Mr. Speaker, the worst mass slaughter of civilians since World War II continues unabated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One thousand innocent people are dying every single day, adding to the more than seven million who have perished in the last decade. The international community says “never again” to mass murder, yet blithely ignores Congo's agony.
Despite Canada's being the leading driver of the responsibility to protect, our government's response has been pathetic.
I call on our government to provide resources for the new 3,000-person increase in peacekeeping forces, to facilitate a multilateral response to dismantle the ex-Interahamwe groups, and to encourage a Congolese-led grassroots conflict resolution process to resolve long-standing grievances over land and resources.
We cannot continue to stand by in cowardice and ignorance as mass murder continues. We must back up our responsibility to protect with an obligation to act.