Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Dec. 6th, 2016

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Yes.

[Frédéric Hareau]

No, we would do more informal education programs, looking at using spaces outside the formal education system where providing education on human rights does not exist. That's through engagement and a very participatory approach to education, and so engagement of people in implementing education within their communities.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Is any part of that education also dealing with things like mental health, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder, etc., when we're dealing with youth specifically in countries where there is a high level of violence?

[Frédéric Hareau]

We don't do this ourselves, but we definitely connect with institutions that are able to provide those types of services where people need them. In many countries there's definitely a gap. There are very limited resources to be able to provide that in post-conflict situations. We try as much as possible to provide that service, but it is not an expertise that we have at Equitas.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

Thank you very much.

MP Sweet is next.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

We're thankful for your testimony, but more thankful for the work that you do in educating people on human rights. Today's our National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women in Canada.

One of the things I've noticed in the 10-plus years I've been on this committee is the very—how would I say it—troubling, and I'll use the term “barbaric”, use of women in warfare these days, to do the worst possible things to women to degrade them in front of their families, to demoralize their families. We didn't see this in terrorism or warfare to this degree years ago.

First, do you see the escalation that I see? Second, how are you dealing with the reality today of this terrible inhumane practice?

[Frédéric Hareau]

In terms of the first part of your question, we see this escalation in conflict and post-conflict situations. Unfortunately, we see that type of environment growing in many places around the world. Yes, when conflict is there, we see the degradation of women, as you said, the terrible violation of their human rights. In other places that have been more stable, we've seen the opposite: an engagement of many actors in trying to address the violence against women. It has been more and more on the top of the agenda of human rights defenders around the world.

We try to incorporate the question of gender equality and violence against women as a key component of human rights when we talk about human rights education. Women's rights are human rights. That's one of the very common violations. The violence, the cultural violence that exists, that transpires toward women and children is something critical that we want to address in looking at human rights. It's not just the framework, but it's also deconstructing our mind and changing our mind in terms of violence.

It's very difficult to do a lot of human rights work in conflict situations. I was alluding to that at the beginning. How do you find the best way to engage with actors in the conflict zone? In post-conflict situations, you definitely try to ensure that the human rights framework is part of the reconstruction effort, part of rebuilding the people and addressing those, but in terms of the pure conflict, it is very difficult to do a lot of human rights work there within the conflict itself.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

We've been honoured to hear from many women champions of human rights who are standing up to this kind of thing, trying also to encourage and strengthen women who are facing this. We've also seen testimony from, particularly, Yazidi women who would rather die than go through the demoralizing, degrading, and terrible violence against them.

I remember a lot of things in this committee. One of the things I remember is a press conference that we did one time. I regret that I don't remember the specific situation, but it was another human rights tragedy where we were talking about the heinous treatment of people. One reporter showed up. My colleague Irwin Cotler was posed a question. The reporter asked, “What are you going to do about it?” He's tough. He said, “Really what we want to know is what you're going to do about it.”

We do so many reports and everything, yet the mainstream media does not really do it justice. When you compare it with the consequences it has on womankind and mankind, human rights violations around the world, particularly now, from Iraq to Syria, with so many displaced people, the mainstream media does a very poor job of representing just how much pain there is out there in terms of human rights violations.

Do you have any engagement with the mainstream media to educate them so that they're more responsive and they educate the broader western world about just what's going on?

[Frédéric Hareau]

We do a lot of media work in different countries where we operate. I fully agree with you on ensuring that the media have an understanding of human rights—let's start with that—that they look at the consequences and the impact of human rights violations, and then are able to portray that.

On the opposite side, in many situations they actually can have a very negative impact in terms of their role. We can talk about Rwanda and Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines as one of the main elements in terms of perpetrating the genocide. There are many examples around that.

How do you build that critical thinking and human rights education within the media? In the western world, we try to engage with them. We would like to do more. I would agree with you that there is still a lot to do there.

I would also echo what was said before on looking at how you can use other types of media, such as social media. There are a number of other ways now to propagate information. In terms of the human rights movement, we haven't been able to really mobilize that sphere as much as we would like to. I think it's another way to...and we know that more and more people are turning to those types of media to get information.

How can we build on that? That's a critical question for the human rights movement right now.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

There is a lot of movement in that regard. There are a lot of groups that are using it effectively, but there needs to be a lot more use of social media.

Mr. Chair, this is my last point.

I'm just so happy with the work that is being done by this organization. If you ever decide that you want to do some town halls, I would certainly sponsor town halls in the riding I represent, just to draw attention to human rights violations and heighten people's awareness about how many human rights issues there are across the globe and how they can participate, even it's just making a simple donation or making sure their kids are aware of it as they grow up.

[Frédéric Hareau]

Thank you very much. We duly take note of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

I see we're right on two o'clock.

I want to thank you very much for being here today as we approach international human rights defenders day on December 10. It's really a focus that we've seen in this committee. You certainly took us around the world a bit with your expertise, talking about some of the fantastic work your organization is doing. Of course, that reflects on the work that international human rights defenders are doing around the world. Thank you for being here.

We're looking forward to having another two guests speak on this subject on Thursday.

With that, we shall adjourn.