebert act in this fashion?

I'm seeing nobody saying otherwise, so, yes, you do.

We are now looking at the motion. You all have it in front of you. Is it acceptable that this motion be adopted?

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

It was adopted unanimously at the time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

The action that's being called upon is for the motion to be taken to the foreign affairs committee and then tabled in the House. That's the change. Do we have agreement?

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We do. In that case that's done.

With five minutes to go, we are adjourned.