Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to a topic we debated in the House a year ago. At the time, 9,000 people had died and a few thousand people had been displaced. Today, the situation is even more grim: 70,000 people have died and there are more than 1.4 million refugees. In Syria, 4.2 million people have been displaced within the country. These figures are from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The conflict is spreading throughout the region. Syria is becoming a ticking time bomb, and an entire region, which is already very unstable, is at risk of falling into an unending spiral of violence. The number of victims is growing. Jihadists are gradually overtaking the restrained political-military opposition, and a regional political-religious system would certainly not be a good idea.
Groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, which appears to have ties to al Qaeda, or Al-Tali'a, among dozens of other Salafist groups, are growing in power. They come from all over and want to create an Islamic emirate. On the other side, Bashar al-Assad's forces are receiving increased support through the heightened presence of Hezbollah, funded by Iran, which raises concerns about an interfaith war based on the Sunni-Shiite conflict, which would be very detrimental to peace in Syria and in other countries.
This presents a very complicated ethical dilemma for us. The dangers of inaction and the dangers of intervention are uncertain, but in the meantime, people are suffering. We must put these people first when we are deciding whether to act. My colleague from Ottawa Centre already mentioned this, but I think it is worth repeating. The countries surrounding Syria are receiving countless numbers of refugees, but this government is not doing anything and is refusing to expedite the reunification process for Syrian families, as we did in the past for Haiti.
I want to remind the government that the House voted on a resolution to take two simple actions: increase humanitarian aid for refugees and speed up the processing time for family reunification. There should also be an emphasis on providing support to the UN mission. It is important to know that when the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development conducted its study, it learned that the government would not be renewing its contribution to the mission. It is also important to mention that the government did in fact vote in favour of that mission. This government's modus operandi is inaction, not action, as the minister claimed in his speech.
Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey are the countries currently receiving the most refugees. In Turkey alone, four new camps are currently being built. Turkey is even building schools for refugee children. We can all agree that the countries that are welcoming all these refugees are seriously lacking resources, and Canada has a leadership role to play in that regard.
On April 25, Jordan sent a letter to the Security Council. The letter mentioned that the massive influx of refugees was threatening the security and stability of the country, and could also have an impact on international peace and security. The crush of refugees in Lebanon could also destabilize the country at a time when armed conflict already regularly opposes supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime in Tripoli in northern Lebanon, where religious divisions follow conflict lines.
When is this government going to provide more aid as pressure on these countries keeps mounting? These countries need a program for refugees. We have to help them cope with the burden of the Syrian conflict. It is ridiculous that we keeping talking about a conflict without ever actually doing anything. This would be a good way to help the neighbouring countries, and also the Syrians. I just want to point out that the Syrian National Council's main request is to reunite the families.
The government is quite inept at foreign affairs, starting with its inability to get a seat at the United Nations Security Council.
As my colleague already mentioned, this council deals with, manages and tries to resolve these types of crises.
Even worse, my colleague from Ottawa Centre and I asked the minister last week about the fact that Canada would not apply for a seat for fear of a humiliating loss. This government's ineptitude has even made it impossible to apply for a seat. It is important to mention this.
Let us be clear. If Canada truly wanted to show leadership in resolving the Syrian crisis, the government should have known that having a seat at the table was the best way to do it.
Today, John Kerry went to Russia to talk about recent events in Syria. I call that active diplomacy. An NDP government would be on the ground and a member of international decision-making bodies.
I wonder what our Prime Minister and our Minister of Foreign Affairs are doing in the meantime to increase the pressure on Russia and China.
As I have already said in the House, and I am going to repeat it, some meetings have already been held.
The first time that I gave a speech on this crisis, I said that the government was putting its economic relations with powers such as Russia and China ahead of diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations can resolve conflicts.
The minister said that we need a political solution. I would really like to see the minister take his responsibilities seriously and find a political solution to this conflict. That is not at all what we have seen this past year.
We also know that the government has cut funding for Canadian organizations that could have helped because of their expertise in democracy and human rights, for example. Canada could have been a leader in mapping out the transition to democracy in Syria.
Is the government really ready to support democratic development once the conflict in Syria has ended? We sometimes have our doubts.
As I said, organizations like Rights and Democracy and the Global Peace and Security Fund, for example, which advocate for these kinds of principles, have had their programs eliminated. Why? We may well wonder about Canada’s desire to genuinely help Syria return to stability, but above all achieve democracy. For a country that has lived under a dictatorship, it is very important to have the advice of Canadian experts who are recognized worldwide.
This need clearly exists. So why have successive Conservative budgets signed the death warrants for organizations like Rights and Democracy and jeopardized the financial viability of the Global Peace and Security Fund? Why has the government undermined Canada’s capacity to be a leader on the international scene? These questions need to be asked in the House.
