Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade

HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6

Comité permanent des affaires étrangères et du commerce international

For immediate release

Ottawa, June 13, 2003 -The House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade today tabled a report on HIV/AIDS and the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Sub-Saharan Africa and warned that entire societies are at risk. The report was prepared by the Sub-Committee on Human Rights and International Development and includes recommendations to the Canadian government to take the lead in addressing both the urgent and immediate humanitarian crises and longer term threats to human security in the region.

The report, organized around witness testimony and documentary evidence – with Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as case studies - shows that many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing the most severe crisis in their history: the conjunction of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, famine, environmental degradation, endemic poverty, and repressive or weak governance structures and policies is threatening entire societies. In addition, political violence and armed conflicts – such as the “African World War” in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where over 3 million have been killed in the last four years – continue to destroy the lives of millions and create conditions in which killing fields ensue, diseases flourish, poverty and hunger are widespread, democracy and the rule of law are repressed, and there are widespread violations of human rights.

The Committee warned that, unless there is a massive and concerted effort by the international community together with African leaders to address both the immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term root causes and threats to human security, the lives of millions more will be lost, and prospects for long-term development will evaporate. In the words of Sub-Committee Chair Irwin Cotler, “An entire continent is at risk”.

The Committee believes that international alarm bells must be sounded; that Canada can and must play a leading role in resolving these urgent humanitarian crises in sub-Saharan Africa; that it must make sub-Saharan Africa an even greater priority in its foreign policy; that it must put the urgently needed resources into each of the three dimensions of Canadian foreign policy – diplomacy, defence and development; and that it must develop and implement an integrated, overall human security policy towards sub-Saharan Africa.

For further information, please contact: Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (613) 996-1540 Electronic version can be found on the Committee’s website at: /CommitteeBusiness/ReportsResponses.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=37&Ses=2"1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4">