Canada Without Poverty, the UN and Human Rights

Posted on March 20, 2017 in Inclusion Policy Context

—

CWP-CSP.ca – action
March 21, 2017

The United Nations (UN) has a fundamental role in the enforcement of human rights around the world. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights within the UN is the highest authority on human rights in the world.

There are many ways in which the UN monitors the implementation of human rights. Perhaps two of the most relevant to poverty in Canada are the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Periodic Review.

ICESCR
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is the enforcement mechanism for the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which is the foundation of economic and social rights in international law. The Committee is responsible for periodically reviewing member states’ compliance with the ICESCR, a task which involves state actors, UN officials, and non-state actors.

Governments make official reports to the Committee that outline how economic and social rights are being implemented and enforced in their country, while non-government organizations are invited to make parallel reports with their perspective. Canada Without Poverty (CWP) has had the privilege of being invited to present to the Committee at each session on Canada since 1993 when CWP appeared as the first Non-Government Organization at the Committee.

Universal Periodic Review
The Universal Periodic Review is essentially an assessment of every Member State in the UN and their human rights records, both good and bad. The Universal Periodic Review has the aim of improving human rights (civil/political and economic/social/cultural) in countries around the world. It involves UN Member States, non-governmental organizations and the Human Rights Council coming together to present, question, and hopefully resolve human rights issues in each country.

Most recently, CWP participated in Canada’s second Periodic Review in 2012/2013 by providing a joint submission (with the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation) to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights:   http://www.cwp-csp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/CWP-CERA-Submission-to-the-Human-Rights-Council_October-2012.pdf

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/action/cwp-at-the-un/

___________________

In March-April 2017, Canada will be reviewed for its compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Canada ratified the Convention in 2010 which makes this the first review cycle that applies to Canada. Like other treaty body reviews, both the federal government and relevant NGOs – including CWP – will participate throughout the process.UN Building

The first step is to provide a written submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. For NGOs, the written submission details ongoing issues and concerns about the state’s human rights record. CWP has provided our submission to the Committee which highlights concerns about the following issues:

– The intersection between poverty and disability in Canada

– The lack of access to legal remedies for violations of economic and social rights

– State failure to implement economic and social rights for people with disabilities in Canada

– State failure to use its maximum available resources to address these problems, as required under article 28 of the CRPD

To read CWP’s full submission, click here:  http://www.cwp-csp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CWP_Submission-to-CRPD.pdf

CWP will be attending the review in Geneva and will update this page with information about the review.

http://www.cwp-csp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/CWP_Submission-to-CRPD.pdf

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, March 20th, 2017 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Inclusion Policy Context. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply