Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for York Centre for putting the motion before the House so we have a chance to discuss the issue going on in both Iran and Sudan.
The NDP has been extremely concerned about l would call the supreme humanitarian crisis occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.
We have also voiced our concerns about the situation in Iran, the flagrant abuse of human rights, the crackdown of people's freedoms and the Iranian president's anti-semantic outbursts. The lack of a resolution in the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian who was killed at the hands of the Iranian authorities, is something we should all be seized with as well as the growing concern about the country's possible attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
Sudan and Iran pose two very different challenges to the international community. In the course of the debate, I hope the members of the House will develop an understanding of how to approach these two different cases.
I will start off with my comments on Sudan and Darfur.
The situation is a humanitarian crisis. Gerry Caplan has called it a genocide in slow motion. Pointing fingers at the inaction of others does not justify ours. That is why it is a valid proposition to look at divestment. It is not good enough for us to point to other nation states until we have dealt with our own backyard. That is why I think divestment is a plausible policy option for us to look at.
Others have mentioned the case of South Africa. I know members are aware of the history of what happened in South Africa vis-à-vis divestment and boycott.
Why should we be seized with the issue? Estimates show that about 450,000 people have been murdered or killed due to violence in Darfur and millions displaced, raped. There is destruction and ethnic cleansing with total impugnity.
I will describe our party's proposition with regard to the situation in Darfur.
What is of paramount importance, and what I would hope the government would be more able to support, is resolution 1769. As we know, this is the UN peacekeeping mission, a hybrid mission, which is still lacking resources and has had difficulties in getting the cooperation of the regime in Sudan. However, it needs resources, resources that we have.
We also believe we should invest in long term development of civil society in the peace process in Darfur. We believe we should divest all Canadian investment from Sudan. As was mentioned by my colleague from the Bloc, due to a motion of the NDP at the foreign affairs committee, we will study this issue in more detail. We look forward to that important study.
New Democrats believe Canada must take a leadership role in Darfur. We know resolutions in and of themselves do not protect vulnerable citizens, but peacekeeping actions and multilateral actions do. We believe Canada must provide personnel and resources to support the UN's vitally important mission. We have a clear chapter 7 mandate to protect civilians. We have the consent in words, and I mentioned the challenges of Sudan, and we have had four years of violence and devastation behind us. Doing nothing is not an option.
Canada talks about its role in being a global leader. We believe that looking at divestment as a way of effecting change in Sudan is one of the ways we can lead. As I mentioned, supporting the UN peacekeeping mission 1769 is another as is supporting civil society, peace efforts and peace building in Sudan. Sadly, we have not seen that commitment from the government.
I do not think most Canadians are aware that we have the resources to support the three things I just mentioned: the divestment, which we will be studying; the support to the peacekeeping mission; and the support to civil society and peace building.
Very recently I met with one of my constituents, who is in Darfur right now. He is a Somalian Canadian working under the UN auspices in Darfur. He will meet with local leaders in villages to see that when a peace agreement is reached, we will be able to carry it out.
When peace agreements come together, one of the problems we have had is often they are only understood at the top and not by communities and the grassroots. This has to be put on the table and understood. If we do not build capacity in peace building now, then any peace agreement reached in the coming months or next year might be for naught because we do not have the capacity on the ground to ensure it is followed.
With regard to Darfur, we should also be aware that when we talk about divestment, we must address direct and indirect investment. Corporations like Total, an energy company, have Canadian interests and shares and they sit on the boards. This should be put on the table.
The government has said in the case of Burma that we can only put in special economic measures for investment in the future and we cannot look at existing or past investments. That is not the case. If the government has the will, it can deal with existing investment in the case of Darfur and also Burma.
I mention that because as legislators we have to understand what our policy options are. We need to understand that Canada can, if it has the will, elicit special economic measures that will deal with existing investments in Sudan and Darfur, both direct and indirect Canadian investments.
Hopefully, the foreign affairs committee will get a better understanding as to the scope of Canadian investment, which is why the study is being done. Then we must do more than study; we must act. To do this, we must understand that indirect investment is as pertinent as direct investment.
In the case of Burma, some have estimated that there are up to $1.2 billion in Canadian pension plan investments presently in Burma. When we have asked department officials if they are aware of that, they have said that the Special Economic Measures Act does not pertain to indirect investment. This motion is extremely important to understand. What we do in our actions has to be indepth. We cannot simply pass a motion for future investments. It has to deal with existing investments and, indeed, investments in the future.
I want to turn to other measures that can be taken by the government.
Recently the International Criminal Court successfully charged and carried out actions on two people who were involved in humanitarian crimes in Sudan. It is important to underline that. For the charges to be followed through, they had to go through the Security Council. In the past both the United States and China have been a problem and a block at the Security Council.
With the issue of Darfur and Sudan, something magical happened. For the first time in the case of the United States, it supported and recognized the ICC. China abstained, which is the best we will get from China on the ICC. In the end, the rule of law was brought forward. Right now the ICC needs to follow up, do its job and bring those perpetrators to justice so we can see that international justice can be done, not only seem to be done.
The NDP looks forward to this debate and to opening up the policy options for the government to take more action both in Darfur and Iran.