Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Human Rights
Issue 9 - Evidence - May 26, 2014
OTTAWA, Monday, May 26, 2014
The Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights met this day at 5 p.m. to examine and report on how the mandates and practices of the UNHCR and UNICEF have evolved to meet the needs of displaced children in modern conflict situations, with particular attention to the current crisis in Syria.
Senator Mobina S. B. Jaffer (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Honourable senators, welcome to this twelfth meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.
[Translation]
The Senate has given our committee the mandate to examine issues related to human rights in Canada and abroad.
My name is Mobina Jaffer, I am the chair of this committee and I am honoured to welcome you to this meeting.
The conflict in Syria has triggered one of the most appalling humanitarian and refugee crises in modern history. Actually, because of this conflict, over 9.3 million Syrians are now in need of assistance and about 2.6 million Syrians have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, primarily in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. What is more, the number of displaced persons in Syria itself is estimated at 6.5 million.
[English]
Of particular distress is the impact the situation has on children. An estimated 3 million children are internally displaced in Syria, and 1.2 million are refugees abroad. Millions of children are out of school, separated from their families, in need of protection and in need of medical care, both physical and psychological. Displaced children are also at greater risk of poverty, abuse, neglect, violence, exploitation, trafficking, child marriage and forced recruitment into armed groups.
[Translation]
Canada is a major contributor to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Those two organizations are working on the ground and providing support to millions of Syrians affected by the conflict.
[English]
On May 6, 2014, the Senate passed the following order of reference:
That the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights be authorized to examine and report on how the mandates and practices of the UNHCR and UNICEF have evolved to meet the needs of displaced children in modern conflict situations, with particular attention to the current crisis in Syria.
To begin these hearings, we have with us Ms. Sarita Bhatla, Director General, Refugee Affairs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. From Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, we have Ms. Leslie Norton, Director General, International Humanitarian Assistance; Dave Metcalfe, Director General, Development Europe and Middle- East; and Mark Gwozdecky, Director General, Development, Trade and Diplomacy Middle East.
I understand that you have some opening remarks, and we will start with Ms. Norton.
Leslie E. Norton, Director General, International Humanitarian Assistance, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada: Thank you and good afternoon. I would like to begin by thanking you for the invitation to speak to you today about the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF. These two organizations are critical partners for Canada, meeting the needs of people affected by humanitarian crises, including displaced children. I am pleased to be able to discuss how both are able to demonstrate an ability to adapt their practices in order to fulfill their mandates in modern conflict situations, including in Syria.
Modern conflict today is likely to be protracted, with more than half of today's refugees having been in exile for over five years. Modern conflict is more likely to be a civil conflict and be extremely complex. There is a growing diversity of armed groups; some may be politically motivated, but we often see armed groups fighting for personal gain. The lines are becoming blurred between gangs, warlords, insurgents, drug traffickers and rebels.
Modern conflict situations have been evolving in ways that are having profound implications on the safety and security of children. UNHCR and UNICEF have complementary mandates and responsibilities to protect children in conflict. UNHCR's mandate under its statute is to pursue protection, assistance and solutions for refugees. The UN General Assembly and UNHCR's Executive Committee have authorized UNHCR to also address other groups, including former refugees who have returned to their homeland, the situation of stateless persons and those who risk becoming stateless, and internally displaced persons.
UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children's rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour toward children. Modern conflict situations are making it more complicated and dangerous for UNHCR and UNICEF to fulfill their mandates.
The protracted nature of the conflicts also translates into an ever-increasing number of displaced people. At the end of 2013, the global number of internally displaced persons, or IDPs, resulting from armed conflict and generalized violence had increased to over 33.2 million people, the highest-ever figure. That year also saw the global numbers of refugees rise by an additional 2 million people, most of whom were fleeing from the conflict in Syria.
The high numbers of refugees and the protracted nature of the conflicts also translate into a high and prolonged burden being placed on refugee-hosting countries. Today, 80 per cent of refugees are being hosted by developing countries. In this context, protection and asylum space is shrinking.
With regard to the Syria crisis, an entire generation of Syrian children is being shaped by violence, displacement and a persistent lack of opportunities. Five and a half million children are affected by the Syrian conflict, including 4 million children in Syria alone and more than 1.4 million child refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey.
The impact of the conflict on children can be measured through morbid metrics. More than 10,000 children have lost their lives in the conflict and 323,000 children under five are in besieged or hard-to-access areas of Syria. Over 8,000 children arrived at Syria's borders without their parents and over 37,000 babies have been born as refugees. Nearly 3 million children are out of school, representing 40 per cent of all school-age children, and over 4,000 schools in Syria have been destroyed, are used as shelters, or have been commandeered by parties in the conflict.
The infrastructure, social services and generosity of the countries surrounding Syria are being tested, and humanitarian access to children in need inside Syria is an ongoing challenge.
