(Ottawa) Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be able to help Afghans without facing serious penalties: the federal government has introduced a bill to change the provisions of the Criminal Code that exposed NGOs to this risk .
Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino presented Thursday morning in the House of Commons Bill C-41, which aims to correct the situation that has been denounced for several months by both NGOs and opposition parties.
He will then go to the head office of the Canadian Red Cross to make the announcement, along with his colleagues in International Development, Harjit Sajjan, and Justice, David Lametti. This NGO was among those whose shipments of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan were restricted by law.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Marco Mendicino
The Taliban, who took over the reins of power in Kabul on August 15, 2021, are listed as terrorist entities in Canada. Because of this status, any funding that could benefit them directly or indirectly exposes contributors to criminal prosecution.
The government had moreover cut off supplies to two NGOs which had not been “able to implement sufficient mitigation measures”, to prevent its activities on the ground from enriching the regime by the band, for example by paying taxes.
Bloc Québécois Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, who has been hounding the Trudeau government for more than a year on this file, is delighted with this “enormous victory”, and he promises the Liberals that his party will work together to ensure that the bill is adopted at any time. steam.
“The government can count on the cooperation of the Bloc Québécois to speed up the process. We can’t wait until September for it to come into effect. People in Afghanistan need help now,” he said in an interview on the eve of the official C-41 deposition.
The majority of the Afghan population does not have enough to eat; more than 28 million people, or two thirds of the population, will need humanitarian aid in 2023, according to a report published on February 21 by the World Food Programme.