Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Resources are currently available. A specialized group has done some chronological mapping of the violent incidents and mining resources in North and South Kivu. It would be quite easy to provide you with the web link. A number of investigations have been conducted on that subject.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Studies conducted at the international level have shown that the Congo is currently lacking 2,000 judges and magistrates. However, even when the government recently appointed some—I believe it appointed 1,000 judges—they did not go to the area. They didn't have the resources to do so and were not paid on site.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That question is important and quite easy to answer. The Canadian government doesn't give any money to the Congolese government regarding sexual violence. The purpose of the vast majority of known projects is to provide care through the international agencies of the UN, three in particular: the UN Population Fund (UNFPA); the bureau of MONUSCO, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which deals with human rights issues; and UNICEF.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Very briefly, after attending the elections, visiting the places and reading the reports that the observer groups were starting to prepare, I saw that, after the results were disclosed last Friday, the electoral commission was unable to assure the population or the international community.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'll add a few words. There is no connection between sexual violence and the mining industry and industrialists on the ground. In eastern Congo, for example, there is a large mining company called Banro. To date, no connection has ever been made between Banro and sexual violence.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As for MONUSCO's capabilities, it can be said that there have been significant improvements in security, particularly since offices, battalions and mobile groups have been going around to the villages. That has been the case for a year and a half or two years. People acknowledge that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Considering the scope of the problem and the number of victims, that isn't much. You have to put yourself in the Congolese context. Mr. Bélanger, who went to Congo, could talk about that: the health system exists only on paper. The hospitals and health centres have nothing. In the context of the Canadian, Belgian and American projects, in particular, we first provided those women with drugs and care.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  First, let me comment on your initial remark. Senators travelled to Congo on one occasion, when that investigation was conducted into public development aid in Africa, and they came back safe and sound. The parliamentary group from Great Britain, which has now been in existence since 1994, goes there every year.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I imagine you've previously discussed this issue. Rape as a weapon of war proved to be extraordinarily effective in the first war, in 1996, around Bucavu, where the villages resisted. Villages were visited and there were mass rapes. People of all ages were raped, which both demoralized and broke down the structure of the communities.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We shouldn't say that there hasn't been any progress or change, particularly with regard to impunity. We wouldn't have seen that five years ago; it wasn't possible for a military member to be treated, to be charged with rape. In some areas even today, a military member will never be charged with rape, and that's the way it is.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Good afternoon. Thank you for having me. I must congratulate the members of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights on their ongoing interest in the issue of sexual violence, especially in the Congo. In my presentation, I will talk about the actions taken to fight against massive human rights violations, the success of those actions, the limits we see today and a few suggestions for Canada.

Foreign Affairs committee  Most of them.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. When I talk about the governments of the Congo, I'm talking about the central government and the provincial governments that have a mining branch that is also very active. In the case of Anvil Mining, if an intervention by the Canadian government contradicted the military court judgment, the Congo would no doubt have absolutely opposed it or would have been angered.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I said that Canada's reputation was jeopardized. Yesterday, Canada was called neocolonial in a Kinshasa newspaper. I'll read you the headline: “Consequence of the mining contract reviews, Kinshasa taken hostage: Paris Club wants to impose unconscionable contracts.” Then more than one article focused on the situation, and this appeared: How can Canada and the United States in the Club of Rome bring this kind of pressure, take the Congo hostage, because they are dissatisfied with the internal settlement between the government and the company?

Foreign Affairs committee  There had been regular contact with all ambassadors posted to the Congo since 1997, all trade delegates, the people from the National Contact Point, the people from Foreign Affairs. I attended at least four meetings with representatives of the various departments and representatives of some of those companies.