[Translation]
Inside Syria, UNHCR focuses on three main concerns with regard to displaced children: unaccompanied or separated children, child labour, and the recruitment of children into the conflict. Through monitoring visits, partners and outreach volunteers have reported that a growing number of children are unaccompanied and separated from their parents due to internal displacement, death of family members or movements to neighbouring countries.
Child labour has been consistently reported as a problem in Syria and surrounding countries. UNHCR staff and implementing partners estimate that 10 per cent of children in collective shelters in Damascus are working in carpentry, factories and food delivery, to support themselves and their families. Families are under considerable financial pressure, which contributes to decisions to send children out to work. Increasing numbers of children in Syria are being recruited by different armed groups on both sides of the conflict, with unaccompanied and separated children more at risk than others.
Children under 18 years of age have been used in both combat and support roles, such as loading bullets, delivering food and evacuating the injured. UNICEF has been heavily involved in providing humanitarian services for children in Syria, particularly health services, education and child protection, winterization items, and water, sanitation and hygiene. Here are a few examples.
As an immediate response to the polio outbreak confirmed in October 2013, over 2.3 million children under five years of age were vaccinated during a polio vaccination campaign in October and November, reaching children in highly contested areas. Supplementary immunization rounds have been implemented each month and the April 2014 round reached some 2.9 million children. In 2013, over 420,000 children and adolescents received psychosocial support, including over 10,000 Palestinian refugees.
Through partnerships with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and other non-governmental organizations, UNICEF was able to reach children in some of the worst affected and hardest to reach areas, including Yabroud, Adra and Eastern Ghouta in rural Damascus. In partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF supplied water treatment chemicals to treat and make safe enough water to provide for an estimated 18 million people. For the internally displaced, access to safe drinking water was provided in collective shelters and host communities for over one million beneficiaries, including areas in northern and western Syria hosting high levels of internally displaced people, such as Aleppo and Idlib.
With more than 2.7 million people seeking refuge from the conflict in neighbouring countries, the scale of the emergency and the varying characteristics of the refugee population require a sophisticated response to address the specific needs of children, especially in a context where only 20 per cent of the population is living in camps.
UNHCR pursues several specific child protection interventions for the refugee population. UNHCR specifically screens for unaccompanied and separated children and other vulnerable children. Through case management, with a focus on the child's best interest, UNHCR addresses the immediate needs of vulnerable children and refers them to essential services. UNHCR also takes measures so as to ensure that aid procedures do not put children at risk of being separated from caregivers or siblings and ensures that parents know where to report missing children.
Furthermore, UNHCR puts in place measures to protect children from sexual violence and other forms of harm, abuse and exploitation. Finally, with partners like UNICEF, UNHCR provides psychosocial support and recreational activities by establishing child-friendly spaces.
Based on UNICEF's core commitments for children in humanitarian action, UNICEF's response is first and foremost focused on saving lives. However, given the protracted nature of the response and the fact that the majority of refugees, some 80 per cent, are residing in host communities, UNICEF is ensuring that the response strategy incorporates cost-effective sustainable solutions and builds the capacity of local stakeholders, host communities and governments to respond to increasing humanitarian needs, while building their resilience to further shocks.
As in Syria, UNICEF has been providing water, sanitation and hygiene services, as well as health and education services to refugee populations in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. In 2013, UNICEF provided 343,000 people with access to water, enrolled 195,000 children in learning programmes, vaccinated 6.78 million children against polio and 4.75 million against measles, and supported 437,000 children with psychosocial assistance.
[English]
To date, Canada has committed more than $630 million in humanitarian, development and security assistance to the Syrian crisis. This includes $353.5 million in humanitarian assistance, $210.6 million in development assistance to Jordan and the region, and $67.6 million in security-related regional assistance. Canada is supporting both UNHCR and UNICEF to meet the needs of conflict-affected children. Canada has provided $48.5 million to UNHCR and $52 million to UNICEF for their respective activities both inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.
This includes Canada's commitment of $50 million to the ``No Lost Generation'' initiative announced by Prime Minister Harper on January 24, 2014, in Jordan. The ``No Lost Generation'' initiative is an excellent example of the evolution of the practices of both UNICEF and UNHCR to meet the needs of displaced children. The multi-partner initiative, which includes UNICEF and UNHCR, has been developed to ensure that a generation of Syrian children, whether living inside the country or in neighbouring countries as refugees, are provided with the protective environment and learning opportunities they need to reclaim their childhood. With Canada's support of the initiative, it is expected that our partners will reach over 650,000 children with protection and education interventions to help restore the hope to children affected by the crisis in Syria.
Canada's development assistance to Jordan and the region has a particular focus on children and youth. A significant portion of this aid is directed to education programs in Jordan and Lebanon that will directly benefit children in affected communities, including Syrian refugee children. Canada's support to Jordan also focuses on strengthening basic services to communities which will be of benefit to children, such as shelter, health, water and sanitation infrastructure.
In conclusion, our humanitarian partners have had to adapt to the complexities of modern conflict. Despite the many challenges that they are faced with, they continue to work hard at meeting the needs of displaced children, and they are getting real results. In this context, it is important to underscore the heroic efforts of the staff of both UNHCR and UNICEF, as well as from the many other humanitarian organizations who are working in so many challenging contexts around the world.
