Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2016

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

If Canada did move forward with imposing sanctions, do we know whether those sanctions would maybe target the regime that is in power right now? I know there is food scarcity in Burundi, and we want to ensure that the sanctions target the regime and not its civilians.

[Leslie Norton]

Canada, as mentioned, does not currently have sanctions in place against Burundi, because there are no international organizations to which we belong that have imposed sanctions yet. I would also say that it is too early to speculate on whether they will and what sanctions they might look at.

You can rest assured that when sanctions are put in place, there is a very robust dialogue between the people drafting the sanctions and the humanitarian team in the department to make sure that just this case does not occur, so that the ordinary Burundians affected by a crisis are not negatively affected by the sanctions.

[Jean-Bernard Parenteau]

If I may add, the United Nations Security Council through its Resolution 2303 expressed its intention to pursue targeted measures against all actors inside and outside Burundi who are seen to be threatening peace and security in the country. So, as Ms. Norton mentioned, if the Security Council were to impose such sanctions Canada would be obliged to follow and impose these sanctions.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

You mentioned in your statement that a UN Security Council 500-strong force comprised of troops and police was rejected by the Burundi government. Do you have any more information on their reasoning for the rejection?

[Leslie Norton]

I believe they equated it, as I said earlier, to an invasion of the country.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Right now we have just 100 human rights observers and 100 military experts, if that. Is that correct? Could it be less than that?

[Leslie Norton]

That's correct. The update is that 33 AU human rights observers and 14 AU military experts have arrived in the country and are on the ground.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Also, in the testimony I think you mentioned that $95,000 humanitarian was given to Burundi. I believe that was the number.

[Leslie Norton]

It was $8 million.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

No, “in 2015-16 Canada provided $95,000...” is what I meant. Do you believe that with the World Food Programme we can increase that to help Burundi, given the food scarcity and declining economic situation there?

[Leslie Norton]

The $95,000 that I quoted was from our Canada fund for local initiatives, which was funding going toward local partners such as helping with Radio Publique Africaine, as I've mentioned, but more globally in 2014-15 our funding totalled $11 million, and a chunk of that—we're counting calendar years versus fiscal years—was $8 million in humanitarian assistance for Burundians affected by the crisis, both inside the country and those who have sought asylum outside the country.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

Good, thank you.

For the next question, we have MP Hardcastle.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I want to know a little more about what Canada is doing. From what I've understood so far, we aren't currently using sanctions. What are we doing to exert our position right now? Are there some practices that seem to be getting a response?

[Leslie Norton]

Canada has made concerted diplomatic efforts to engage stakeholders, including Burundi's neighbours, to encourage a peaceful, inclusive resolution to the crisis. We've issued numerous ministerial-level press releases, and these express our deep concern over the ongoing crisis in human rights violations. They urge the Government of Burundi to engage in dialogue with political groups and civil society.

The most recent joint news release was by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of International Development on December 13, 2015. Minister Dion also announced during his address to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in March that Canada would provide support to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Burundi, and that totalled $640,000.

We've also been very actively engaged in the Human Rights Council in Geneva. That's one of a number of multilateral fora. This also includes the session that is under way at this time, where we're currently participating in an enhanced interactive dialogue with the UN Independent Investigation on Burundi, which I mentioned in my statement.

We also co-sponsored the Human Rights Council resolution on preventing the deterioration of the human rights situation in Burundi from December 2015, which established the United Nations Independent Investigation on Burundi.

Also, in June 2016, we made a national statement at the 32nd session of the HRC. This was during an interactive dialogue on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' report on Burundi.

In March 2016, we led a joint statement on human rights in Burundi at the 31st session of the HRC, and also made a national statement during an enhanced interactive dialogue on Burundi with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Going back a bit further, in September 2015 we highlighted Burundi in our national statement during the general debate under item four at the 30th session of the HRC. In June 2015 we co-sponsored an EU-led joint statement on Burundi at the 29th session of the HRC.

You can see that we've been very actively engaged on the multilateral front.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I think my colleague touched on some resistance to the police.

Does the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have access? Are we free to exercise the human rights initiatives, or do we not have that land access at all?

[Jean-Bernard Parenteau]

One thing I could mention is that some of the observers on the ground were free enough to be able to gather facts for the production of a report by the UN Independent Investigation on Burundi as well, as mentioned earlier in the statement by Ms. Norton.

Through that kind of underground presence, and the reporting gathered by other partners such as the U.S., the U.K., and Human Rights Watch, we were able to develop a picture of the situation.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I want to get a picture of the Canadian presence in Burundi. Do we have any companies located there? Do we have nationals in prison? Do they have consular services nearby? What's the picture of the Canadian presence in Burundi?

[Jean-Bernard Parenteau]

We have no diplomatic mission in Burundi. Our presence is from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, which is a neighbouring country. You can access the country by roads. Our ambassador accredited to Burundi is based in Nairobi. We have no underground diplomatic presence. We have the capacity to provide consular services through an honorary consul we have in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The overall footprint of Canada in Burundi is very small. We have minimal trade exchanges with that country. In terms of consular cases and nationals in prison, I'm not aware of any cases for the moment.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

We will turn the floor over to MP Miller.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Parenteau and Madam Norton, welcome to the committee.

My question is very simple. Are we headed toward a new Rwanda? If not, why not?

[Leslie Norton]

A question like that requires that we make hypotheses, and it is difficult to do that. When we read the reports, the people who describe the situation indicate that it is political and not ethnic. I know that Burundi and Rwanda have quite similar ethnic compositions and that their histories are somewhat similar throughout their respective journeys. However, until now, aside from comments made by people in government, we are not talking about a situation similar to the one that occurred in Rwanda.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

When we study the situation in Burundi, we see that several of the conditions needed to provoke an explosive conflict are present. First of all, there is no political will on the part of the president of Burundi and his government to allow people into the country to bear witness to the situation, which would be very important. There is also a shortage of food.

Peace missions proposed by western states have been turned down. There are a few political, socio-economic or ethnic conflicts. In that context, we wonder about Canada's role, and especially about its capacity to intervene. The fact that Burundi is a francophone state could be an advantage for us.

Mr. Parenteau, you mentioned that our presence in that country is minimal. In light of the situation and the worldwide inertia, I wonder, aside from the good words and recommendations of our minister, what we can do as a country in the face of that situation? What are you doing to keep the minister abreast of the situation and emphasize its importance?

[Jean-Bernard Parenteau]

I can confirm that the department is following the situation very closely. I would point out that the government, through Minister Dion, yesterday announced new funding to support the United Nations in the type of activity that allow us to follow closely the evolution of explosive situations such as the one that exists in Burundi. Concrete financing has been added. I do not have all of the details in hand about that initiative. However, the intention is to strengthen the multilateral system's capacity, at the United Nations among others, to follow these crises and react with different tools, such as peace missions and so on.