Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on April 4th, 2017

[Ahmed Ramadan]

Absolutely. I believe that Canada should be taking a more public and involved role. I believe Canada is probably best suited to this with our commitment to human rights and the respect that Canada commands around the world. I think any other country looks at Canada with a lot of respect, and they would be more likely to listen when Canada speaks.

I feel this is an opportunity for us to rise and show the world what we stand for and protect the rights of a minority and a persecuted people. I definitely agree with that point that we should be more vocal both publicly and within the institutions that are available for them like the UN and others.

I would also add one comment in response to the question about the commission of inquiry. There is also a human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein, who said that the treatment of the Rohingya merits a UN commission of inquiry and a review by the International Criminal Court.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

Thank you very much.

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

Chair, just before we close I have two requests if I may.

The first would be under the rubric of requests for documents, and would be to Mr. Benoît-Pierre Laramée. He apparently met with Rohingya in Bangladesh. I would ask that the clerk send a note to him asking for his observations to be presented to the committee. We don't necessarily need to call him as a witness, but he had interviewed those Rohingya who had escaped. I think that would be good for us to have.

The second, Chair, is regarding a concern that our witnesses raised. It's the ICG. I know they do good work and are relied upon in most cases. I went to their website to check the particular report on the faith insurgency group, and they said they had found a video about these wealthy émigrés from Saudi Arabia that seemed to be credible. That concerned me. They said there was some compelling evidence, but they had none on their site.

I would ask that we do a little more digging in that regard to further understand this testimony. We have other newsfeeds that indicate there is collaboration between Bangladeshis and some Rohingya from local communities who are reacting to the violence against them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Levitt]

Thank you.

Yes, I was curious about that as well. We will follow up on that point.

To both witnesses, thank you very much for your heartfelt testimony here today. As I said at the beginning, this subcommittee is seized with this issue. In talking to other parliamentarians from all parties who aren't in the room today, I know that we take this issue very seriously and that we will continue working on it and advocating for the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar.

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.