As mentioned, I'm here with my colleagues Dave Metcalfe and Mark Gwozdecky, and we're ready to take your questions once Ms. Bhatla has finished with her statement.
The Chair: Thank you for your statement.
We will now go on to Ms. Bhatla from Citizenship and Immigration to let us know how they look at these mandates of the UNHCR and UNICEF.
[Translation]
Sarita Bhatla, Director General, Refugee Affairs, Citizenship and Immigration Canada: Honourable senators, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. My name is Sarita Bhatla and I am the Director General of the Refugee Affairs Branch. Citizenship and Immigration Canada is deeply concerned about the plight of children in conflict zones and situations of displacement. We have been working closely with our partners at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada to ensure that Canada continues to do what it can to best help the Syrian people.
[English]
We continue to maintain Canada's humanitarian tradition by protecting Syrian refugees through our in-Canada asylum system and by resettling vulnerable refugees to Canada from abroad. These resettlement efforts include Syrian refugee children and their families.
Many of the Syrian families resettled to Canada as part of our current commitment are in fact large families with over four children. We assist with family unification, efforts to resettle women and girls at risk, survivors of violence and/or torture, refugees with medical needs or disabilities, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender refugees at risk, vulnerable older adults and refugees in need of family reunification.
[Translation]
CIC will continue to work closely with the private sponsorship community and the UNHCR to resettle vulnerable Syrian refugees to Canada.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I would now be happy to answer any questions that you or other committee members may have.
[English]
I'm happy to answer any questions going forward. Thank you.
The Chair: I have two clarification questions. One is for you, Ms. Bhatla. Do you have numbers on record for resettlement commitments for Syrian refugees?
Ms. Bhatla: Since the start of the Syrian conflict, Canada has received over 2,500 applications from Syrians seeking Canada's protection through both the asylum and the resettlement programs, and we have provided protection to more than 1,100 Syrians.
The Chair: Are they now in our country?
Ms. Bhatla: Yes.
The Chair: Ms. Norton, we have looked at literature and it is unclear regarding the 8,000 children at the border without parents. For clarification, are those children on their own or with other family members, and how young are they, if you know?
Ms. Norton: I don't have that information.
The Chair: If you find out, could you please provide it to the clerk?
Mr. Metcalfe or Mr. Gwozdecky, do you have any other presentations to make at this time, or you will answer our questions?
Dave Metcalfe, Director General, Development Europe and Middle-East, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada: I'm just here to answer your questions.
The Chair: We will go on to the deputy chair of the committee.
Senator Ataullahjan: Thank you for your presentations this evening.
Ms. Norton, you said that UNHCR pursues several specific child protection interventions for the refugee population. Could you elaborate on those? I also have a follow-up question.
Ms. Norton: Thank you very much for your question. In the refugee-hosting countries, they are working with unaccompanied children. First, they try to meet all the protection and assistance needs of the children who are refugees and they do this either through service delivery themselves or through their partners, and one of their partners of course will be UNICEF. The lives of the children currently are shaped by violence; they're out of school; health services are limited; and there are a number of protection concerns. As a result, the kids require education and psychosocial support. There are a lot of separated children, and it is about getting the children back either into a community of support or with their parents.
Senator Ataullahjan: You also said that UNHCR puts in place measures to protect children from sexual violence and other forms of harm, abuse and exploitation. Is there a greater risk of sexual or gender-based violence as well as forced marriages of young girls who cross the Syrian border?
Ms. Norton: What we can say is that in any situation of conflict children's vulnerabilities are exacerbated. What we have seen in conflicts is an increase in abduction, in recruitment, in rape and gender-based violence. In the case of Syria, you also have schools and health facilities that are targeted, issues of family separation, loss of loved ones, forced dislocation. You have the melting pot where all of the protection and assistance challenges that could exist do exist in the context of Syria. UNHCR works with its partners to try and address these concerns.
Senator Hubley: Thank you very much for your presentations this evening.
You have indicated a tremendous amount of work in your report tonight. I guess the figures that you had provided were from 2013: UNICEF provided 343,000 people with access to water; 195,000 children in learning programs; the vaccination of 6.78 million children against polio. What are your limitations and what percentage of this reflects the needs that children have in that area?
Ms. Norton: Do you mean the limitations we have as a donor community, or the organizations themselves?
Senator Hubley: The organizations themselves. Is it infrastructure? Would you be educating more children if more schools were available? Would there be more children receiving health care if there were hospitals, or is the work of UNICEF independent from that?
I would also like to know, of those figures, how many other children are we missing? Are you able to deal with all of the children, or is there only a portion of the children that you can deal with?
Ms. Norton: I think the answer to that is twofold. Within the neighbouring countries where Syrian refugees are currently residing, they have a fairly good ratio at addressing the needs of the children. They're ramping up in their assistance. UNHCR and UNICEF very recently launched this ``No Lost Generation'' initiative, as mentioned. As it is rolled out, it's addressing or meeting the needs of more and more children.
