Foreign Affairs committee  -based NGO, and for more than 15 years we've increased the inclusion of women in peace and security processes around the world. We work on current conflicts, including in Sudan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, Syria, Afghanistan, and others. We work with policy-makers in the United States and other governments and at NATO, the United Nations, and elsewhere around the world. We're specialists on national action plans.

Foreign Affairs committee  In too many cases, token women are appointed without any meaningful engagement. This was the case in the Myanmar peace process, where two women were appointed who did not have the force of a movement behind them to influence the talks. Yet women's organizations are consistently underfunded, under-resourced, and operating at great personal risks.

Foreign Affairs committee  Together they are developing a national strategy to create a culture of peace in Colombia and present their ideas to the government. In Myanmar, Oxfam supports the women's initiative network for peace, which brings together women's organizations from diverse ethnic groups to support women's engagement in peace processes. In Afghanistan, our project trains both men and women on the importance of women's participation in society and on ways for women to access the formal justice system.

Business of Supply  There have been calls to boycott in the past. There was a boycott against South Africa during apartheid. There was one against Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, during the military junta. France called for a boycott against Mexico when Florence Cassez was kidnapped. There was also a boycott against California grapes.

Human Smuggling  To make matters worse, human smugglers exploit these situations with no regard for human life. The recent deaths of boat migrants from Africa and the plight of Rohingyas from Myanmar are just a few examples of people being exploited. It is important for the international community to raise its voice by telling governments like that in Myanmar in no uncertain terms that its treatment of Rohingyas is unacceptable as well as by targeting human smugglers, who must be punished as murderers of innocent people.

Foreign Affairs committee  You realize that you, Liberia, and Myanmar are the three countries in the world that have not gone metric.

International Trade committee  I simply want to know if the purpose of this trip is similar to the trade mission and delegation you took last year to Laos and Myanmar and to other Asian countries?

Port State Measures Agreement Implementation Act  The port state measures agreement is the first global treaty focused specifically on the problem of illegally, unreported and unregulated fishing. To date, the European Union, Norway, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar have already ratified the port state measures agreement. The United States has introduced legislation, similar to Canada, in an effort to ratify the PSMA. As I indicated, in order for it to take effect internationally, it requires ratification by 25 states.

Foreign Affairs committee  Across the youth projects that Cuso supports in countries such as Nigeria, Benin, Peru, Bolivia and Myanmar, we actively work with our partners to put children and young people at the centre of service development and to support and encourage adult decision-makers to listen to and respect their voices.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The courts in Burma say that the application mechanism for rape cases is that as soon as you are raped, you need to go to the women and children's affairs of Myanmar. They operate in the city area, but people are raped in the rural areas. Only the organizations that are really working with civil society on the ground can help take care of this. In another case in northern Shan State, in Kutkai, a girl was gang-raped.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Okay. Is the women's organization that you lead pan-Myanmar, pan-Burma? Is it in every location, or is it focused in one state?

Foreign Affairs committee  There is increasing resistance, and that is a concern. The resistance emerges usually in Southeast Asia, so it's the Mekong Delta, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand—that area. We are investing specifically there. We have a special program of $100 million that is invested in the prevention of drug resistance because you need to strengthen the local authorities to detect and address that.

Natural Resources committee  First, in more than 30 countries, payments made on extractive projects determine fiscal transfers from the national to subnational governments. Local governments in Mongolia, Myanmar, the DRC, Ghana, the Philippines, and lndonesia each collect a share of oil, gas, or mineral revenues on their land, as prescribed by formulas. Project-level disclosure is essential for helping these local governments plan their budgets, but it can also mitigate violent conflict in resource-rich regions.

Coastal Fisheries Protection Act  We are also pleased to hear that the bill will have the government endorse a UN position, which is long overdue. As we know, the European Union, Norway, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have already ratified the port state measures agreement, and we are going to do the same. However, I am also hoping that our government will now persuade other countries to join this agreement.

Foreign Affairs committee  I want to follow up on my other question in regard to Burma—Myanmar—and the Rohingya minority group there. I had one other question, which I think we've discussed before, about how your office deals with the whole issue around aboriginal and first nations groups and indigenous peoples.