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Results: 121 - 135 of 326
View Hedy Fry Profile
Lib. (BC)
I just want to ask a question about this repatriation process. We are talking about concerns here from the government with regard to children who may have been incorporated within ISIS. I think that this cannot just be taken as lack of political will. There have been a lot of concerns from the former government about repatriating people who had ties to ISIS, and we see that this is a question that is constantly asked by other governments, especially the opposition parties.
How do we square that, and how do we know when we bring those children back that there will be an ability to ensure that we are going to have all of us working in the same direction as a Parliament to say that this is the thing to do and not play political games with it? I think political games are what we are at.
I agree with you that these children should come back, but then again, if we all agree that this should happen, there should be a way of ensuring that when these kids come back, they get incorporated into our society and don't have that stigma of wandering around with people calling them terrorists, etc. I have seen that happen in our country in recent years.
Can somebody tell me how we do that without that happening? It's not simply that no one wants to bring the kids back. It's how you do it without having the kids stigmatized when they get back by various other political parties.
Fionnuala Ni Aolain
View Fionnuala Ni Aolain Profile
Fionnuala Ni Aolain
2021-02-18 17:31
I'll briefly say that Canada has one of the most experienced and sophisticated child care systems in the world. You have the best resources and the greatest expertise to deal with this problem. You have many children who are in need of full support and families who need support.
What we need here is a reintegration program. There are a lot of countries doing it and doing it well. There isn't a deficit of examples out there. Canada is exactly the best-placed country to show how this can be done.
That both augments Canada's leadership role and makes the case for security, for how you manage to ensure and show others how reintegration and rehabilitation can be done using all of the resources that are available in your child care, health and education systems.
I believe that to be entirely within the grasp of Canada.
View Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today. Their answers are extremely important and, above all, insightful.
Since I have a lot of questions, but not much time, I may interrupt you.
History has taught us that women and girls are often the first victims in a conflict. I'd like you to comment on that, because it's not something that has received much media attention. It's also important to make the public aware of the issue, which could help garner more support.
Perhaps Mr. Tembon could comment first.
Efi Tembon
View Efi Tembon Profile
Efi Tembon
2021-02-16 19:08
Thank you for your question. It's a very important one.
Women and children are indeed those suffering the most in this conflict. More than a million children have not gone to school in four years. It's extremely sad to watch. Children have been burned in their homes by the military. When the military invades a village, people flee, but the women, children and elderly who don't manage to get out are burned in their homes.
A few days ago, I saw a video that was being shared on social media. It showed a father in tears holding his burned baby. That's not the only case. There are mothers whose babies were shot, pregnant women who were killed and women who were beheaded. It's really awful to see what's happening, to see how the conflict is affecting the population, especially women and children.
The international community must step in, if only out of compassion for the women and children.
Christopher Fomunyoh
View Christopher Fomunyoh Profile
Christopher Fomunyoh
2021-02-16 19:10
Yes, I'd like to add two things.
To begin with, the first images we saw of the conflict date back to 2017. We saw villages that had been set on fire in Kumba and an old mother who had been burned alive in her home. Since then, numerous crimes have been committed against women and children. Another incident that comes to mind is the prison guard who was killed in Bamenda in circumstances that remain mysterious.
Second, people have suffered internal displacement, including many young girls and children. They wind up in other regions of Cameroon, especially big cities such as Douala and Yaoundé, where they become involved in prostitution in order to survive.
The generation that is the future is being decimated by the conflict. Meaningful action has to be taken immediately to put a stop to this dreadful war.
Hannah Garry
View Hannah Garry Profile
Hannah Garry
2021-02-16 19:11
Thank you for that really important question.
I will make a couple of points. First, I just want to echo my fellow witnesses. We do not have the facts sufficiently with regard to this question, and it is something we've come across in our clinic as we've been doing our detailed report. The reports and the fact-finding done so far by international human rights groups have overlooked and not detailed sufficiently the harm done to women and children, so we've made a point of specifically doing in-depth interviews with refugees on this question.
One thing that is becoming of increasing concern is child soldiers and forcible recruitment of children to join in and be part of the conflict. There are concerns that this might become another Sierra Leone-type situation, so I would just flag that for you.
In our in-depth interviews and our anecdotal evidence with women, we've heard about rape and sexual violence being used as weapons of war in the conflict.
A fact-finding inquiry and commission specifically on the treatment of these two groups in the population is critically in need. I can't emphasize that enough.
View Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Profile
BQ (QC)
This is my last turn.
I want to thank all three of you for being here today. What you're doing matters tremendously. Our job is to become your voice and spread the message.