That being said, there are huge challenges in the delivery of services in neighbouring countries because of the amount of people. First, as mentioned, only 20 per cent are residing in camps. One of the new challenges that UNHCR and the humanitarian community have is they have seen an increasing urbanization of displacement. You don't have people residing in camps where there was a certain efficiency in providing humanitarian assistance because people were closely located; now people are spread across and living in host communities and in community shelters. That increases the challenge of reaching all of the children and ensuring that everyone is registered. Once UNHCR is able to register people they get access to all the services, so registration is important; but not all people are interested in registration, for their own personal reasons.
There still are a number of hard-to-reach and inaccessible places within Syria. Our partners continuously press for increased access to people they have not been able to reach, but it continues to be very challenging.
I don't have the percentage of people not reached at this time, but it is something that is at the forefront of all of the humanitarian actors. The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has been very vocal on humanitarian access, especially to these hard-to-reach places, and that has been the modus and the push behind the UN Security Council resolution to try to increase humanitarian access to many of these hard-to-reach places.
Senator Hubley: On registration, you mentioned that not all persons decide to be registered. What impact would that have on children? Are children registered individually or is it a family that is registered? How does that work?
Ms. Norton: I believe that every person is registered individually but I believe also that they would be registered as part of a family unit, if they have the family unit. In order to get access to the services, it would depend on the age of the child, and I'm not clear whether a child of a certain age, under five, for instance, would be registered with a parent. I would have to check that for you and confirm.
Senator Hubley: Registration would be a process, so it might happen that if the family didn't agree to be registered, maybe there are children falling through the cracks at that time, that they would not be registered. Would that be the case?
Ms. Norton: It's a possibility, or it could be that families have come with enough resources and decided not to register and have been able to live for a while on their own resources. If they've expended their full resources, they might decide at a certain point to register.
Other people I understand might be going back and forth across the border. Others, I have heard, could also be very nervous about being registered for security reasons.
Senator Seidman: As I understand it, Canada is the fifth largest donor to UNICEF, or was in 2012. In 2013, Canada was the eleventh largest donor to UNHCR.
Does the Canadian government somehow evaluate the effectiveness of its contributions to these agencies? If so, how do they do that? What form of evaluation do they use?
Ms. Norton: That's somewhat of a twofold question. It's a bit complicated because UNHCR is a fully humanitarian organization and responds according to need. When we would be looking to fund UNHCR, it would be basically assessing the needs, and if UNHCR is the best place to meet the needs, then there would be some funding for UNHCR.
For UNICEF, it's both a development organization and a humanitarian organization. There are different elements that come into play. The funding of UNICEF would not just be based on humanitarian need.
You see, it's not just a simple equation or use of math in this context. Do we evaluate our partners? Yes, it's part of our ongoing due diligence that we undertake within the development side of our department. One of the things we look at when we undertake this due diligence is results-based management, the ability to achieve results, their capacity of audit and evaluate, and whether they have financial and risk management tools in place. A number of things are part of our due diligence process before we even make a recommendation to fund an organization on the humanitarian side.
That also spans the development side, so UNICEF development activities. But because you have issues such as sustainability when you're looking at a development program which you do not have for a humanitarian program, you're looking at different elements.
Senator Seidman: You said that UNICEF does development work as well as humanitarian work and that they try to build the capacity of local actors, host communities and governments. If you could explain how they do this because clearly, if we use Syria as an example, it's critical as countries that are helping and receiving all these refugees in the area are really stressed with the burden of that. How would UNICEF help the host countries in this case?
Mr. Metcalfe: The example I'm most comfortable with is Jordan; I've seen it first hand. The project we've got with Lebanon is improving access to quality education for children in Lebanon. That's helping both in Jordan and Lebanon. The students are within the formal education system. You can imagine it's taxing the infrastructure, the curriculum, the teachers, the quality of teachers, and how they run the process.
In Jordan, specifically, they've helped them set up a two-tier system where Jordanian children are educated in the morning in the same infrastructure they have used; and Syrian children in the afternoon. UNICEF and other project partners that we have — international NGOs and private sector education specialists — have helped us build the curriculum that works for both types of students, and trained the teachers.
We're looking at a quality of education that wasn't necessarily up to a level that you would expect to start with. And then with this burden on top of that, these groups come in and help not only for the short term, like Leslie was talking about, in the immediate, but helping build the long-term education needs for the students.
I don't know if I've been detailed enough to answer your question.
Senator Seidman: That is helpful.
You said they train teachers. Would there be a need to train more teachers if you have this burden, and how would the costs of that be borne? Would UNICEF contribute in some way?
Mr. Metcalfe: Yes, as much as possible, as Leslie was saying, trying to build long-term stability. It is working with the ministry of education itself to attract and train new teachers; but it is also in-service teachers to build the quality of the education within the school.
