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Results: 91 - 105 of 326
View Garnett Genuis Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is quite striking that we have a case of Canadian children detained abroad whose captors wish to release them, but the Government of Canada is not putting in place the conditions to facilitate that release. Mr. Champ made the observation that this is as if all that was required for the two Michaels to be released was for us to go and pick them up and we failed to do that.
Mr. Champ, I think that in some ways it's worse than that. It's as if, having received the offer, we had gone and picked up one of the Michaels and left the other behind, because Canada did launch an operation to bring one person out of northern Syria and then inexplicably said they couldn't do any more.
I would like to ask specifically for your reactions, Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Champ, to the testimony of the previous foreign affairs minister. I raised these issues with Minister Champagne on November 24 before this committee. I asked him why it was possible to repatriate one Canadian child but not the rest. He said that essentially “there was only one Canadian orphan who was in [the] camp”. He said, “That's why we could mount a very extraordinary mission to repatriate her.”
He said: “We had one orphan, and we brought her back. We should all be happy with that.” That's a direct quote: “We should all be happy with that.” I wonder if you had an opportunity to hear the minister's testimony on the 24th and if you want to react to that part or any other part of the minister's testimony on that day.
Maybe we can hear Mr. Mohammed first and then Mr. Champ.
Justin Mohammed
View Justin Mohammed Profile
Justin Mohammed
2021-03-11 15:59
I did have the opportunity to review the former minister's intervention on this point and can only hope that we will change course, noting that we have a new minister in place now.
Mr. Genuis, in response to your question, I think it is very much apparent that there's no clear articulation. Even the Prime Minister has indicated that the case of the one orphan who was repatriated was exceptional, and I would interrogate what exactly was exceptional about that case. Of course Amira was an orphan, but that doesn't change the fact that the other children remaining in this camp still have their rights intact and that the many rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, for example, are being violated as much for the other children remaining in that situation as they were for the orphaned child.
Those of course include, for example, article 3 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to act within their best interest; article 8, with respect to nationality and identity; and article 9, with respect to being separated from parents without will. Those are the considerations we think should be guiding any future efforts that the Government of Canada should be taking on this.
Paul Champ
View Paul Champ Profile
Paul Champ
2021-03-11 16:00
I agree with everything Mr. Mohammed said.
As an international human rights lawyer, I'm ashamed of Canada's response to this situation. We know the argument that Canada put forward—that they simply couldn't do it and it wasn't possible—was just a flimsy argument, because they did it for one child. How they can do it for one child and not others? I don't know if there's ever any kind of rational response to that statement that could be satisfactory to anyone. It's certainly not satisfactory to me and the other human rights advocates.
View Peter Fonseca Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Kamarotos, in November 2020 the DCI released comments on children's rights in the digital environment. Many recommendations were made by your organization on how Canada can effectively attempt to create due diligence procedures to protect children from business enterprise.
Alex Kamarotos
View Alex Kamarotos Profile
Alex Kamarotos
2021-03-11 16:01
This issue is quite new. The general comment of the UNCRC has been adopted recently during the COVID period, and member states, including Canada, have to work very closely on this. As you mentioned, the complexity is that it doesn't depend only on public measures, but also on private companies. I think Parliament should adopt legislation putting limits on this—and there is good practice in other countries—and they could also implement the recommendations of general comment 25. That's for the moment, but I think we are going to work closely.
If you permit me, I wanted also to add something to the previous questions, although I was not requested. DCI has been in a group called the Child Justice Advocacy Group, working specifically on cases like the one we have been discussing. There is a position paper called “Children – not terrorists....” that I will put at the disposal of the clerk to distribute to the members who are interested.
View Stéphane Bergeron Profile
BQ (QC)
I understand that Mr. Kamarotos would have liked to add something else in response to a question from Mr. Fonseca. I, for one, felt there was something missing. So if Mr. Kamarotos would like to add to his answer, I offer him the opportunity to do so.
Alex Kamarotos
View Alex Kamarotos Profile
Alex Kamarotos
2021-03-11 16:35
It’ll be my pleasure.
In fact, on the issue of repatriation of children accused of terrorism, there is currently a position statement not only from DCI, but also from a large number of reputable child justice NGOs. In this document, we clearly recommend the repatriation of children.
