Ève Péclet

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, March 12th, 2015]

Be careful. You are talking too long. The minister is going to tell you to stop talking. On Afghanistan, do not forget.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, March 12th, 2015]

With regard to Pre-Removal Risk Assessments (PRRAs) filed by individuals subject to removal from Canada, for each year from 2011: (a) how many PRRAs were submitted; (b) how many were approved; (c) how many were denied; (d) of those denied, how many were on the grounds of (i) posing a danger to the public of Canada, (ii) posing a danger to the security of Canada, (iii) administrative reasons, (iv) other reasons; (e) what were the countries of return of the persons applying for PRRAs, both approved and denied; (f) how many PRRA applicants (i) were subject to an extradition order, (ii) were advancing a refugee claim, (iii) had a PRRA rejected and did not leave Canada; and (g) what are the titles of employees at Citizenship and Immigration Canada responsible for deciding the outcomes of PRRAs?

[Ethics, March 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister cannot weasel out of it that easily. Either he told his chief of staff and his secretary to direct the Minister of Public Works to give preferential treatment to a good friend of the Conservatives, or senior officials in his political office were scheming with the Minister of Public Works behind his back.

What is the Prime Minister's explanation? Did he intervene on behalf of a friend of the Conservatives, or has he lost control of his political staff? It has to be one or the other.

[Ethics, March 11th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the ethics commissioner found that the former human resources minister circumvented the rules to give preferential treatment to a group in Markham. Now that the cat is out of the bag, the Prime Minister is trying to distance himself from the whole thing, but he is not fooling anyone.

When she approved the funding in defiance of all the rules, Nigel Wright was holding her hand, and the Prime Minister's current chief of staff was probably the one who handed her the pen.

How can the Prime Minister continue to deny his involvement in this blatant case of favouritism?

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Saint-Lambert for being here because I think she and I are the only ones asking questions. I would therefore like to thank her. I find it unfortunate that the government did not want to rise this evening to speak about an issue that I feel is very important.

With that, the question that I want to ask my colleague is the same one I have asked all of the members. One of the major problems in the Democratic Republic of Congo is safety, of course; however, there is also the problem of impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes.

What role does the member see Canada playing in putting an end to this impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo and finally bringing justice to rape victims?

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for that very pertinent question.

I mentioned four very important factors for victims of rape. There is more than just medical assistance. My colleague from Ottawa Centre spoke about Dr. Mukwege, who is doing excellent work on the ground. In fact, these women are often victims of atrocities that I cannot even repeat in the House because they are so horrible. There are also drugs. I often speak about the diseases that are transmitted, such as HIV. It is very important that these women, these victims of rape, have access to drugs.

Legal aid is also quite important because these women are often left to fend for themselves in a justice system that is very repressive and refuses outright to listen to them. Legal aid is thus very important.

However, the most important thing we can provide these women is psychological support so they can heal and become members of their community once again.

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her question. I know she cares a great deal about this serious problem.

I talked about that briefly in my speech. Unfortunately, I had only 10 minutes to talk about a very serious global problem. I would therefore simply like to say that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the courts do not have the resources they need, and those involved in the justice system do not have proper training. Furthermore, people from civil society and soldiers are judged by military tribunals. Thus, there is a serious problem with impunity.

We are talking about financial resources, but also about training and action in terms of general reform. In fact, at this time, senior officers cannot be brought to justice by a lower ranking officer, for example. Thus, there are a lot of problems with the justice system.

This is very important, not only to put an end to the violence, but also to allow women and communities that have been broken by this sexual violence to begin to find closure and heal from these atrocities. Giving these individuals access to justice and doing them justice is a very important form of support to help them heal.

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to rise in this House to talk about a subject as important as the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The victims of armed conflict these days are civilians, much more often than soldiers. Unfortunately, they are mainly women and children. Atrocities of this kind are committed for a number of reasons, such as to terrorize a population, break up families and destroy communities. It is extremely difficult for me to talk about this subject, because nothing can justify the actions being committed at this time in many countries and many conflict zones, but more particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rape can be used as a weapon of war to transmit HIV to women in a community. These direct attacks on the fundamental rights of women are being used systematically for military or political purposes.

I would like to quote a few figures taken from a United Nations report on the prevention of genocide. In Rwanda in 1994, for example, from 100,000 to 250,000 women were raped during the three months of the genocide. Moreover, United Nations agencies estimate that over 60,000 women were raped during the civil war in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002; over 40,000 in Liberia from 1989 to 2003; up to 60,000 in the former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1995; and at least 200,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998. That shows us the scale and extent of the problem since 1990.