One thing we haven't talked about is the school feeding program. This is a bit separate from education itself, but nutrition also supports quality education. There are projects like the World Food Programme, where we're doing school feeding to support children who lack the nutritional value when they're going to school.
Senator Seidman: Along those lines, there are a lot of agencies and organizations involved, of course, but if we want to speak specifically of UNHCR, which deals with the humanitarian side, and UNICEF, which deals with both humanitarian and development, how do they prioritize what they're going to tackle? It's enormous. There are so many demands on them and there is limited funding.
Mr. Metcalfe: I'll pass that to Leslie to talk about the donor coordination and the comprehensive approach.
Ms. Norton: You have to step back. An annual planning process is under way. In this case, Syria is a good microcosm of it, where all of the humanitarian country team, which would include UNHCR and UNICEF and the NGOs, would sit together and basically set out their plan for the year. That's what's called ``the Syria response plan'' or what have you. In that, they will prioritize what the key needs are that need to be met.
What will also happen is as the year is evolving, funding will be coming in, and then they have hard decisions to make. I would suggest this would be a very good question to ask UNHCR when you invite them here about how they do prioritize it. It's something that we continuously ask UNHCR about, and push them on prioritization, because the needs are so great and the funding ends up being less than the overall needs. It is continuously at the forefront of their decision making and their allocation of funds.
Senator Seidman: Would they include, if you know, the host countries at all in the priority making?
Ms. Norton: It depends on the context, but yes. As you know, while UNHCR has the mandate to support refugees, they couldn't be doing it without the hospitality of the hosting countries. In many contexts, very much so, they're part of the planning process. That's where, for instance, in Lebanon, there was a decision not to create camps but to have people reside with families or in community shelters, versus in Jordan where 20 per cent are now residing in camps.
Yes, there is planning with the host government, but there needs to be an enabling environment for that to happen. That's very important
Senator Seidman: If I might come full circle and back to the original question about Canada's evaluation of these two entities specifically, does Canada have any oversight or input into their prioritizing?
Ms. Norton: Our teams in Jordan, for instance, would be actively engaged in fairly frequent meetings with our partners. We have that level of continuous dialogue. People from my team will go out on monitoring missions and also come back with an evaluation. They will also be in continuous dialogue with the operational folks in the field.
Canada is a member of the governing boards of both UNHCR and UNICEF. We will make statements, raise issues and have a lot of bilateral meetings on the side of these boards to raise key issues of concern.
We also have very privileged access to senior management in these organizations because we are seen as a very important donor, but not just a donor; we're also seen as a very important policy discussant with these organizations.
The layer on top of that is what I had mentioned to you about the due diligence we undertake in-house. We will triangulate with other donors who have undertaken multilateral reviews and triangulate all of that information.
Mr. Metcalfe: I'll add to that response. Canada chairs the education task force for the host community coordination platform in Jordan, so we are taking an active role.
The Chair: When I was more directly involved, refugees used to tell me all the time that Canada took a lead on prioritizing funds to UNICEF to go towards education. Do you tell UNHCR or UNICEF what Canada's priorities are in the funds that we provide?
Ms. Norton: In the context of a humanitarian crisis, UNHCR is appealing for funds to a country. We do not earmark within the context of its overall program. This is because we note that in the very fluid and volatile environment that is a humanitarian crisis we are not best placed to tell them where the needs are the greatest because they do shift fairly rapidly. It's also why we try to provide funding at a regional level, because refugee caseloads are regional; they're not limited to one country. They are always crossing borders.
In the context of UNICEF, because they have such a wide range of programs — it could be education, it could be water and sanitation — we will be triangulating the needs. In that case, as we're looking at our global response, we might have a better-placed partner who will do the water and sanitation and we would fund UNICEF for education, or vice versa. It really is a case-by-case decision or recommendation that we make. It's really to make sure that we're giving the best-placed organization the funds they require to meet needs.
The Chair: Thanks.
You talked about evaluations. Is it possible to share with the committee the evaluations?
Ms. Norton: I was speaking more about monitoring missions that my team would go on, and they would come back with not evaluations but monitoring missions undertaken by the team.
It's important to note that UNICEF and UNHCR have very robust evaluation functions. The entire performance management functions are quite robust. They have a whole range of evaluations that you can find on their websites that might be of interest to you.
The Chair: My question is to Ms. Bhatla. We have sort of confusing information. I will read it to you, and then if you can please clarify for us.
In July 2013, our government announced that it would sponsor 200 extremely vulnerable Syrian refugees to come to Canada in 2013-14. In addition, it agreed to accept 1,100 Syrians under the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program in 2014. That program, for our viewers, allows private organizations to sponsor refugees, so they must provide housing and other costs for sponsored refugees during the sponsorship period, which is usually one year. The government also stated it was expediting family-class applications where possible.
In March 2014, the minister stated that only 10 Syrian refugees had arrived. I understand from you today that 1,100 refugees have arrived, and under what class?
Ms. Bhatla: The over 1,100 Syrian refugees I referred to were both through the asylum system and through the resettlement program, those two together.
