UN Committee to review Canada’s record on women’s rights

GENEVA (19 October 2016)  – The record of Canada on women’s rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 25 October. Canada has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is reviewed regularly by the Committee on how it is implementing the Convention. 

Among the possible issues for discussion between CEDAW and a delegation from the Canadian Government are: 

• Amending discriminatory laws against indigenous women;
• Closure of regional offices of the Status of Women and its impact on the provision of services to women, in particular aboriginal and rural women;
• Continued prevalence of violence against women, in particular domestic and sexual violence, affecting mainly indigenous and minority women;
• Efforts to address the long-standing issues faced by aboriginal and African-Canadian children in gaining access to and completing primary and secondary school;
• Measures to increase access to employment opportunities for women, especially disadvantaged groups of women, reduce the gender wage gap, and prevent the labour exploitation of women migrant domestic workers;
• Measures to address the lack of recognition of indigenous women’s right to own, have access to and use their traditional lands, resources and territories;
• Steps taken to establish a national public inquiry into cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women and girls;
• Gender-sensitive treatment of refugee and asylum-seeking women at all stages of the asylum procedure.

The review will take place in Room XVI at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 – 13:00 (4:00 – 7:00 in Ottawa) and 15:00 - 17:00 (9:00 – 11:00) and will be webcast live at http://webtv.un.org/.

The Committee will also hear from NGO representatives. More information about the review, including Canada’s written report, here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1027&Lang=en

The Committee’s findings, officially known as concluding observations, on Canada and the other countries being reviewed – Burundi, Bhutan, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Honduras, Armenia, Bangladesh, Estonia, Netherlands, and Antigua and Barbuda– will be published on 21 November here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1027&Lang=en

ENDS

More information: Jakob Schneider - + 41 (0) 22 917 9301 /  jschneider@ohchr.org
Media requests: Liz Throssell +41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org

Media accreditation for the Palais des Nations:   http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background

CEDAW is composed of 23 independent human rights experts drawn from around the world. They serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. More information:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/cedaw

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