41st PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION(Canada) Friday, December 2, 2011 Foreign Affairs
Mr. Scott Armstrong (Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, CPC): Mr. Speaker, Camp Ashraf, in northern Iraq, is a makeshift home to political refugees. Those people are opposed to the nearby regime in Iran.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, they have been protected by the U.S. and coalition forces. However, with the U.S. winding down its operations in Iraq, who is going to protect these people? Iraq has demanded the camp be closed by the end of the month.
Could the Minister of Foreign Affairs please inform the House of his opinion on what is going to happen at Camp Ashraf and of our action on this important file?
Hon. John Baird (Minister of Foreign Affairs, CPC): Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the member for his efforts as a member of the human rights subcommittee.
Canada encourages the Iraqi government to extend the closure deadline to allow remaining residents sufficient time to take the required steps to seek asylum, and to allow the United Nations Human Rights Council to consider and process applications.
We call on Iraq to meet its obligations under international law. We also want to ensure that Camp Ashraf residents are not forcibly transferred to another country where they could suffer.
I can assure the House that my officials and I will be monitoring the situation very closely.