The Chair: Can I stop you? By ``asylum,'' do you mean those who come to our border and have been granted?
Ms. Bhatla: Correct.
Let me take a step back. We have two refugee streams. Within those, there are subcategories. For simplicity sake, we have the domestic asylum system, and this is a legal requirement and an international obligation because we've signed the UN convention on refugees. Basically, anybody who comes to Canada needs to go through a process whereby we determine whether they are or are not a convention refugee. Those cases are completed by a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Immigration and Refugee Board.
In addition, we have a resettlement program whereby we select refugees from overseas for resettlement. They are selected overseas, and then they come to Canada as permanent residents and ultimately have a path to citizenship. Both streams ultimately have a path to citizenship; they're eligible to apply.
Our in-Canada system is asylum.
The Chair: How many arrive by asylum?
Ms. Bhatla: Via asylum, I can give you the figures for between January and April 2014. We can certainly follow up with figures since the crisis, for a longer period, but between January and April, we have over 250 asylum claims.
The Chair: They have been accepted, right?
Ms. Bhatla: I should say over 250 asylum claims have been accepted between January and April.
The Chair: How many resettlement?
Ms. Bhatla: Resettlement, I can't give you the total number, but I can say in terms of resettlement, where we have made the commitment for the 200 government-assisted and an additional 1,100 private-sponsored, we are on track to meeting the government-assisted targets, and we are cautiously optimistic that we will potentially exceed that target.
The Chair: How many have arrived in resettlement?
Ms. Bhatla: How many have actually landed? I could get you that figure, unless we have it. Do we have it? I'll confirm it with you, but it looks like over 130 have actually landed and arrived in Canada. We are definitely on track.
The Chair: I'm just doing math at the moment. For clarification, what does 1,100 mean?
Ms. Bhatla: I mentioned that there were two programs. There's the inland asylum system and resettlement program.
The Chair: Yes, that's 250, you said.
Ms. Bhatla: As part of the resettlement program, there are various streams: government-assisted, privately sponsored, and then we have other blended programs.
The Chair: Let me put it bluntly. How many Syrians in total have landed on our border? Forget the asylum. I get all that. How many have arrived at our border and how many are now settled here? How many Syrians?
Ms. Bhatla: The total number?
The Chair: Yes.
Ms. Bhatla: I would have to get back to you with the total number. I think the total number that I can tell you that we've provided protection to in Canada is that original number that I gave you of over 1,100.
The Chair: If you can please clarify how they have come and why did the minister in March 2014 say 10?
Ms. Bhatla: He may have been referring to a specific subsection or group.
The Chair: Can you look that up and let us know what he was referring to, please?
Ms. Bhatla: I can certainly do that.
The Chair: Thank you very much.
Senator Ataullahjan: You say 1,100 Syrians have come so far. Do we know how many of those are children?
Ms. Bhatla: I could certainly check and get back to you. I think we do the analysis by person and I think we do it by family. We have a family count and a case count. I don't know if we break it down by age, but we can get back to you on that.
Senator Ataullahjan: The majority of the refugees are living outside of camps in urban areas and informal camps and many are not registered as refugees. How are organizations identifying these displaced people? How do they look after their needs and see what kind of assistance they need?
Ms. Norton: What we know is that there are almost 2.7 million registered refugees, and that is the majority of the refugees. There are people who we anticipate are unregistered. The challenge of meeting their needs is there. The UN has an extensive network of partners, both international NGOs as well as local NGOs in Jordan and Lebanon, for instance. Lebanon is where there are many more people not living in camps. However, to say that if they're not registered they don't all need assistance, but those who are unregistered may need assistance, I know that the international NGO partners are doing a lot of outreach to help find these people. Because it's so volatile right now and because of the numbers that continue to cross the borders, it's an ongoing, fluid situation. If there are people falling between the cracks, I know that the UN and the humanitarian community are increasingly scaling up to try to make sure no one falls through the cracks.
Senator Ataullahjan: We recently heard in the media about the lack of health care for displaced people, particularly in Lebanon. Many children are facing starvation and malnutrition. In some cases, displaced people have chosen to go back to Syria for medical treatment. Does Canada have any programs or have we supported any programs with regard to health care?
Ms. Norton: The partners we are funding in the regional response include UNICEF and UNHCR. OCHA is also a regional partner we are funding, and we're funding the World Food Programme. We're also funding the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Cross movement writ large now in these particular countries and the World Health Organization as well. In these countries in question or in Lebanon, organizations with health mandates would include the International Committee of the Red Cross, WHO and UNICEF. Then there are some NGO partners also that have health mandates. I'd have to look that up for you, though, to give you the exact names of the NGOs.
Senator Ataullahjan: I would appreciate that.
The Chair: Ms. Bhatla, I come back to you. One of the things that is confusing for us here is the process. For the asylum seekers, we get it. They come to our border, and there's a process. Also, we understand when a church group is sponsoring.
Two questions: There used to be a program called Women at Risk, where five families or people could sponsor women at risk. Does that program still exist?
