Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your courtesy in inviting me here today.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly on the extractive industry side we did see evidence of large marble and other extractive locations, mining locations, being operated by members of the Rajapaksa family. The notion that this was an open process where there could be competing bids and all that sort of stuff didn't strike us as very likely under the circumstance.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Mr. Sweet, I was told when I was there that a part of what happened when people were white-vanned—and this was with respect to both males and females—was that of the various indignities they had to face, rape was an ongoing process and it wasn't just an ongoing process for the women.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If I may add this, one of the phenomena we were briefed on was that young men 15 or 16 years of age who wanted to protect their mothers could not, and thus developed a sense of rage, anger, and impotence. Normally, national security measures are employed for the purpose of keeping uprisings that are violent or unlawful from happening.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We saw two things in that respect. We certainly saw the notion of displaced persons being held in camps for long periods of time, not being allowed to go back to what was their family land or farm or their land adjacent to the fishery. Secondly, the Indian government had invested in some public housing to be built in the north, but in order to get access to that the authorities were demanding that the locals sign away any rights they might have to their own land or farm in order to be put on a waiting list for a construction process that was many thousands of units behind what was necessary to meet the need.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Let me say this in support of the Americans. In my time there no one was more intensely outspoken than Her Excellency the American ambassador on many of the issue about which we care. There were decisions taken by the Americans to cut back some of their military aid because they were unhappy with the lack of Sri Lankan performance on some of these human rights issues.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It's a very, very serious question, and one to which I do not have the answer. I worry that the combination of a secretary-general who does not seem to want to draw any of these lines in any way, shape, or form, and a chair in office who will not be an enthusiastic supporter of this kind of engagement, could be quite toxic.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We asked to see the rehabilitation camps. We were not given permission to do so. We wanted to see what was going on in the rehabilitation camps. We wanted to understand what rehabilitation meant. In our negotiations with the Sri Lankan administration about where I could go and with whom I could meet that was not an option that was deemed appropriate by them for reasons of national security.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have a country in which 47 members of the existing presidential family hold positions of authority in judicial, corporate, central banking, transportation, and other critical parts of infrastructure. That contributes to the culture of impunity very directly. We have a country now in which the independence of the judiciary has been dismissed as essentially a joke.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Canada has been very, very active, as you will know, at the United Nations Human Rights Council in terms of campaigning for various resolutions, usually proposed by the Americans, that have been getting tougher and tougher upon the Sri Lankans. The notion that Canada would continue to campaign in other fora for that to transpire in terms of a reference by the Security Council to the ICC I think is something that should be looked at with immense interest and genuine commitment.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very good question. Part of what the Canadian government received in some criticism about having our Prime Minister not attend.... We didn't boycott the conference. We sent a very distinguished colleague of yours, a member of Parliament and parliamentary secretary, who did a very good job, but part of the argument was that if you're there, you can raise these issues.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  When I was in Sri Lanka I saw that the army has become the dominant economic force in the north. So for example, our little Canadian delegation flew from Colombo to Jaffna, and the only place you can land is in the middle of an armed forces base. When we got out of the aircraft, despite the agreement that we would then meet with the high command and get a detailed briefing on security, we were informed that the high command wished us to go to a new hotel they had just opened.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are many dynastic family-based governments around the world. In some parts of the world that's the way in which politics is done. I don't pass judgment on that. That's beyond my remit. But the notion that there is less and less room for dissidence, for journalists who disagree, even for members of the military who want to discuss what transpired is now very apparent.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, India is a keystone player in that part of the world. It's the hegemonic power, number one; second, it has taken a very constructive interest in the rights of the Tamil minority that is largely concentrated in Jaffna. Members may be aware of the fact that just before the Commonwealth conference, there were elections for the northern council in Jaffna where the Tamil population, Tamil National Alliance, did very well, winning a large majority of the members on that council.