Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. If you permit me, I'll begin by thanking your subcommittee for your continued engagement with the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq, specifically the mass atrocities being perpetrated by government forces and non-state actors such as Daesh. I'm

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, that's right, sir. To clarify, the “self-supporting” in Syria simply means that we don't, obviously, have a link to the government, and have to arrange for our own logistical and security measures. The CIJA budget in the current calendar year is approximately 7 million euro

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It certainly is the case. We've been out to see some of the mass graves in Nineveh that are now under Kurdistan regional government control. They are not in good shape. But a partner organization of which we think very highly, ICMP, the International Commission on Missing Persons

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. A number of countries, in particular the European Union, which of course is not a country, and indeed Canada have shown some tentative support for the idea. The missing link at the present time is to secure the buy-in from the central government in Baghdad, because the court

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The human rights advocacy community obviously has done a tremendous service in bringing the suffering of the Yazidis in particular to the attention of a wider world. That includes decision-makers like you, of course, on the subcommittee. Not to compare the suffering, but it's imp

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I suggested in the opening brief, that's 90% of the work in building the case file, insofar as we are focused on high- and highest-level perpetrators. With the Syrian regime's military, political, and security intelligence structures, establishing the linkages between the high

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Realistically the scale of perpetration in Syria and Iraq is such that a minute fraction of perpetrators are ever going to be brought before a criminal court or tribunal. Ultimately alternative justice mechanisms of the sort to which you're referring are going to have to be put i

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In fact, in the current fiscal year plus an additional six months, so over an 18-month period, Canada's given us $3.3 million. It's divided between Syria and Iraq. It comes through different funding streams although we tend to see it as effectively one war. That's just the way th

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly I would reiterate, ma'am, that what makes the CIJA unique is that it's the first time a private body, albeit non-profit, has undertaken international criminal investigations. I'm a career international criminal investigator. I've been doing this for 20 years now. I sta

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The short answer is yes. This is what we're trying to do in northern Iraq at the present time. I would also add that at the present time we don't support Iraqi prosecutorial authorities. There are two reasons for that. One is that prosecutions in Iraq at the present time, whe

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely. One of our better partners.... Is it Global Affairs Canada now? I've lived abroad for many years, and I apologize, I'm not always up to date on the latest name changes. Global Affairs Canada is one of our better partners, in fact as good as any, on a par with the Unit

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The Syrian regime names database was set up, or we started the process of setting that up, about two years ago. It's always been funded by Germany, and it's run outside of our headquarters. It was initially run in Sofia, Bulgaria. For security reasons I won't say where it is now,

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  To be honest, it's not going to be easy. I worked as a legal adviser quite a few years ago in Baghdad during the trial of Saddam and the other senior Baathist officials. To put it in layman's terms, from a due process point of view the whole thing was a God-awful mess, and for my

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Indeed.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It doesn't make any difference to us. From a criminal investigative point of view, we already operate in that area with the support of the Kurdistan regional forces. It's pretty safe in there compared with Syria or further south, in Mosul. It's like Parliament Hill.