Ms. Bhatla: Yes, it does.
The Chair: Have we brought any women under that program?
Ms. Bhatla: We generally do bring in women at risk. I could see if we could find a breakdown of who comes through that program. Quite frankly, you don't need to come through that program in order to come in as a woman at risk. For example, in the context of Syria, our commitment was to take the extremely vulnerable. You have to remember that from a resettlement perspective one of the main objectives is, in the first instance, saving lives. The UNHCR, when they made their first call, actually asked specifically for us to take the most vulnerable, and included amongst those are women and children at risk. That's a primary focus of our work with the UNHCR in the context of Syria.
The Chair: If I'm not mistaken, I understand that our government had committed to 200 extremely vulnerable. Have we met that commitment?
Ms. Bhatla: We're on track to meeting that commitment, yes.
The Chair: Can you explain the process to us? How do you decide who you will settle in Canada and who you will help in the camps? I know you work very closely with UNHCR and, if I'm not mistaken, UNHCR would first say that that person is a refugee.
Ms. Bhatla: Correct.
The Chair: Then what is the process once UNHCR has said person X is a refugee? What do they have to do to be able to resettle in Canada? What is the process?
Ms. Bhatla: The first thing that UNHCR has to do, as you mentioned, is to determine that the person is indeed a refugee, according to the definition of the convention, but, as you know, there are so many refugees in the area.
The next step is actually more critical in that they need to determine that they are good candidates for resettlement. Usually, resettlement doesn't tend to come into the picture of a crisis until several years into the crisis because the first response is humanitarian, on-the-ground assistance in the region.
The proportion of refugees who are referred for resettlement is extremely small. Then, the UNHCR will make a determination with a number of resettlement countries — Canada is among them — if the refugee has no other durable solution. So our Canadian legislation actually lays out that we only take refugees for resettlement if there is no other solution in terms of voluntary repatriation to the country of origin or else local integration in the region, in their country of asylum.
So if there is no durable solution of those first two, the UNHCR will say, ``This particular group or this particular family is in need of resettlement to a third country because we can't find a durable solution.'' In that context, they can refer those individuals to a number of resettlement countries.
Let's say they've said that this is a case that is a good candidate for Canada. Remember, the refugees themselves may have a preference in terms of where they want to go, or there may be language considerations or family connections. Then, a Canadian visa officer interviews the refugee to make sure that they meet the requirements of our legislation. At that point, we also look at issues of security, medical, criminality, all of the elements that we need to do as part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Once we've determined that they can come to Canada and they've passed all of their checks, then we make arrangements, usually through organizations such as the International Organization for Migration. We work with them operationally to have the person come to Canada.
One of the things that makes us different from many of the other countries that are providing assistance, particularly in the context of Syria, is that we are a country that only provides a long-term, durable solution. We are bringing people here as permanent residents and then, ultimately, citizens, whereas some of the other countries that do resettlement are actually doing forms of temporary humanitarian admissions or family reunification programs. We have to be a little bit more thorough because we know that they are not coming temporarily with a view to going back home.
The Chair: Thank you very much for that explanation. I would very much appreciate it if you could send to the clerk how many of the 200 vulnerable are here and exactly how many Syrians are here through Canada's resettlement, not as asylum seekers.
Senator Ngo: Ms. Bhatla, the United Nations has called on states worldwide to accept more refugees, vulnerable people, more than 130,000 for the period of 2014 to 2016. As you say, Canada already accepted 200 for 2013 and 200 for 2014, plus 1,100 privately sponsored. The question I'm asking is: Will Canada accept additional refugees for a period of time? If it does, will it be a priority to resettle children in Canada for 2014, 2015 or 2016?
Ms. Bhatla: We're in the process right now of considering the request of the UNHCR for additional resettlement spaces as part of our broader response to the Syrian crisis.
Senator Ngo: You don't know what the numbers will be for the 2015 or 2016, the number of refugees that will be accepted into Canada?
Ms. Bhatla: We're in the process of considering those numbers. The High Commissioner for Refugees is coming to Canada this week, and I expect it will be a subject of discussion between our minister and the high commissioner himself.
Senator Ngo: Will you give the priority to children, for example, in 2015 and 2016?
Ms. Bhatla: I think it would be difficult to say that we would. We obviously don't want children without their families. We don't want to bring in children outside of their own family contexts.
That having been said, as I mentioned earlier, the Syrian families we have been taking typically consist of a lot of children, easily more than four and often much larger families. We will be getting lots of Syrian children through the caseload we already have and I suspect into the future as well.
Senator Ataullahjan: We are not going taking in any orphans, then.
Ms. Bhatla: We generally don't take orphans. We have a policy based very much on the best interests of the children. We have flexible provisions that allow us to take into consideration the unique situations of refugees. Our first priority is to ensure as much as possible that refugees are resettled together so that the children and parents are not separated.
