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RECOMMENDATIONS

THE STANDING SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS


The Committee’s Recommendations

The National Action Plan

1.      The Government of Canada should strengthen its Action Plan for the Implementation of the United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security with

·         Clear targets that each specific action in the plan is intended to reach; and

·         Time-bound indicators corresponding to the realization of these targets.

2.      The Government of Canada should allocate clear, dedicated and multi-year budgetary resources towards the implementation of its Action Plan.  These resources must be at a level commensurate with the activities and objectives established in the Action Plan.

3.      The Government of Canada should table the annual progress reports on its Action Plan in both Houses of Parliament.  Each year, a parliamentary committee should review progress and the Action Plan itself.  This responsibility should be rotated annually amongst the committees with mandates to examine issues pertaining to foreign affairs and international development, human rights, justice, gender equality, national defence, and public safety.

Enabling Women to be Decision-Makers in Matters of Peace and Security

In Ottawa, the Government of Canada should:

4.      Dedicate funding which is specifically earmarked for women’s participation in peace processes, including support for women delegates, women negotiators, women mediators, and for UN and regional negotiating teams to build gender expertise;

5.      Initiate projects specifically targeted at training, education and capacity-building for women and women’s civil society organizations in situations of armed conflict;

6.      Further increase overall Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) support for women and girls’ education programming as a means of empowerment in situations of state fragility and conflict;

7.      Engage and sponsor individual women and women’s groups from conflict-affected countries so that they can participate in training workshops and symposiums offered by non-governmental and research organizations;

8.      Instruct all Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians, and Government of Canada personnel in DFAIT, CIDA, DND/CF, Public Safety, and the Privy Council Office on gender analysis;

9.      Develop a strategy that addresses gender considerations each time that Canada participates in peace negotiation missions, mediation efforts, or any related roles in conflict or post-conflict zones;

10.  Identify concrete steps to prioritize the inclusion of women automatically each time that Canada participates in such initiatives (listed in recommendation 9);

11.  Target the post-conflict electoral support that is provided by DFAIT, CIDA and Elections Canada on the participation of women as candidates, voters and in election processes;

12.  Champion innovative approaches to women’s participation in peace processes, including parallel or “track two” approaches and post-conflict gender symposiums, and any other mechanisms that are successful at engaging local women and civil society;

At the United Nations, the Government should:

13.  Lobby for the establishment and funding of a UN trust fund, to be overseen by the new UN consolidated gender entity (UN Women), which would be dedicated to assisting women to participate actively in all stages of conflict resolution;

14.  Advocate for and direct funding towards the creation of a specific gender advisory capacity within all UN mediation support units and standby teams; and                       

15.  Advocate that the UN Security Council develop a systematic approach to meeting with women’s organizations when conducting any field visits.

 

Building Gender-Sensitive Peace and Security Architecture

16.  The Government of Canada should ensure that the training and education provided by the Department of National Defence/Canadian Forces (DND/CF) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to their personnel is expanded beyond civilian protection issues to cover the broader issues of women’s participation in all conflict resolution processes and post-conflict reintegration.

17.  The CF should have a capacity of advisers with specific expertise in gender issues pertinent to conflict and post-conflict zones that could be embedded in major CF deployments.

18.  The CF and RCMP should set clear objectives to increase the proportion of female personnel in international deployments to twenty percent by 2015.

19.  The CF and RCMP should both develop time-bound strategies to increase the number of women that can be appointed to high-level leadership positions as part of international security deployments, and for retaining women at these ranks.

20.  The RCMP should consider forming and deploying an all-female or majority-female police unit as part of a United Nations peace support mission.  The Government of Canada should also provide financial assistance to enable other countries with international civilian police capacity to deploy such units.

21.  In order to build best practices in gender sensitive training, DND and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT)  should engage in more systematic outreach with existing organizations that have developed training modules and curricula relevant to women, peace and security issues, including the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre and the Institute for Inclusive Security in the United States.

 

Strengthening Justice Institutions and Access to Remedies

22.  The Government of Canada should refuse to provide any form of support to the negotiation or mediation of cease-fires, peace agreements or post-conflict settlements that include amnesties for serious human rights abuses and/or sexual violence committed during hostilities.

23.  The government should provide sustained and comprehensive support through DFAIT, the Justice Department, Public Safety Canada and CIDA, targeted specifically at strengthening, professionalizing, and building the capacity of national justice systems in conflict and post-conflict countries and ensuring access to justice for women and girls in those countries.

24.  The government should advocate internationally for the establishment of a permanent high-level adviser on gender crimes within the prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Court.  The government should also provide dedicated funding to enable this new position.

 

Institutional Changes at the United Nations

At the United Nations, the Government of Canada should:

25.  Advocate that the mandate of the new UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict be expanded to include explicit reference to broader issues of women, peace and security;

26.  Provide core funding to UN Women in the form of voluntary contributions.


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