Senate motion urges more action from Liberal government in response to Rohingya crisis

Marie-Danielle Smith
May 1, 2019
6:32 PM EDT

OTTAWA — A Senate motion will urge the Liberal government to meet Canada’s international treaty obligations by holding Myanmar accountable for its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is hypocritical, say some, for making regretful statements about historical events such as the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide but failing to do more to stop what Parliament has unanimously acknowledged as an ongoing genocide.

“How can you stand up as a government, as politicians, to talk about historic atrocities of the past and say, ‘we can’t let this happen,’ and ‘never again,’ and then when something is actually happening in front of you, before your eyes, and you have the tools available to do something, you do nothing?” said Fareed Khan, director of advocacy for the Rohingya Human Rights Network.

“The fact is if we are going to be a nation that strides around the world thumping our chest and saying that we are defenders of human rights and upholders of the rule of law, when things like this happen, when a genocide is happening and you recognize a genocide is happening, then to not do anything I think is basically morally indefensible.”