Question Period Note: Canada's Response to human rights violations in Mali

In May and June 2022, the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) released quarterly human rights reports showing that human right violations and abuses of humanitarian law increased 151% and 32% respectively.

• The government is extremely concerned about human rights violations in Mali and by the presence of Russian-backed Wagner Forces in Mali, suspected of numerous human rights violations.
• Canada adopted sanctions against the Wagner Group and continues to stand with the people of Mali.
• We continue to call on Mali to return to democracy as quickly as possible and for Malian authorities to end their obstructions against MINUSMA which prevent the UN mission from fulfilling its mandate.
• Canada condemns all human rights violations, wherever they occur in the world.

May 30/22 the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA) released its first quarterly human rights report of 2022 (Jan - Mar 2022 period), showing that human right violations and abuses of international humanitarian law increased 151% since the last quarter, with killings jumping exponentially by 324%. While armed groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State remained the main perpetrators, a rapidly growing portion are being attributed to the Malian Defence and Security Forces (320 violations in the first quarter vs. 31 violations the previous quarter) "supported by foreign military elements". Though MINUSMA did not specify, these are widely believed to be Russian-backed Wagner mercenaries. These attacks have also disproportionately targeted marginalized Fulani communities.

MINUSMA figures exclude a massacre of civilians that took place in late March in Moura, in central Mali. A separate MINUSMA Special Report on Moura is expected to be published in fall 2022, though MINUSMA continues to be denied access to the site by Malian authorities while the findings of their remote investigation are being finalized. Mali announced their own investigation into Moura and told MINUSMA that their request to access the site would be "considered" once Mali's own investigation is "finalized". Canada issued a public statement on April 5th condemning the massacre and calling on MINUSMA to be allowed full access to the site to conduct an independent investigation. Other likeminded countries issued similar statements. Canada previously warned in a statement issued with European countries in December 2021 of the dangers of the Wagner deployment to Mali. The US issued a similar statement. Canada sanctioned the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin (Wagner's financier), his immediate family (wife, son and daughter) and Dmitriy Utkin (Wagner's founder) in the context of the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, human rights violations continue to increase as MINUSMA recorded, 684 cases of human rights violations and abuses in the second quarter (April-June 2022), an increase of 32%. Other allegations of violations against civilians by the Wagner Group have also been since raised in the media.

None