Canada can and should help the persecuted Rohingya

If you saw a helpless child being beaten senseless by a vicious thug, would you walk away, intervene or cry out for help?

The answer would be simple for most Canadians if it happened on their street and in front of their eyes. They’d do something — shout at the attacker to stop or, at the very least, call 911.

But the answer is far from simple when the outrage is viewed on a TV screen and happening someplace far away, where danger awaits any outsider who dares to get involved.

In such fraught situations, the aid that comes is usually too little, too late.

We should never forget that it was the international community’s shameful failure to act that enabled the Rwandan genocide to claim 800,000 lives in 1994.

Currently, a similar inability by the international community to protect the innocent has allowed a civil war in Syria to drag on for seven years, slaughter more than 500,000 people and drive six million others out of their homeland as refugees.

And it gets worse. Today, the divided, dithering international community has permitted the government and military of Myanmar to terrorize, kill and ethnically cleanse a people the United Nations calls the world’s “most persecuted minority” — the Rohingya. Some observers are calling it genocide.

Last week, Canada’s special envoy to Myanmar, Bob Rae, issued an urgent plea for the Canadian government to do all it can to protect the mostly Muslim Rohingya, ensure they have sanctuary and hold their tormentors accountable under international law.

It’s a tall order, but one Canadians should not turn away from.

At this very moment, nearly one million Rohingya who fled the violence in Myanmar are surviving in squalid, hastily improvised refugee camps in Bangladesh.

In a few weeks, the monsoon rains will batter this region and make life even more precarious for these outcasts. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya still living in Myanmar face a hostile population and uncertain future. They are still not, by any stretch of the imagination, safe.

After touring the region and witnessing the Rohingya’s plight first-hand, Rae issued a call to action.

To begin, he wants Canada to triple its financial aid to Myanmar and Bangladesh over the next four years to provide relief to the Rohingya. The bill for this would be a hefty $600 million, but considering the need, the federal government should come through with the cash.

Next, Rae wants Canada to work with its international partners to facilitate the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar and establish a process for prosecuting those responsible for what appear to be war crimes against the Rohingya. We can do this, too.

In addition, Canadians should be receptive to Rae’s recommendation that this country open its doors to Rohingya refugees.

Based on the generous welcome Canada gave to more than 40,000 Syrian refugees, such hospitality should be possible.

At another time, when the United States confidently wore the mantle of global leader and a united Europe was ready to lend a hand, a concerted effort to save Rohingya lives and ease their suffering would have been more likely.

We are not in that world.

Canada cannot do everything. But it can lead. And we can stop vicious thugs from beating helpless children.