Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Reid.

Now we'll move to the Bloc and Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe for seven minutes.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Buenas tardes a todos y a todas.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you very much for joining us. It is very much appreciated.

Last week, at the subcommittee meeting, we heard from Martin Mylius, country director for CARE Columbia. You may know him. Mr. Mylius recommended that the international community recognize that Venezuelan women and girls need humanitarian assistance and attention specific to their needs. I remember the words “specific to their needs”.

Ms. Garcia, you talked in your testimony about the situation of women and girls.

How has the situation of displaced Venezuelan women and girls changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of human rights?

Ms. Jimenez could then comment, but since you raised the issue in your testimony, I am putting the question to you, Ms. Garcia.

[Gabi Garcia]

I'm sorry, but I'll speak in English.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

[Member spoke in Spanish]

[Gabi Garcia]

The problem is, for example, that in Colombia or on the border with Brazil, prostitution and sexual abuse and everything are sometimes the easier ways to get some money. I have even heard that some professionals who can't get jobs in their profession end up doing pornographic photos or videos because they have to survive, and not just for them but to support their families in Venezuela.

With the pandemic, we know that domestic violence is higher in all countries, not only in Venezuela. With the situation in the camps, they don't have social distancing. I don't know if all refugee camps are like this, but there is everybody with everybody, so it's a very dangerous situation for the girls, the children and the women.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

There are no social distancing measures in camps because everyone is so close together.

Is that indeed what you are telling me?

[Gabi Garcia]

There is no social distancing in the camps. The dining areas they had at the borders, for two or three years, have been closed. They don't have access to free food to support their families. They are on their own. They just closed the borders. It's dangerous in every country, but in Latin America, it's dangerous for a woman to go alone with her children. You know how it is.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Ms. Jimenez, perhaps you could continue on this topic, which is very important to us here.

[Dr. Carolina Jimenez]

I'm very glad that we are addressing the issue of gender and how forced migration impacts women and girls differently. In the first place, sadly, there is agreement that human trafficking is a common reality for many women and girls from Venezuela, travelling through clandestine routes in very dangerous circumstances and placing themselves in situations where they are easy prey for human traffickers. Unfortunately, there are very few protections in place for victims of human trafficking, and because of the nature of human trafficking itself, there isn't enough information.

We don't have clear statistics. Laws are different across the region. It is not an issue that is being properly addressed. It impacts women and girls in various ways, and it requires far more attention than it is getting right now. We have documented cases of human trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago and in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately, in the Caribbean this is a very common problem, but the situation is not that different in Colombia, Peru, etc., where the common narrative often presents Venezuelan migrant women in a hypersexualized way.

There is human trafficking, and there is also survival sex, but the way women and girls are exposed to the situation is different and affects them differently. It is incredibly important to understand the differentiated impact it has on them. I personally believe it's a very unaddressed issue, something that people don't like to talk about, something that politicians don't like to talk about, something that often involves law enforcement agents, even politicians in some places, etc. There is a lot to learn about it, and there is a lot to do against it.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

That's why we are here, in a Canadian House of Commons subcommittee. As you said, politicians sometimes don't dare to discuss these kinds of issues.

How can Canada help humanitarian organizations meet those particular needs of Venezuelan young women and girls who have been displaced?

As politicians, how can we make a difference?

Ms. Garcia, go ahead.

[Gabi Garcia]

In Canada you have 45,000 Syrian refugees, and you are very proud of that. You have in Canada 1,500 Venezuelan refugees. We're asking Canada to open up a bit with the programs, with something that can help the Venezuelans to come to Canada with all the restrictions you want. We find that Canada is like a barrier, and it makes it so difficult for people to seek refugee asylum to enter the country, even to be reunited with a family they have in Canada, who are Canadians and live as permanent residents.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much for your answer, Ms. Garcia.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

Now we'll move to the NDP and Ms. McPherson for seven minutes.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to thank both of the witnesses for being with us today and for sharing this very difficult testimony with us.

I have a history in international development. The first questions I would like to ask revolve around one of the things that I always think is so shocking, which is that we are constantly putting out fires. We are constantly dealing with the impact of not investing in our communities, of not giving money to our communities.