All three of you talked about the schoolchildren impacted by the conflict. Mr. Fomunyoh, you said that more than 1.1 million school-age children had been out of school for approximately four years. Some say that it's the government targeting the schools and schoolchildren; others argue that it's the separatists.
Can you shed any light on that for us, Mr. Fomunyoh?
Christopher Fomunyoh
View Christopher Fomunyoh Profile
Christopher Fomunyoh
2021-02-16 19:30
There has certainly been confusion around the matter, but things have changed over time.
Initially, when the crisis began, the education system was one of the issues being disputed. People asked the children not to go to school as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the central government. Unfortunately, it became normal practice over time, and most of the schools closed four or five years ago.
Last year, some schools wanted to reopen and offer curriculum they had developed in response to the needs of the various communities, but the state was not on the same page.
There is certainly confusion surrounding the matter.
Today, the schools aren't open, especially in rural areas, areas controlled by armed groups where administrators were not physically present. Those areas account for nearly 80% of the conflict zone.
View Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Profile
BQ (QC)
How is the local population faring? How are people coping with the situation?
Christopher Fomunyoh
View Christopher Fomunyoh Profile
Christopher Fomunyoh
2021-02-16 19:32
The local population is living with the consequences because it can't negotiate with the armed groups or the government.
Christopher Fomunyoh
View Christopher Fomunyoh Profile
Christopher Fomunyoh
2021-02-16 19:32
Yes, absolutely. It's being held hostage and having to live with the very real consequences of the school dispute.
In a number of cases, it was decided that the children would be sent to border regions—mainly along the coast and in western Cameroon—so they could try to go to school.
Simon Lapierre
View Simon Lapierre Profile
Simon Lapierre
2021-02-16 11:17
Good morning, everyone.
As a result of numerous studies over the past 20 years with women and children who are victims of domestic violence, it's now clear that the perpetrators of this domestic violence use all sorts of strategies to maintain control over the victims and to deprive them of their freedom. Unfortunately, at present, many of these strategies commonly used by perpetrators are not offences under the Criminal Code. So they go unpunished and deprive the victims of resources, support and protection they need and are entitled to.
The criminalization of coercive control or controlling and coercive behaviour would therefore, as a first step, allow for a better validation of the experience of victims of domestic violence, whether women or children. It would also give additional tools to police, prosecutors and the various actors in the system to better protect victims. In addition, I believe that the criminalization of controlling and coercive conduct could pave the way for better training of the various actors in the criminal justice system, for new initiatives in prevention and intervention, and for changes in family law and child protection.
Lastly, I would like to draw your attention to three elements.
First, in this context, it seems extremely important to criminalize controlling and coercive conduct, and not isolated behaviours. The issue here is the accumulation of behaviours in a context of deprivation of freedom.
In addition, it seems extremely important to ensure that these offences cover incidents of violence that occur after separation and that they also apply even when spouses no longer live together.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the importance of carefully considering the situation of children in a context of controlling and coercive conduct. Children are very often at the heart of the strategies used by perpetrators of domestic violence to control their spouse or ex-spouse and deprive her of her freedom. The numerous studies we've conducted with children living in a context of domestic violence have shown that their experience is marked not only by exposure to specific incidents or acts, but even more so by daily exposure to a climate of tension and terror caused by controlling and coercive conduct. In this regard, I invite you to consider an approach similar to that taken in Scotland, for example, where offences involving controlling and coercive conduct are considered even more serious when they target children or when children are exposed to them.
View Michael Cooper Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you very much for that detailed answer.
Mr. Lapierre, you mentioned children being victims of coercive and controlling behaviour. You said that we should look at what other jurisdictions have done in this area. Could you elaborate on that?
Simon Lapierre
View Simon Lapierre Profile
Simon Lapierre
2021-02-16 11:31
In fact, I was referring specifically to recent legislation in Scotland. In a context where children are exposed to or specifically targeted by controlling or coercive conduct, the offence is considered more serious. Just as the status quo doesn't work for women who are victims of domestic violence, it has been found that the status quo doesn't work for children living in the context of domestic violence.
We've done some research with children ourselves, and the results are consistent with that. There is a general tendency to consider that when children are exposed to domestic violence, they are exposed to isolated incidents or acts or a series of isolated acts. However, children's experience shows us that those who live in a context of domestic violence are in fact exposed to a set of strategies that correspond to controlling or coercive behaviours. These children are affected by the set of strategies deployed by the perpetrators of domestic violence. These strategies have repercussions on the mothers of these children, but also on the children themselves, since they live their daily lives in an atmosphere of tension and terror.
Results: 121 - 135 of 326 | Page: 9 of 22

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