The NDP continues to call on the government to prioritize protecting civilians, in co-operation with international organizations on the ground like the United Nations and the Syrian humanitarian organizations.
I reiterate that Canada has to work with the Arab League and the United Nations on peace efforts, emergency humanitarian aid and accelerating the family reunification process for Syrians with family in Canada.
I have to address the situation of women and children in this conflict. As the rhetoric surrounding the use of chemical weapons in Syria heats up, the systematic use of sexual violence as a tactic of war is generating relatively little concern, if any. There are organizations collecting data about the sexual assaults being perpetrated in Syria. Unfortunately, a number of international human rights NGOs report that cases of rape are constantly being reported in the refugee camps. Senior representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that the Syrian conflict was bringing with it a large number of gender-based crimes, as well as the intentional victimization of women and children.
It is therefore extremely important to point out that there is a humanitarian crisis and there are glaring needs.
We are talking about women who are being raped. We do not have to be familiar with these individuals’ culture to know how rape can destroy the soul of a community and a culture. That is precisely the reason why sexual violence is used as a weapon of war.
The reports tell us that the conflict is getting worse. Rape and sexual violence are being used as weapons of war to intimidate adversaries in the conflict, in order to destroy dignity, identity and the social fabric, and in fact to suppress any kind of challenge.
Some of the women questioned by the NGOs have reported rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by the pro-government forces when homes are searched, after arrests at checkpoints, and when women are in detention.
My colleague from Ottawa Centre read the moving testimony of a woman who testified as an individual before the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and we have seen how out of control the situation has become. Something has got to be done.
Some accounts report crimes of this kind committed by armed anti-government groups. Many of the people questioned also talked about the risk of women being abducted by all of the parties to the conflict to get information that could be traded for the release of certain prisoners.
Some women who appeared before the International Federation for Human Rights said that most of them were subsequently excluded. According to several women and organizations offering support services, families sometimes force rape survivors to marry in order to save the family's honour.
The risks the survivors run of being stigmatized and rejected impose a culture of silence that prevents women from reporting the sex crimes they have suffered. Consequently, many of those who need medical and psychosocial support unfortunately do not have access to it. I mentioned in my previous speech that this was a need and that the refugees in the Syrian camps were already desperately lacking support a year ago.
The situation is not getting any better, and it is really time the Conservatives decided to act. We must ensure that adequate funding follows in order to provide front-line services for the refugees’ safety and physical and mental health. Post-conflict psychosocial problems tend to be long-lasting, and trauma is transmitted from the mother to the children in the family.
The conflict must therefore be resolved, but provision must also be made for a long-term solution. The mass rape of women as a weapon of war and the trauma the children have suffered are among the problems needing a long-term solution. We have a duty to provide for the protection of refugees, and women and children alone account for 50% of those refugees.
A UNICEF report entitled Syria's Children: A lost generation? describes the conflict's direct impact on the country's children, who have been traumatized by seeing members of their families raped and killed before their very eyes. They are terrified by the sounds and scenes of conflict. A simple noise can suddenly make them relive a bombing. Diseases of the skin and respiratory tract are on the rise, and one school in five has been destroyed or damaged or is being used to house displaced families.
Children run the greatest risk of having their rights violated. They are being mutilated, killed, orphaned or sexually assaulted by rival factions. They are frequently seized by rebel forces at checkpoints and forced into combat.
This state of affairs greatly saddens me. Talking about it today makes me realize how important it is for us to discuss it and to look at measures taken by the government.
This is a cry of hope for Syrians. The government must act and use what little international weight it has left to try to put pressure on Syria or China.
We need to find a political solution to end this crisis. That is what the minister said.
I am asking him and the Prime Minister to please do something. We need to stop watching this situation fester and worsen. Something needs to be done.
The long-term consequences are potentially disastrous for a region that is already extremely unstable. It is no longer a question of simply intervening for the children. Practically an entire generation will be traumatized and shattered. After the conflict—and I hope that day is coming—we will need to think about those children and the help they will need. I am begging the government to stop cuts to organizations, such as Rights and Democracy, that exist for that purpose and work for peace and security. Honestly, given the Conservative government's record, how can we believe that it really wants to help?
There is a lot of bad news coming out of Syria: a number of other countries are intervening in the conflict, there are allegations of the use of chemical weapons and UN peacekeepers have been kidnapped. The conflict seems to have reached a point of no return, and it could spill over the borders and become a regional conflict. As the minister said, it is crucial to find a political solution to this conflict so that a long-term peace process can be implemented with the help of the UN.
Today, I received calls and emails from people asking me to mention the following three points. First, they want their government to take a key role on the international stage to determine a peace process for Syria. Second, they want their government to increase humanitarian aid and support for refugees. Third, they want their government to help reunite families of Syrian-born Canadians.
