All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity

40th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION

EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 073

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mrs. Joy Smith (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, today over 100 Congolese men and women have gathered here to meet with parliamentarians. Many of them have experienced terrible violence and sexual abuse.

Women are subject to a horrific war where rape is a primary weapon. The unspeakable acts of sexual violence against women must stop in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Our government has contributed $15 million over four years to the sexual violence project. This project will work with other international agencies, non-governmental organizations and the DRC. Our government’s contribution is centred on two of the worst affected provinces in the DRC and will provide direct services to some 15,000 victims of sexual violence. The project responds to all facets of the problem: medical care, psychological support, socio-economic concerns and access to civilian justice.

We encourage all parties in the House to continue supporting the efforts of Canada’s government in the fight against sexual violence.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, today, a hundred Congolese women are visiting Parliament. The war in the Congo has been called a war on women. During the civil war, tens of thousands of women—mothers, daughters and grandmothers—have been systematically raped. One year ago, the UN asked Canada to take command of a peace mission in the Congo, but the Conservative government refused. That was when Robert Fowler asked the question that I am about to ask again.

Why has Canada abandoned its role as an international peacemaker?

Hon. Lawrence Cannon (Minister of Foreign Affairs, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the member is mistaken. His information is incorrect. We have worked and are working with other countries like Canada to bring peace and stability to that country. We have intervened to stop violence against women and find a way to bring peace to the region. We are taking action to ensure the well-being of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

THE SENATE

Thursday, June 11, 2009

The Hon. the Speaker: Honourable senators, we also welcome a large contingent of distinguished visitors from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a delegation of 100 Canadian Congolese Women who come from the communities of Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Gatineau.

Again, on behalf of all honourable senators, I wish to welcome the Canadian Congolese women to the Senate of Canada. You are very welcome here.

Rape and Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Hon. Mobina S. B. Jaffer: Honourable senators, the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been called a war against women. In the eight years of civil war, tens of thousands of women have been victims of rape as a weapon of war on a scale the world has never seen before. They are physically ravaged, emotionally terrorized and financially impoverished. This war has killed over 5 million people since 1998; more than any other conflict since the Second World War.

A year ago this month, the United Nations asked Canada to take a lead role in the peacekeeping mission. It was disappointing to see that our government declined this opportunity to help. We have a proud history of peace-making, and we need Canada to make its presence known in East Congo. Canada is a world leader of human rights, and we need to live up to this reputation for women and children in the Congo.

Today, I want to share a story about a Congolese woman I met who changed my life. Her name is Bernadette. The first time the militia invaded her house, they killed her husband, one son, and they raped and killed her daughter while she was forced to watch. That day, Bernadette was also raped. She shouted for help, but no one answered her pleas.

The second time the Congolese army invaded her house, they raped and killed her second daughter while Bernadette was forced to watch. Bernadette was raped again. She shouted for help, but no one came.

The third time the militia invaded her house, luckily her other three children were not at home. Bernadette was again savagely raped. This time her genitals were mutilated. The militia poured kerosene in her vagina and lit her on fire. Although Bernadette survived, this time she did not shout for help. She knew there was no one to answer her pleas.

Honourable senators, that was the reality of many of the women who are sitting here amongst us on Parliament Hill. This reality continues for many women in the Congo.

Canadians need to hear Bernadette’s cry. We have a duty to stand for the sake of humanity, but we have a further duty. Canadians have many mining interests in the Congo. We benefit from all those interests. The cellphones we use come from the Congo. If Canadian companies are extracting these resources, there must be a program to give something back in the way of social responsibility.

Honourable senators, I ask you today to work with me to join hands, so that we can support women like Bernadette in the Congo. The women on Parliament Hill today are Canadian. Their families are suffering in the Congo. Honourable senators, we need to act.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.

Hon. Eymard G. Corbin: Honourable senators, in 2005, I had the distinct honour of visiting a health clinic in Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with other members of the foreign affairs committee. Most of the work at the clinic involved caring for the battered bodies of adult and teenage women and very young girls who had been brutally raped by rebel soldiers, bands of roving militia, other teenagers and child soldiers.

As I said, it was an honour to visit the clinic so that I could witness the exemplary dedication of the African doctors and medical staff to their humanitarian work. They are utterly devoted to putting their professional knowledge and experience into practice, often in innovative ways. Unfortunately, most of the women who had been assaulted died in appalling conditions before they could even make it to the clinic.

Today, I want to emphasize how terrible I felt when I saw the degree to which that particular region of the Congo is still suffering from violence, savagery and the complete absence of respect for the law. Some say that 5 million have died. That number does not even begin to tell the story of the suffering, the physical and mental cruelty that people have been subjected to, and the trauma that will last a lifetime.

The tens of thousands of foreign UN troops on the ground on a peace mission could have intervened and would have intervened had they been authorized to do so. That is what a high-ranking commander told me. It goes without saying that he was frustrated. Why have they not been instructed to intervene? What are all of these countries waiting for? Why allow such cruelty and misery to persist?

I have the utmost respect and admiration for those martyred women. Never will I forget the monstrous criminal acts perpetrated against them and the suffering of the people in general. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find the words to speak of the unspeakable.

Never will I forget the battered women of the Congo. Never will the memory of the people of the Congo be erased from my mind.

Hon. Consiglio Di Nino: Honourable senators, I want to join with Senator Corbin and Senator Jaffer to speak about the appalling and continued use of systematic rape against women in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the visit of the Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to Africa as part of the committee’s research leading up to the 2007 report entitled Overcoming 40 Years of Failure, as honourable senators heard from my colleague, we visited some remarkable doctors, nurses and volunteers in the eastern Congo city of Goma. As a result of the systematic and brutal rape of women, these medical professionals had opened a hospital specializing in vaginal reconstruction. Visiting this hospital left me and I dare say, all of us with an immense sense of anger and frustration that such inhumanity should exist. However, in meeting some of these women, I was also struck by their courage and determination to attempt to rebuild their lives after this most inhumane treatment by men on both sides of the conflict.

Honourable senators, Senator Jaffer reminded us of the relationship between the ongoing atrocities committed against these women and the production of cellphones and the BlackBerry. Much of this brutal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which includes the systematic rape of women, is a means to gain control over the minerals mined in the country. A recent article from The Guardian reported:

Recent public and private reporting out of one of the hotbeds of conflict mineral production, North and South Kivu, suggests that the nexus between mineral resources and violence, especially rampant sexual violence, continues unabated.

I tell you this, honourable senators, not to make you feel uncomfortable. I only wish to illustrate that this is not some remote violence unrelated to us, occurring in a distant land. We are all connected to this conflict through our material consumption. Perhaps our cellphones and BlackBerrys might stand as a reminder of this fact.

The lot of women in too many places in this world only reminds us of how low the human animal can stoop. Man’s inhumanity to man continues to be one of the most disturbing elements of our collective existence. Let us not forget, in reflecting on the brutality that continues unabated in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly to women, that this is not some isolated conflict in Africa but a symptom of a wider problem to which we are all connected and that we shamefully ignore.

Honourable senators, if these young women, and indeed many children by our definition, who are systematically and brutally violated were White, would the world continue to ignore the problem?