When separation is completely unavoidable, we can facilitate family reunification through what we call a one-year window of opportunity. This means that if you have a non-accompanying family member of a resettled refugee, let's say a family was split up and children or adults were left behind, then the one who is left behind has a year to be processed as a resettled refugee along with their family.
We also have provisions that allow for de facto dependents. For example, in Syria if there is a child with elderly relatives because the parents have died, that child could be considered a dependent of the elderly relatives. We have flexibility in the way we apply the family definition to take into account the specific situations that refugee children find themselves in.
Finally, there can be situations where if there is a blood relative in Canada and the child has no family where they are, we could then consider allowing the child to come in to be with the family member in Canada. There is a considerable amount of flexibility, either as de facto dependents or to meet with a family member who is a blood relation already in Canada, but we generally don't see it as in the best interests of the children to come on their own, without family ties or accompanying adults.
Senator Seidman: Ms. Norton, I would like to ask about something you said in your presentation to us. You said that the ``No Lost Generation'' initiative is an excellent example of the evolution of the practices of both UNICEF and UNHCR to meet the needs of displaced children. I'm interested in the status of the ``No Lost Generation'' initiative, which was announced at the beginning of 2014. What do you mean by an excellent example of the evolution of the practices of these two agencies?
Ms. Norton: Thank you for the question.
``No Lost Generation'' is quite an important initiative because first of all it is addressing, on a large scale, the education needs of children in crisis situations. If we were to look at the generation of needs in a crisis, education is not seen as a first generation of needs. If you ask a parent in such a context they will say that food, water and shelter are priorities.
What is really interesting about this particular initiative is the collective of the partnerships around the ``No Lost Generation'' initiative, but there is also a strong recognition that education is a protection tool in this environment. It is also bringing together four elements — learning, health care, psychosocial and protection — in one basket with a range, a large partnership. That's what I meant by an evolution. There hasn't always been such a strong recognition of the important need. The important need is there, but bringing in the elements of the psychosocial with the protection mandate is key in this instance.
Quite a few partners have come around the ``No Lost Generation'' initiative. I'm trying to think if I have a number on the back of this page to tell you the status of it. There have been quite a few partners that have come on board with the ``No Lost Generation,'' and with the Canadian $50 million kick-start leadership amount, they are in good stead right now to roll it out.
Senator Seidman: Are they in the process of rolling it out?
Ms. Norton: They are in the process of rolling it out, yes.
Senator Seidman: It's four-pronged, as you suggest. I'm interested in the mandate of UNICEF and UNHCR because you talk about it being an evolution. I'm trying to understand. Is it an evolution of their mandates? Are these two agencies doing things they haven't otherwise done in the past? Is this a new responsibility for them in some way?
Ms. Norton: It's hard to say. I would say no. This was their mandate but it's about connecting all the pieces and bringing it together under a protection umbrella, which is the new element that we're seeing here.
Senator Seidman: Is there a time frame for this to be rolled out?
Ms. Norton: There is a time frame, and I don't know whether it's three years or two. Currently they're speaking here about the 15-month period between October 2013 and December 2014, and it's costed at approximately $1 billion. For 2013, it was 57 per cent funded. We're obviously deep into 2014 and at this point partners are elaborating program interventions through the two appeal documents — the humanitarian appeal for Syria as well as the one for the region. They each have a name. SHARP is the name of the document in Syria, and the RRP6 is the one for the regional appeal. If you need some progress numbers, you can actually find that in those particular documents.
The governments of Lebanon and Jordan are also implicated in the ``No Lost Generation'' and they take into consideration the development plans on the education side of these countries as well.
Senator Seidman: Is there a built-in evaluation? As the program rolls out, is there some kind of stock-taking at various periods to see what progress is being made and if in fact it's living up to its intent?
Ms. Norton: I couldn't say for sure what that schedule is, but I can assure you that because of the investment we have made, we will be looking for that. They are required to report to us based on our contractual arrangements with the partners. That is required.
I would anticipate though, because of the magnitude of the actual program, that there will be quite a full evaluation. Again, this is because of the donor requirement to see real results, but also to ensure it has been good value for money and to see that the funds have been spent where they say they have been.
The Chair: Has the ``No Lost Generation'' model been done before? How much of the $990 million are we funding for the ``lost generation''?
Ms. Norton: Has it ever been done before? I've been in this line of work since 1998 and I'm not aware of it, but that doesn't mean there haven't been earlier elaborations.
The Chair: Different versions.
Ms. Norton: Different versions. Certainly there has been a growing momentum behind the importance of education in crises, and I'm sure you have seen that from your time on the Sudan file. Canada has provided $50 million of the $960 million. My math is not good enough to tell you what percentage that is, but it is an important percentage.
The Chair: Thank you very much. I can say to you on behalf of the committee that we have found this very useful. We want to thank you, Ms. Norton, Ms. Bhatla, Mr. Metcalfe and Mr. Gwozdecky, for your presentations today. As I said to you privately, we will probably be asking for you to come back and clarify many things for us. This is just the beginning of our study, and we have found this very useful.
(The committee adjourned.)