FAAE Committee Report

SUPPORTING PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT IN GUATEMALA AND COLOMBIA FOR THE LONG-TERM

Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development

Supplementary Opinion of the New Democratic Party of Canada

The New Democratic Party extends its thanks to the many people who assisted the Committee during its visit to Guatemala and Colombia in August 2016. This was an important occasion to witness the achievements and opportunities for improvement of Canadian assistance in both countries. In particular, we want to thank the many women who challenged the Committee to think more deeply about the importance of women's full participation in women, peace and security processes in their respective countries. We celebrate their leadership, courage and insight.

While the NDP agrees with much of the Committee's final report, we believe the Committee's recommendations are not sufficiently ambitious or bold, especially with regard to Canadian funding. Canada's annual contribution of official development assistance (ODA) is below the OECD average. If Canada wishes to strengthen its international reputation and seriously contribute to ending global poverty, it must increase its official development assistance budget.

The Committee has already recommended in a previous report that Canada increase its ODA to 0.7% in order to better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, we believe the Committee should have recommended, based on the real needs it saw first-hand in Guatemala (see notably paragraph 93), that Canada's development cooperation program with that country should be expanded as Canada's international aid budget increases. As this report correctly recognizes, some of Guatemala's greatest challenges are key policy areas of interest to Canada: namely, strengthening the rule of law, ensuring accountable governance, and upholding the rights of women and indigenous peoples. Canada should therefore consider increasing its assistance in these areas.

The trip to Colombia and Guatemala also highlighted the important roles women play in peace and security, and the need for sufficient assistance from Canada for this area of programming. We therefore take this opportunity to reiterate recommendations we, the New Democratic Party, made in our previous supplementary report to the Committee's 2016 report on Women, Peace and Security, in particular: if Canada is to make the WPS Agenda a core goal of Canadian foreign policy, it must provide a dedicated budget for Canada's National Action Plan, including funds for staff, consultations, outreach, Canadian capacity building and knowledge management. Further, we believe Canada must allocate at least 15% of the international assistance it provides for peace and security programming to projects that have the advancement of gender equality and women's empowerment as their primary objective.

Canada has much to contribute globally, both in terms of women, peace and security and in terms of sustainable development. For our country to succeed, we must walk the talk and strengthen our commitments. This is not just the right thing to do - it's the wise thing to do.