Speech: Motion to Urge the Government to Call Upon the Government of Myanmar to End Violence and Gross Violations of Human Rights Against Rohingya Muslims

Honourable senators, I rise today with a great sense of urgency to speak to Senator Ataullahjan’s motion regarding the violent persecution of the Rohingya Muslims currently under way in Myanmar.

Today we showered lots of praise on Senator Andreychuk and Senator Carignan, rightly so. I’d like to shine the light on my colleague Senator Ataullahjan. I want to applaud her efforts for holding our feet to the fire in the chamber on this issue, not just today; in fact, for many years before and certainly before I came here. So I want to applaud you, senator, for this.

It was at Senator Ataullahjan’s insistence that we have conducted a very quick but very deep study of the crisis in Myanmar. Again, thank you for that.

Sadly, this crisis, which has been in the making since 1992, is now a full-blown catastrophe.

Senator Ataullahjan’s motion asks our government to urge another government — namely, the Government of Myanmar — to safeguard humanity and protect the vulnerable and persecuted from the violent campaign of ethnic cleansing currently being undertaken by its military.

I think it is hard for us to understand the scope, scale and depth of suffering. At some point, we run the risk of becoming inured to human suffering, so let me try and share the sense of urgency that we have coming out of the hearings at the Human Rights Committee.

As of this week, the International Organization for Migration has estimated that over 500,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border into Bangladesh, which is roughly 1,500 kilometres away from Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Just to put this into our context, imagine the entire city of Hamilton emptying out and finding its way 1,500 kilometres away to Moncton, New Brunswick, and doing this within the short period of six weeks. The speed of this crisis has been overwhelming.

Like another refugee crisis, 60 per cent of the refugees are children and many have been orphaned. We have heard stories of parents being slaughtered before the eyes of their children. There are horrific stories of gang rape, and there is a particularly ugly gendered aspect to this catastrophe.

I’ll give you one example. The Government of Myanmar has household spot checks conducted by law enforcement agencies. These household spot checks lead to the perfect, if I may say, situation to commit violence against women and children behind closed doors.

In addition, we have heard that the Myanmar military is opening fire on those trying to escape. According to Human Rights Watch, photos confirm that landmines have been placed along the border of Myanmar and Bangladesh. So it seems that the Myanmar military does not want any Rohingyas in Myanmar, but they also don’t want them to cross into Bangladesh.

The UNHCR has called this ethnic cleansing. The international community acknowledges that crimes against humanity are taking place, yet others are calling it genocide. It is no surprise, then, that some conclude that the Rohingya are in fact the most persecuted community in the world.

Thus far, Canada’s response has been as follows: Strong words have been used by Minister Chrystia Freeland who has joined other international leaders in condemnation of the actions of the Government of Myanmar.

Our ambassador in Myanmar has, along with her international counterparts this week, undertaken a fact-finding mission and has called for a UN fact-finding mission to visit Rakhine.

Canada has recently announced another $3.5 million in emergency aid on top of our financial contributions of roughly $9.8 million to the region through the UN.

Finally, Global Affairs has confirmed to us in committee that Canadian arms are not entering Myanmar and that no Canadian money is entering the coffers of the corporations that are controlled by the Myanmar military.

However, it is clear to me that this is not the ceiling for Canada’s action on this crisis; it is just the floor. I have followed many refugee crises, and I believe that the same three pillars should always be the foundation for our action.

The first pillar must focus on the safe and secure return of the refugees to their homes and their lives with full citizenship rights assured to them. In order to achieve this, Canada must join hands with other nations and insist on a UN fact-finding mission that is allowed to enter Myanmar and make an independent assessment of the facts and document the crimes.

Second, I agree with Senator Jaffer: We must invoke the responsibility-to-protect provisions which would see the establishment of safe zones for the Rohingya under the protection of the UN.

Third, I believe we must appoint a special envoy, much like Senator Jaffer was appointed to Sudan, to give us a first-hand view of the crisis and appropriate Canadian responses.

Most importantly, and right away, we must focus on the perpetrators. At committee hearings, we were told that military operations of the kind in Rakhine State require considerable resources and considerable planning.

There are people behind us; they have plans. They have the weapons. We need to bring these perpetrators of international crimes to justice.

Of course, with the passage of the Magnitsky law, we will have a few more tools at our disposal. But I recommend that our Prime Minister must make a statement on camera, in both official languages, condemning the actions of the military in Myanmar.

However, the second pillar is not to forget the refugees who are in camps and in this case mostly in Bangladesh under extremely difficult circumstances. This is the second pillar of action.

First of all, I think we must commend the Government of Bangladesh for its spirit of generosity and opening its borders to the Rohingya, but we must not abandon them. We must not leave them alone to deal with this crisis.

The UN has determined that the refugees are living in flimsy shacks, in sprawling, densely crowded sites that have sprung up to accommodate them, with ever-growing risks of disease outbreak and criminal activities.

Canada can airlift tents, food, medicine and personnel. I believe we must also empower our national and international NGOs to reach local communities with help and support. In moments of crisis, Canadian NGOs have sprung into action in disaster spots around the world.

We must provide technical assistance to Bangladesh to remove the land mines along its borders, and we must — and I believe we can — be more generous. The UNHCR has estimated that it requires $83 million to cover the needs until February next year. Without a substantial increase, their staff will have to make difficult decisions on who to provide help to and who to ignore.

Finally — and I say this with great caution — the numbers will be very small in scale to the problem, but we can resettle those in greatest need through our existing resettlement programs. For this, we need boots on the ground to register, screen and process the refugees most in need.

Honourable senators, the conflict between Rohingya Muslims and the Rakhine Buddhists is incredibly intricate. Their history spans centuries, not decades or years. Within these intricacies, it is easy for disagreements to form as to where peace, stability, justice and coexistence may lie.

I wish to point out that with political will, it is possible to arrive at a longer-term vision of peace. The world community has done this before. During the Kosovo crisis, Canada played a proud role in the resolution of that crisis.

So it is with great faith that I say: We have done this before; we can do this again.