The
parliamentary delegation of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée
parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF), having participated in the meeting
of the Political Committee of the APF held in Liège, Belgium, on May
1–5, 2011, has the honour of submitting its report.
Consisting
of Senator Michel Rivard, who was replacing Mr. Bernard Patry, MP, the
delegation was accompanied by Mr. François Michaud, Administrative Secretary of
the Branch.
The
following branches were represented at this meeting: Belgium/French
Community/Wallonia-Brussels, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Gabon, Jura, Lebanon, Mali,
Mauritius, Morocco, Quebec, Senegal, Switzerland and Togo.
The official
ceremony began with welcoming remarks by Mr. Michel de Lamotte,
President of the Belgium/French Community/Wallonia-Brussels Branch
By way of
introduction, the Committee Chair, Mr. André Schneider (France), thanked
the Belgian Branch and its President for the warm welcome given to the
Committee delegates. He welcomed the new Committee Vice‑Chair, Mr. Joseph Ndong
(Senegal), and Senator Rivard.
Commencement
of proceedings
The agenda
and the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee were adopted unanimously.
Ms. Zakia
Khattabi, Mr. Jean-Paul Wahl and Mr. Christian Dupont
(Belgium/French Community/Wallonia-Brussels) described the political situation
in Belgium. A discussion followed.
How to
face the demographic challenges of the 21st century
Ms. Françoise
Fassieux-Looten (Belgium/French Community/Wallonia-Brussels) presented her
draft report on the theme introduced in Yaoundé in 2010.
Ms. Ester
Lucia Rizzi, Professor at the Centre de recherche en démographie et
sociétés, Université catholique de Louvain, gave a presentation entitled
“Adapting our societies to aging.”
A number of
comments were made in response to the report. Senator Michel Rivard
talked about the situation in Canada and the possibility of raising the
retirement age.
Natural
resources and conflicts
On behalf of
Mr. Bernard Patry(Canada), Senator Michel Rivard
presented a draft report on the theme introduced in Yaoundé in 2010.
The issue of
natural resources and conflicts is one that is complex and sensitive in a
number of respects. It has a direct impact on the daily lives of millions of
people, many of them in the countries of La Francophonie. It includes
situations where the rights of individuals living near or working at sites
where natural resources are exploited are compromised, leading to discontent
and conflicts among populations as well as violent disputes between different
factions generally inside a given country or in border areas.
The Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General, who is responsible for human rights
and transnational corporations, is taking a close interest in this issue.
Wherever they are located, natural resource extraction projects require that
governments and national and transnational corporations working in the sector
act responsibly by establishing and adhering to the appropriate governance
mechanisms.
Mr. Hervé
Cronel, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the Organisation
internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) on Economic Policy and Sustainable
Development, spoke about a specific aspect of the issue, namely, the Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
The role
of ombudsmen, mediators and public advocates in La Francophonie
Mr. Henri-François
Gautrin (Quebec) presented his report on the Committee’s new theme. The
report provided an overview of the role of the ombudsman in
La Francophonie, based on a sample comprising 11 national ombudsmen and
mediators.
There were a
number of comments in response to the report.
Political
situations in La Francophonie
Ms. Denise
Mekam’Ne (Gabon) presented the report. She said that this report
traditionally focuses on crisis situations making recent political news in La
Francophonie and, in particular, on the review of the latest developments in
countries belonging to the APF whose parliament has been suspended.
The
Committee adopted positions on political situations within La Francophonie.
These statements concerned the following countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea,
Madagascar, Niger, Egypt, Haiti, Syria and Tunisia.
The
statements adopted in the wake of discussions are available on the APF website
at www.apf-francophonie.org (in French only).
The
Committee then heard from Mr. Hugo Sada, the Peace, Democracy and
Human Rights Representative for the OIF.
The
Committee subsequently heard Mr. Cristian Dan Preda, Member of the
European Parliament, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Chair of
the Francophone Forum, who spoke about the Francophone Forum of the European
Parliament.
Ms. Anne
Seydoux-Christe (Switzerland) addressed the issue of human rights in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the host of the upcoming annual APF
meeting in 2011 and the Francophone Summit in 2012. A discussion followed,
during which Senator Michel Rivard stated that the Canadian Branch
supported Switzerland’s basic premise that a debate on the issue was needed.
Canada encouraged the DRC government to pursue its efforts to hold
international human rights violators accountable for their actions.
Nonetheless, Canada remains concerned about the ongoing, serious human rights
violations in eastern DRC, including sexual violence and alleged crimes against
humanity.
Preparation
for the statement by the Secretary General of the OIF
Senator Michel
Rivard presented a draft question on natural resources and conflicts. The
draft question was unanimously adopted and will be addressed to the Secretary
General of the OIF at the next annual meeting of the APF in Kinshasa.
Respectfully submitted,
Hon. Michel Rivard, Senator
Member of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la
Francophonie (APF)