Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As my colleague said, it is crucial that the most highly ranking members of the military or political hierarchy be held responsible. That's definite. We can't attack the 15-year-old child soldier who finds himself in a general climate of violence and impunity. She was talking a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What do we do? We do a lot.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Your comment on your experience in Saudi Arabia is quite appalling. Talking about military authorities, I recently saw a documentary entitled Weapon of War, which concerned the issue of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It follows the story of Captain Basim

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, the thing with numbers, especially in the context of where there's a conflict.... I'm going to switch back to French. The question of numbers is a very thorny and often highly contested question. First of all, the numbers seem enormous, but they in fact don't actually re

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No, that's fine.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  What was your second question?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Honour crimes, in times of peace as in times of war, fall into the broad category of sexual violence against women. Honour crimes also belong to the category of sexual mutilation that some women suffer in Central America, Africa and elsewhere. We're also talking about forced marr

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The UN is in a bit of a delicate place. It is difficult to accuse the person who did the crime because it's the national army--the two contributing countries--that has to process the person with the allegations against him of sexual violence. When a country deploys their milita

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I know less about Afghanistan than about Africa.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  In fact, there are agreements between the UN, the host country and the country that provides troops. Some immunity prevails during peace missions, in the field. Responsibility for prosecuting military personnel who are subject to allegations falls on the country. How are most cas

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, committee members, good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be with you today to talk to you about sexual assault on women and children during peacekeeping operations in fragile states and in situations of conflict. In the first part of my 10-minute testimo