AFGH Committee Report

Bloc Québécois Recommendations

The Bloc Québécois invested a great deal of effort to ensure that this report reflects its vision for Afghanistan.

While we agree with the general thrust of the recommendations, we must make note of the issues that we deem important that were rejected by the Committee.

MINISTERS’ ABSENCES

The Bloc Québécois deplores the fact that the ministers responsible chose not to appear before the Committee to explain Canada’s new position on Afghanistan.

A motion was adopted unanimously in Committee, but the ministers claimed they were unavailable to appear. We believe that this conduct is disgraceful.

NON-MILITARY RECOMMENDATIONS

Given the government’s new position on the new mission and mandate for the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, the Bloc Québécois agreed for the recommendations to address the non-military aspects of this mission. Of course, we reserve the right to criticize the military aspects of the mission in other forums and by other means.

CIDA

The Bloc Québécois is very disappointed that the Committee refused to object to CIDA’s cuts to funding for Afghanistan.

At a time when we must pursue our efforts that have already began in order to ensure that development thrives, CIDA is capping its total budgets and reducing its funding for Afghanistan by more than half.

Canada had announced that it would contribute $676 million to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2011, which is just over $225 million a year. However, when the government announced that Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan would continue, it also announced that it would contribute $300 million in development aid from 2011 to 2014, which is $100 million a year.

The Bloc Québécois called for CIDA to re-establish funding to 2009 levels but, unfortunately, the Committee disagreed.

MEETING WITH NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES

In Recommendation 4 of the report, the Bloc Québécois believes that it is important to remain aware that the border relation between Afghanistan and Pakistan is crucial, as is the Dubai Process.

The Bloc Québécois also tried to convince the Committee to hold a meeting with neighbouring countries. Each country would thus have an opportunity to contribute to a solution but, unfortunately, the Committee refused to support our initiative.

PRISON SYSTEM AND RISK OF TORTURE

The Bloc Québécois would like to add “given the risk of torture in Afghan prisons” to Recommendation 19 concerning support for the Afghan prison system.

The Bloc Québécois believes that the lead-in to this recommendation justifies an offer to provide support for the prison system. Everyone agrees that the risk of torture is omnipresent in Afghan prisons.

Furthermore, in Recommendation 7, the Committee agreed to put a special focus on ending torture and abusive treatment in Afghan institutions to justify providing substantial financial support to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.