FAFIA REPORTS TO UNITED NATIONS ON CANADA’S POOR RECORD ON WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
Canada's performance in achieving women's human rights is currently being reviewed by the United Nation’s Committee on the International Covenant on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
FAFIA, along with its member groups, has submitted a comprehensive national civil society report to the UN CEDAW Committee to advise this review.
Nearly 40 women’s equality seeking groups and individuals collaborated on this testimony of Canada’s adherence to CEDAW and its implementation of the CEDAW committee’s recommendations of 2003.
FAFIA REPORTS TO UNITED NATIONS ON CANADA’S POOR RECORD ON WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS
Representatives from the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) are making submissions today in Geneva to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (UN CEDAW Committee). The alliance of seventy women’s organizations is presenting its report, Women’s Inequality in Canada at the beginning of the UN CEDAW Committee’s 42nd Session.
"At Canada’s last review in 2003, this committee of international experts expressed serious concerns about the status of women in Canada and made 23 recommendations. Canada was urged to increase its efforts to deal with the conditions of Aboriginal women, including the serious violence against them; to address the poverty of women, particularly of lone mothers, Aboriginal, disabled, and racialized women; to improve child care and affordable housing; to design cash transfers to the provinces to ensure nation-wide standards for social programs; and to improve access to legal aid for family law,” said Shelagh Day, Chair of FAFIA’s Human Rights Committee. “These central issues remain outstanding. Despite Canada’s desire to be seen as a human rights leader, Canadian governments have ignored the terms of the treaty they ratified in 1981 and failed to act on the recommendations of the UN CEDAW Committee.”
“In addition to a failure to move forward,” said Bonnie Diamond, Co-Chair of FAFIA, “many monitoring organizations have noted that Canada has moved backwards on women’s equality with the cancellation of the childcare agreements in early 2006, funding cuts and mandate changes to Status of Women Canada, and the elimination of the equality component of the Court Challenges Programme, to name a few. This sad record will be reviewed in Geneva this week.”
The FAFIA alliance of over 70 Canadian women’s organizations is committed to domestic implementation of Canada’s international human rights commitments to women. FAFIA’s report, Women’s Inequality in Canada, was prepared with the help of more than forty member groups and individuals. It documents Canada’s performance under CEDAW since its last review. FAFIA is represented in Geneva by Barbara Cameron, Shelagh Day, Leilani Farha, and Sharon McIvor, who will appear before the UN CEDAW Committee.
