Madam Speaker, I begin by thanking the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca for this thought provoking and important motion. It is a very timely motion because we live in a period of immense change. There are tremendous challenges facing Canada in a global environment.
Traditionally Canada has played a very important role as a middle power, a role that far exceeds our size as a nation, our population and our ability to influence affairs. Our chain of events in global events has been significant.
I would argue that over the past several years, particularly since 1993, there has been a decline in the role we have played particularly in the defence of human security and in the traditional linkage that has existed between foreign policy in Canada and human rights which has existed for some time. I would argue that there has been a significant de-linkage since 1993. More focus has been placed on trade missions than on actual foreign policy in a very positive sense.
Since the end of the cold war the evolution of human security has increased its pace significantly. There have been over 100 conflicts since the end of the cold war. Most of these have been interstate conflicts. The member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca has said there are approximately 40 current conflicts. Many of these conflicts are between governments and their own people. In that type of environment the evolution and recognition of human security becomes increasingly important.
The evolution of human security certainly did not begin at the cessation of the cold war. Some would point to the birth of the UN in 1948 and also to the Bretton Woods institutions that began in 1945 as the modern genesis of the notion of human security. From their very beginning the World Bank's and the UN's basic principles and mandates have recognized human security.
The mission of the World Bank is “to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity, and forging partnerships in the private and public sectors; to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results”. These basic tenets of the World Bank are focused more on human security than national security.
The United Nations charter initially said “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small”.
The focus from the beginning with the UN and the World Bank has been on human security and it certainly should be. The IMF is more focused on the financial side of things in providing and ensuring that nation states have the ability through financial systems and economies to actually provide successful economies for their people.
Globalization is playing a key role in the evolution of human security as well. Technology and telecommunications play a role in bringing the atrocities of war home to people in nations like Canada and creating political and public pressure for us to become involved in conflicts such as in Kosovo. There has been an interesting incidence whereby we have seen NATO, developed as a defence alliance for the cold war, actually playing a key role in the defence of human security.
Some would argue that the role NATO is playing in Kosovo should be played by the UN. In fact, it is the failure of the member states in the UN to agree and to come to some sort of common goal relative to the conflict in Kosovo. The UN is not playing that role but NATO has been able to play a very important role and one that many of us share.
The role that Canada has played in the landmines treaty with the UN countries is further evidence of the evolution of human security.
The issue of institutional reform for the Bretton Woods institutions and for the UN and other institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which are involved in economic development and human security issues is very important and timely because there is a tremendous amount of redundancy between these organizations. There is also a significant institutional reform needed individually and collectively and an increased level of co-operation. There has not been in the past enough co-operation and communication between these institutions. As a result sometimes the goals have been muddied. Certainly the effort to achieve those goals has been even more confusing.
One of the difficulties with the UN is that it is very difficult to gain agreement from the member states on some common goals. Recently I believe China had some difficulty with supporting the UN peacekeepers in Macedonia because Macedonia has had a position in the past of co-operation with Taiwan.
The U.S. support for the UN has varied over time. The payment of dues by the U.S. to the UN has been a perennial issue. Even though the President of the U.S. may be supportive of the UN in a general sense, Congress sometimes is less so. If we read some of the comments of Senator Helms in that regard, we can see very clearly that one of the reasons many Americans are opposed to supporting the UN and paying the U.S. dues to the UN is simply that the U.S. does not agree with any devolution of the role of the U.S. as a national power or as a superpower and feel that supporting the UN will in some way reduce its power in a global sense. There are member states like the U.S. that are in some ways reflecting what is a pre cold war mentality in a post cold war environment.
I want to speak briefly about the IMF. Many people are critical of the IMF. I think some of the criticisms are legitimate, but by and large a lot of the criticisms I hear are not accurate. The IMF in spite of some of its failures has had some very significant successes. If we go back to 1995 and look at the bailout of Mexico for instance, that is an example where quick action by the IMF and the U.S. and the $40 billion bailout did help prevent a meltdown in Mexico and Latin America that would have played a significant and deleterious role in those economies.
It is questionable whether IMF support has helped in Southeast Asia. Again there were some criticisms of the IMF, both in the Southeast Asia crisis and in the ruble crisis in Russia last fall and late last summer. Many of the criticisms of the IMF have been based on the rather stringent conditions the IMF set on lending to those countries. I would argue that some of those conditions are very reasonable. Some of the conditions for instance in Russia have been that Russia gains a functional payment system, a functional tax system. These are reasonable demands.
The IMF conditions are significant to the debt issue. The debt issue in developing nations is extremely important. There are initiatives to retire the debts of some of the developing nations that are suffering under egregious debt loads at this time and are simply unable to provide the infrastructure they need in the long term in terms of education and health care and at the same time meet these conditions.
The World Bank has undergone some significant reform under Wolfensohn. It is the type of reform that I would like to see. I believe that this type of meeting, this type of initiative is very important.
In closing, in the long term I would like to see more focus on initiatives like microcredit, issues like early childhood intervention in some of these countries, and some of the pre-emptive measures that actually seek to focus on the causes as opposed to dealing with the conflicts once they have come about.