Thank you so much, Mr. Ehsassi, and, as we're into the evening, good afternoon and good evening, committee.

This study of Canada's diplomatic capacity certainly comes at a crucial time. Harrowing crises in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Myanmar, a list that goes on, stand as wrenching testaments to the failures of our so-called international rules-based order, with devastating consequences for millions of civilians. Unprincipled use of vetoes at the Security Council blocks decisive international action. International human rights and humanitarian laws, always contested and challenged, are brazenly flouted like never before.

The ambit of your study is considerable. I'd like to focus on three points: bolstering Canada's global capacity to champion human rights, improving implementation of our own international human rights obligations, and bringing consistency and equal treatment to consular protection.

First, to be a global human rights champion requires much more than saying we are one.

Just over 75 years ago, adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states recognized a universal truth, namely that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, yet we live in a world in which the rights and dignity of entire peoples are utterly disregarded, as we are seeing right now with Palestinians in Gaza. I can think of no other ambition and imperative that should more profoundly shape Canada's diplomatic capacity than universal human rights protection.

Canada regularly declares itself a global champion of human rights. There have certainly been high-water marks over the decades and the dedicated efforts of individual Canadians, which are truly commendable. However, there has been little tangible evidence of Canada's leadership as a nation for many years now. It's been 25 years since such Canadian accomplishments as establishing the International Criminal Court, banning landmines and protecting child soldiers.

I would suggest that we sorely need a mandated international human rights strategy and action plan that would establish transparent standards to ensure consistency in our human rights efforts across the globe; treat all human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, equally; and set and appropriately resource clear priorities such as supporting human rights defenders, uniformly pursuing justice and accountability, and advancing women's human rights and gender equality.

Second, our contribution to global human rights protections starts with upholding international human rights at home. In a world in which states regularly disregard their human rights obligations, Canada should set an example. However, we do not. A consistent concern in UN reviews of Canada's human rights record is the lack of an effective process, coordinated across federal, provincial and territorial governments, to implement international human rights in Canada.

Canada was examined under the United Nations Human Rights Council's universal periodic review process for the fourth time in November. As they did in 2009, 2013 and 2018, a significant number of countries—25 this time—called on Canada to ratify a 22-year-old torture prevention treaty, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which we have been telling the UN we are considering doing for 18 years now. When Canada reports back to the UN next month, we will likely again hear that Canada is “considering” ratification. That will, frankly, again be received as empty words.

This domestic human rights gap undermines our human rights diplomacy. A recently established federal-provincial-territorial forum of ministers responsible for human rights is intended to make progress on this front but has been a deep disappointment. It has had little guidance from Global Affairs, and it needs it.

Finally, you are reviewing this committee's November 2018 report regarding consular services. The first and I believe most important recommendation in that report was for the government to carry out a review to ensure that “Canadians are not subject to arbitrary treatment or discrimination in the provision of consular services.”

In August I joined a civil society humanitarian delegation to northeast Syria that included Senator Kim Pate, retired Canadian ambassador Scott Heatherington, and immigration and human rights lawyer Hadayt Nazami. We were able to access some, though unfortunately not all, of the Canadian men, women and children who have been unlawfully detained in harsh conditions in camps and prisons there for the past seven years without charge, without trial, without access to lawyers, without contact with their families, without any means of challenging the reasons for their detention and without any consular visits.

Our delegation was deeply distressed by what we heard, which included health concerns and inhumane detention conditions. Thirteen Canadian children are held in an overcrowded, dangerous detention camp where they are not going to school, are living in fear and have been told that the Canadian government would be willing to bring them back to Canada, but not their mothers. This is a clear instance of the provision of consular services that is both arbitrary and discriminatory. I implore you to call on the government immediately to provide in-person consular support to these vulnerable and abandoned citizens, more than half of them children, and arrange for their repatriation to Canada.

Everything about how these cases are being handled betrays a commitment to the universality of human rights. That runs contrary to what the very essence of Canada's diplomatic capacity should be all about.

Thank you very much.

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