I also want to mention that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva has been seized of this issue and has already received individual appeals under the third protocol. So this issue could take on international dimensions.
I have already forwarded to the clerk the position statement on this issue. It will be translated and forwarded to all members of the committee.
Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to add this clarification.
View Stéphane Bergeron Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Kamarotos.
I really liked Mr. Genuis's analogy that it was as if we had repatriated one of the two Michaels and left the other behind.
The question still troubles me today. Why do you think the Canadian government is refusing to do what other countries have been able to do despite the absence of representatives on the ground, namely to repatriate their nationals trapped in refugee camps in northern Syria?
Paul Champ
View Paul Champ Profile
Paul Champ
2021-03-11 16:37
I wasn't sure who it was directed to. I could take a crack at it.
It's very difficult to answer, quite frankly. I was involved in this issue very early. I was representing an individual who was detained in one of those camps in early 2018. There was a great deal of engagement on the issue at that time by the foreign affairs department. It did appear that they were trying to repatriate, but I don't know what's changed since then. I don't know why Canada's policy has changed. It's deeply disappointing. As I said before, I think it's shameful for all of us.
View Heather McPherson Profile
NDP (AB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all our witnesses and apologize again on behalf of the committee for the break we had to take. It was unavoidable, of course. I certainly would encourage all of the gentlemen who have joined us today to share any additional testimony with the committee in writing so that we can include it in our report.
Like all of you, I'm deeply concerned about what's happening with detained children in Syria, and of course around the world. I dare say we all feel grief for what is happening in these situations.
I would like each of you, very briefly, to touch upon what you feel the long-term impacts will be on the children who have been left in the Syrian camp now for so long in such deplorable conditions.
Perhaps I would start with Mr. Champ.
Paul Champ
View Paul Champ Profile
Paul Champ
2021-03-11 16:39
I'm not an expert in such matters, but I think it's easy to understand that children who've been abandoned in those circumstances.... Aside from the psychological traumas that they are no doubt experiencing today, I question how they will feel when they grow up and find out or learn that they were abandoned. I think it's profoundly traumatic. There are all kinds of studies about children during those sensitive ages and the impact on them. When those children become adults, I don't know how we'll ever explain to them why Canada didn't take action.
Justin Mohammed
View Justin Mohammed Profile
Justin Mohammed
2021-03-11 16:39
Like Mr. Champ, I'm unfortunately not an expert to be able to provide advice in that regard, aside from what logic dictates. That is, of course, that one can only expect that the serious conditions they are being subjected to, not just physically but also emotionally, would have a serious negative and detrimental impact on their development; and that would be the cause for concern. That is very much from a human level, based on observations that I think every one of the committee members and the witnesses can make.
Alex Kamarotos
View Alex Kamarotos Profile
Alex Kamarotos
2021-03-11 16:40
Thank you.
Indeed this kind of treatment has an irreversible impact on children, and this is now proved by a lot of neuroscience studies that give this argument. Second, it is also against international law, and there have been countries condemned for that, so that's also a risk for Canada, I would say.
Geoff Loane
View Geoff Loane Profile
Geoff Loane
2021-03-11 16:41
Thank you.
We believe and we see that children caught up in these kinds of situations globally must be treated as victims first, not as perpetrators. By treating children as victims, we are able to extend due care, due diligence and responsibility towards them, towards their complex needs—their growing needs, their emotional needs. Our failure to treat children as victims, our taking another view of them, risks changes to the way they will view the world and how they will behave as adults. We need to be very mindful of that.
Shelly Whitman
View Shelly Whitman Profile
Shelly Whitman
2021-02-18 15:48
Thank you very much to the committee for this opportunity to speak with all of you today.
My name is Dr. Shelly Whitman. I am the executive director of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace and Security. I also wish to bring you greetings from our founder, Lieutenant-General (Retired) Roméo Dallaire.
It's a great opportunity for me to be here and it's lovely to see some of my former friends and colleagues like Pernille Ironside. The last time we met was in Nigeria.
I wish to begin by stating that the world needs to focus on building a global peace and security agenda that prioritizes the protection of children. Our collective failure to see the world through the eyes of children prevents us from effective and innovative approaches to address some of the world's most pressing issues of our time and will be felt for generations that have yet to come.
