Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think there is a role for sure. The refugees who are returning are coming back to basically nothing. There could be a small city or two in the south where they could be brought. I don't know what the longer-term plan is, but I know the UNHCR has an envoy for Somalia, and they'r

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With regard to the child soldier situation and rehabilitation, when I was there, the African Union Mission commissioned research, and I'll try and dig that up for you. They spoke to the kids who came back and tried to come up with some recommendations and communication strategies

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the diaspora, particularly the Canadian diaspora, has been connected to the country and has been helping, and I know you all hear about the remittances. Somalia survived without a state for the last 30 years mainly because the diaspora people have been sending money back.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That is the million-dollar question: how do you rebuild the state apparatus and the state institutions? They are fragmented, and rightly so. Post-independence states in many parts of Africa and particularly in Somalia were not viable enough to cater to the needs of the people. Th

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Absolutely there is a role. There is a small-scale attempt at this. There is a centre in Baidoa. Baidoa is a southern city. The UN's demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration, DDR, program has built a centre in which they're trying to.... There are kids who might have join

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Okay. One other thing I want to highlight is the convoluted processes that are supposedly the justice frameworks at play and operationalized in Somalia. With the complexity around the total collapse of the state, you now have sharia frameworks being operationalized; the Somali

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you. Let me also say thank you very much to the honourable members of this committee for inviting me to speak about this today. I am glad that Laetitia went first, because there is much more detail and specificity to her talk. I am going to take you through a bit to emphas

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you.