Evidence of meeting #8 for Subcommittee on International Human Rights in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was displaced.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
What does internal displacement look like in any given country, or is it different for every country?
Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
It's different for each country, because it depends really on the country conditions. In some cases, it's because of civil war or conflicts—in Sudan, for example. In other cases, you have a combination, as was mentioned by the previous speaker, of unrest and human rights violations and also natural disasters. Afghanistan has also been hit by earthquakes and other national disasters that displace people.
In some cases, such as Gaza, for example, you have an external force that's causing internal displacement. They're trapped there. They cannot get out of the country of Gaza.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
Thank you so much.
Ms. Maulfair, thank you for your testimony. You mentioned 117 million displaced people. Does that include internal?
Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Yes.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
We have also been hearing testimony in this committee about women and girls and even young boys facing extreme violence, sexual violence. Can you talk to us a little bit about this?
Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
When people are making these journeys, as the professor was talking about earlier, there's often a lot of violence and danger involved in the journeys themselves. A lot of exploitation happens along the way. Oftentimes, when refugees or IDPs arrive at where they're going, they have faced many difficulties, often including sexual or gender-based violence. Typically, UNHCR and our partners are there to try to help people, to try to provide medical assistance and social support, and really help people start to heal. However, as a result of some of the funding cuts that I was speaking about earlier, these services are becoming much less available in the world.
I can give you an example that's a little closer to home. At the border with Mexico, where we used to have a big contingent of partners and ourselves to provide these sorts of services—as you know, the Darién Gap is very dangerous—almost nobody is there anymore because of the cuts to funding. These services are simply not available there.
Survivors need to look further to find any available resources. It's becoming an aggravated problem around the world.
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
Ms. Clark-Kazak mentioned that a lot of times, governments that are supposed to be protecting their citizens are not. She also mentioned mining in the Congo, which is causing a lot of displacement. I don't know if you want to address, or if Ms. Clark-Kazak does, the situation in, for example, the Congo.
December 8th, 2025 / 4:25 p.m.
Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Do you mean for sexual violence or for what's in the Congo in particular?
Liberal
Anju Dhillon Liberal Dorval—Lachine—LaSalle, QC
I'm wondering who or what is causing the displacement in the mining regions.
Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The displacement in those regions often stems from insecurity. The mining companies come in and provide security for the mines themselves and for where their workers are. The area becomes a lot more lawless, because these are areas where there are resources. That's why the mining companies are there in the first place. Control of these resources is a struggle between gangs and criminal enterprises and the lawful states and companies that are lawfully there. It creates a very insecure terrain. People who are already slightly vulnerable, or vulnerable at all, get preyed upon in these settings much more.
Liberal
Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Just to complement what my UNHCR colleague said—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Fayçal El-Khoury
Give a quick answer please because time is up. I'll give you a few seconds.
Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
The mining companies also are forcibly displacing communities from the areas where they're conducting the mining. This is a context where in fact the mining is causing displacement, and also feeding into this sort of securitization, and also, as we heard from the previous professor, there's a criminal enterprise that starts because of the instability.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Fayçal El-Khoury
Thank you.
I will now give Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe the floor for seven minutes.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all the witnesses for being here with us today as part of this important study.
Mr. Audet, you did not have the chance to expand on your recommendations in your opening remarks. I would like to give you the opportunity to do that and hear your thoughts in that regard.
Director, Observatoire canadien sur les crises et l'action humanitaires, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I will do so quickly. Obviously, I will repeat what I said but give a bit more detail.
First, I want to mention the importance of continuing to support research to document migration situations. All migration corridors—not just those in Central America, but all of the corridors that my colleagues just mentioned—are evolving much faster than institutional mechanisms are able to understand them, let alone respond to the problems. What we are seeing is a lack of solid evidence, which obviously leaves the door wide open for criminal networks. Documenting the situation has become a tool for protection, a diplomatic lever and an essential prerequisite for humanitarian responses. I believe that the work of this committee today is a prime example.
Second, we need to strengthen our human-rights-based approaches. My colleagues just gave some examples, particularly with regard to the protection of unaccompanied women and children, who are the primary victims of the systems of violence that we see in Central America and elsewhere, such as sexual assault, exploitation, kidnapping and digital and physical extortion.
Third, we must support regional efforts, particularly those aimed at reducing the violence and impunity that fuel the criminal migration market, as I mentioned earlier. Migration has become a criminal industry. Violence is its main tool of production. Combatting this violence is not only a security issue; it is also a strategy for reducing forced displacement and protecting the entire region.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the very positive role that the Canadian embassy in Panama has played in this regard in recent years.
Finally, I strongly recommend tailoring Canadian aid so that it does not inadvertently strengthen criminal economies and so that it is more closely aligned with the realities of transit communities. Canadian aid, like all international aid, must be a tool for stabilization and must not fuel the criminal economy. When there are high levels of insecurity, corruption and extortion will obviously dominate the use of funds and the local economy.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
That is what stood out to me in your opening remarks. If I understand correctly, you said in your fourth recommendation that economic growth is not necessarily an indicator of an improved standard of living when it comes to displaced populations, particularly in your area of expertise, which has to do with the migration corridors in the three Americas.
Does the current government's policy of linking international trade with humanitarian aid create problems? Some may say that such an approach may not necessarily do what it should in terms of humanitarian aid.
Director, Observatoire canadien sur les crises et l'action humanitaires, Université du Québec à Montréal, As an Individual
Yes. It is important to scratch beneath the surface. In contexts where there is insecurity, where criminal groups and armed gangs are present, economic development, development aid, infrastructure investment programs and the like can sometimes fuel crime and so the actions taken do not play a stabilizing role. Instead, they encourage organized crime, which takes over the economy, creating even more migration. I am referring specifically to Central America, but this phenomenon can be seen almost everywhere. When criminal groups take over a sector, they will, in a way, use the entire local economy, including international aid. This happens especially in areas where the informal and criminal sector has a strong presence.
Humanitarian aid works very well. There is evidence to prove it. Humanitarian aid works, especially when insecurity does not reach intolerable levels.
My colleagues at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have shown that when action is taken to protect the rights of displaced populations and there are no dominant malicious criminal actors, humanitarian aid works and has a significant impact on displaced populations.
Bloc
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Fayçal El-Khoury
I will now turn the floor over to Ms. Vandenbeld for five minutes.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Thank you.
Thank you very much to all of our witnesses.
I'd like to start my questions with you, Ms. Maulfair. You said that this past year there has been a slight decline, but if you take Syria out of the equation, what are we actually looking at in terms of numbers?
Representative in Canada, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
If you take Syria out of the equation, we're looking at somewhere between one and two million. Most of these, unfortunately, are people who were either pushed back to their countries or who left because where they were refugees it just became so unwelcoming.
The countries I'm talking about are Sudan and Afghanistan, which we've already heard about from Asma, and people are being pushed back from both Iran and Pakistan. Syria is the bright spot, like I said, but the rest is less bright.