At the Dallaire Institute, we have been conducting work in places such as Juba, South Sudan; Kigali, Rwanda; DRC; Somalia; into Sierra Leone; Nigeria; and hopefully soon into other places such as Cameroon.
Today we are here to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children who are exposed to armed conflict.
Despite calls by the UN Secretary-General, armed conflict has not stopped during the pandemic. Health care systems and educational services already under immense strain by conflict have been placed under even more stress due to COVID-19. Yet, worryingly, the world's attention has been diverted from many of the conflicts that have continued or emerged. As a result, we are also not bearing close witness to the results on the concerns of children.
The UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict has also expressed deep concern on the heightened risk of grave violations against children due to COVID-19. The UN special representative summarized the annual report to the Human Rights Council and stated that, “the response to the outbreak often had an unintended adverse impact on children's fulfilment of their rights to education and health, as well as their access to justice, social services, and humanitarian aid.” The report indicates that the pandemic has exacerbated children's vulnerability to grave violations in situations of armed conflict. “School closures made children even more vulnerable to other grave violations, in particular recruitment and use, and children in camps for internally displaced people and those deprived of their liberty have been particularly exposed to further protection risks.”
It is estimated that 99% of children globally reside in one of the 186 countries that have enacted some level of restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. And for children living in conflict and fragile environments, the pressures of COVID-19 are even more complex.
I would like to remind this committee that UN Security Council Resolution 1612 highlights six grave violations against children in armed conflict. Those are the killing and maiming of children, the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children, attacks against schools or hospitals, abduction of children and the denial of humanitarian access for children. These six grave violations have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular, an example that I would like to highlight for you is that when it comes to measures to combat COVID-19 many children have been confined to dangerous home settings, increasing their risk of exposure to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, including sexual and gender-based violence, while limiting their access to protection services and social networks.
UNICEF estimates that 1.8 billion children live in 104 countries where violence prevention and response services have been disrupted due to COVID-19. And the UN Population Fund estimates that the pandemic will result in an additional 13 million child marriages between 2020 and 2030.
In addition, when it comes to the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, we know that we have seen instances in places such as Colombia where the armed groups are exploiting the global pandemic to recruit children into their ranks. Almost as many children are estimated to have joined armed groups in Colombia in the first half of 2020 as in the whole of 2019.
In addition, we have also seen increased insecurity because of the present pandemic, which has created conditions that have led to an increase in child trafficking in places such as Mali, and the cases of child recruitment have doubled there over the previous year.
School closures and disruptions have also created immense impact on the 1.6 billion students in 190 countries, and the risk of military occupation of closed schools remains a real concern. Prior to the pandemic, education around the world was already in crisis. It is estimated that over 10 million children will not return to school after the pandemic, as families continue to be impacted by growing poverty and unemployment rates. Schools continue to be attacked in places such as Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Yemen. As recently as this week, we have seen horrific attacks on more schools in northeast Nigeria.
The denial of humanitarian access for children in active conflict zones and pre-existing challenges with nutrition have been exacerbated during the pandemic. Border closures in response to the pandemic have also adversely impacted the delivery of humanitarian aid to populations in need of additional support. For those living in IDP camps, access to sanitation is also further limited, and this is happening in a context of record child displacement occurring in 2019.
There is also increasing concern for children who are being detained due to suspicions of their involvement in terrorism or security offences, and the deplorable conditions that many of those children continue to be held in.
When we look at this issue, it is important for this committee and the Government of Canada to recognize that child protection is already a gravely underfunded field, constituting just 0.6% of official development aid. It is expected that the pandemic and the response will continue to reduce this funding.
I want to remind those here that in November 2017 the Canadian government, in partnership with the Dallaire Institute, co-created the Vancouver principles on peacekeeping and the prevention of the recruitment and use of child soldiers around the world. Today I would like to reiterate the need for Canada to continue to demonstrate leadership amongst the 100 endorsing nations that have endorsed since 2017, and also amongst the many that have yet to endorse.
It should not—
Results: 91 - 105 of 326 | Page: 7 of 22

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