Ms. Garcia, could you talk a bit about what we could do? What would be those things that we could do to help in the crisis in Venezuela right now? We know that it started as an electoral issue, but what could the Government of Canada do to help people return to Venezuela and stay in Venezuela and to protect those people who are still in Venezuela?

[Gabi Garcia]

This is very important, because our NGO has an alliance with a Canadian NGO, and we sent in almost 8,000 meals to Venezuela in 2020. If we at least can guarantee the children food and education.... Maybe we can do some online education. Maybe in some programs we can give them some equipment or connectivity and everything. They need it to study. They need it to learn. They need it to know how to survive Venezuela, because the Venezuelans don't want to go to the outside. We like to live in our country, but if they lose their homes for a better future for the children...because of course you're looking for something for your children.

I think that maybe we can work together with the NGOs in Canada to see how we can help the people in Venezuela, not only with money for the governments of the neighbouring countries, because we need it for the migrants, but we need it also for Venezuelans.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I think that's an excellent point. I think it's very important for Canada to support those countries that have Venezuelan refugees who have fled there so that they can provide the services. It is fundamentally the goal for Venezuelans to return to Venezuela and have a livelihood so that they can survive and thrive and their families can go to school and they can have what they need.

I will ask the next question of Amnesty and Ms. Jimenez. In terms of the impacts on the work of humanitarian organizations in Venezuela, do you see access to things for those organizations, such as medicine and food? Is that happening? Can you talk a bit about what the humanitarian response has been and what you would like to see in the humanitarian response?

[Dr. Carolina Jimenez]

In the first place, I think one big problem is that this is a very underfunded humanitarian response. To give you an example, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, which is the office that coordinates all of the agencies operating in Venezuela, requested $762 million for 2020 to operate in Venezuela. It received $146 million.

The same goes for every country where they operate and coordinate the response to Venezuelan refugees: an 80% deficit from what they request to what they receive at the end in Colombia and Peru. I think one thing that would be very important to address is how underfunded the response to this crisis is.

I do think that the role of humanitarian organizations and workers generally is key, but it is not a secret that it is being restricted. The World Food Programme has been trying to get access to Venezuela for over a year now. It has been denied access so far. It hasn't been given any access, which is the same as being denied access—

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Of course.

[Dr. Carolina Jimenez]

—and that's urgent. This is a country with a severe food insecurity crisis. Two-thirds of the Venezuelan population is said to be hungry and in a situation of food insecurity. The role of an agency like the World Food Programme is very important, but they're not getting any access to the country.

We have seen in the last two months or so an increase in attacks against humanitarian workers and humanitarian organizations. That worries us very much. They have frozen bank accounts of some key NGOs. They have actually raided their headquarters.

It's not an easy environment to operate in. It is challenging. It is difficult. I think it's important to ensure that human rights defenders and humanitarian workers working in Venezuela know that if there is a moment when they need to leave the country for security reasons, they can have access to countries that would receive them in this situation because of their history.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

One of the things that we had heard from Ms. Garcia is that Canada needs to be more open. Our refugee processes need to work better so that people can access them.

I'm understanding from you that food insecurity is massive. I'm on the foreign affairs committee as well, and we actually just heard this evening about the importance of food security in Venezuela, so I understand what you're saying. However, it seems like the politicization of humanitarianism is really the root cause of the inability of organizations to provide support to Venezuelan refugees. Is that correct? Would you agree with that assessment?

[Dr. Carolina Jimenez]

When it comes to Venezuela, there is a lot of polarization in general, but I think it's important that governments distinguish between the work of independent and non-partisan humanitarian organizations and the work of others. I strongly believe there are many important and relevant humanitarian organizations doing work in favour of the people of Venezuela without any political agenda attached to their work.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

I'm almost out of time. If either of you has anything to say on what you'd like to see parliamentarians do for you, what would that be?

[Dr. Carolina Jimenez]

Increase the funding for the Venezuelan NGOs and for those supporting refugees in other countries.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you so much.

Ms. Garcia—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

Thank you, Ms. McPherson.

We're going to move to our second round. You'll have an opportunity to thank the witnesses at the end of our second round.

The second round now begins. We have five minutes for each party.

We'll start with the Liberals and Mr. Zuberi.