Rape is now recognized as a crime against humanity under international law. In 1992, because of the numerous rapes of women in the former Yugoslavia, the matter came to the attention of the United Nations Security Council. On December 18, 1992, the council declared that the organized and systematic mass detention and rape of women, particularly Muslim women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, constituted an international crime that could not be ignored.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia subsequently included rape among crimes against humanity, on the same basis as other crimes such as torture and extermination. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda also declared that rape constituted a war crime and a crime against humanity. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, in force since July 2002, includes rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity among crimes against humanity, when committed in a broad or systematic way.

The United Nations Security Council has addressed the question of sexual violence a number of times, specifically in ten or so of its resolutions. For example, Resolution 1325 of 2000 calls upon all parties to armed conflict to fully respect international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, as civilians, and to incorporate in their legislation policies and procedures to protect women from gender-based crimes, such as rape and sexual assault. Other resolutions include Resolution 1820, adopted in 2008; resolutions 1888 and 1889 of 2009; Resolution 1960 of 2010; and resolutions 2106 and 2122 of 2013. The Security Council has ruled on the use of rape as a weapon of war on many occasions, and prohibits this kind of crime.

More recently, for example, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network provided a horrifying picture of the situation in Syria and the use of rape as a weapon of war in its report entitled “Violence against Women, Bleeding Wound in the Syrian Conflict”:

In 2013, the SNHR estimates that the number of rapes of women approximately reaches 6000...

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, over 200,000 women and children have been raped since 1998. The actual number is probably much higher because many of these women do not return to their communities for fear of being marginalized or excluded.

Many of these rapes and crimes against women and children are never reported because the victims are socially excluded.

In November and December of 2012, during their occupation of Goma, M23 fighters raped at least 36 women and children. All of these numbers represent only the cases that were reported to the authorities.

For example, during the most recent attack on the village of Karete on the night of July 2 to 3, 2013, fighters raped at least 25 women. The attacks continue, and the number of women who have been raped grows every time.

The DRC is still plagued by grievous problems, such as impunity. I asked my colleagues a number of questions about this. In a June 2014 report, Human Rights Watch said that despite the number of arrests and trials, the vast majority of the people who commit these crimes are never punished. Impunity is rampant. It is a systematic problem in the justice system because the fact is that senior officers are untouchable in military tribunals, where most of these cases are tried.

The same report states:

Widespread sexual violence in eastern Congo will not end until the perpetrators, including leaders bearing command responsibility, are brought to justice.

It goes on to say:

The justice system in Congo is beset by corruption, limited capacity, and political interference. Magistrates often lack proper training and basic equipment to conduct thorough investigations.

Human Rights Watch says that the Democratic Republic of Congo needs a new justice system to put an end to impunity.

I would like to emphasize recommendation 5 in the report, which deals with the importance of this aspect. It says that Canada must play a strong role in the reform of the justice system that is needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and that training should be an integral part of the help provided by Canada.

The consequences of rape and sexual violence against women are another problem. The consequences are countless because each victim reacts differently. These women are in need of not only drugs, but also psychological, medical and legal help.

These four aspects have to be the main pillars of the help that Canada provides to women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The government keeps refusing to fund initiatives to help women make a reproductive choice. I do not believe that the government has ever indicated that it would go back on this position when it comes to medical and psychological services.

The Conservatives voted against the bill introduced by my colleague, the international development critic, which sought to help developing countries access drugs as quickly as possible to treat HIV, another problem I raised at the beginning of my speech.

Unfortunately, they also voted against the bill on conflict minerals introduced by my colleague from Ottawa Centre. He explained the situation quite well: those who commit these systematic rapes are funded directly by natural resource development.

A number of major, glaring problems remain, and they should be the focus of Canada's measures, if Canada truly wants to put an end to sexual violence against women not only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also in all conflict zones.

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, one of the issues often raised by non-governmental organizations on the ground is the legal impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of these crimes. Often, the senior officials and the commanders responsible are basically untouchable. Most of the cases brought to court are never tried. These crimes actually remain unpunished.

Where does my hon. colleague see Canada in terms of our contribution to reforming the justice system and putting an end to this impunity?

[Committees of the House, March 10th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, many reports deal with the greater systemic problem of impunity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In most of the cases that go before the courts, the people who have been arrested unfortunately go unpunished. If we look at the trial process, some of these criminals are unfortunately not brought to justice and are not punished.

I would like to read a finding from the Humans Rights Watch report, which states:

Widespread sexual violence in eastern Congo will not end until the perpetrators, including leaders bearing command responsibility, are brought to justice.

It goes on to say that a new judicial mechanism is needed in the Democratic Republic of Congo to end the impunity.

How does my hon. colleague think that Canada can play a meaningful role with respect to this important change that must be made in the Democratic Republic of Congo?