(October 14, 2024) Amnesty International and a coalition of Indigenous-led and civil society organizations attended the 89th Session of the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in Geneva, Switzerland this week. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The CEDAW Committee consists of 23 experts on women’s rights from around the world.
In a public briefing on Monday October 14, Amnesty International Canada addressed Canada’s record and progress on a range of issues including the rising rates of femicide and anti-Black gender-based violence, the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples, and violence against Indigenous women in Ecuador in the context of Canada-Ecuador trade negotiations and resource extraction.
The urgency to address these issues cannot be understated.
Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples are going missing and being murdered at alarming rates. Reported cases are actively dismissed by law enforcement and the criminal legal system while disappearances and deaths are often miscategorized as substance use or medical cases rather than missing persons or femicide cases, leading to a lack of investigation and prompt inquiry. Police misconduct and abuse continues despite consistent community calls for independent Indigenous-led civilian oversight reporting mechanisms.
Amnesty International has documented human rights violations against Indigenous defenders fighting against the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline being built through Wet’suwet’en territory without free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). It is important to note that the majority of Wet’suwet’en land defenders are women. Reports include gender-based violence by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Forsythe Security and CGL employees toward defenders including threats over radio channels while travelling in the area, aggressive and misogynistic language, and specific threats of rape.
Indigenous women are also facing immense risks and threats near resource extraction sites. In an interview with Amnesty International Canada in December 2023, Secwépemc Nation land and water defender and co-founder Kanahus Manuel shared:
“As Indigenous women defenders, we are not only facing a violent industry but also thousands of transient male industry workers. If you talk to anyone in the vicinity, they will tell you what happens when you assemble such a big concentration of male workers in one place. Instances of substance-use based violence, domestic and sexual violence increase in the areas where ‘man camp’ workers are housed.”
Due to continued inaction on the issue of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, Canada is in breach of the recommendations made by the CEDAW Committee in 2016, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Calls for Justice specified in the Final Report of the National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.
Amnesty International calls on Canada to urgently create a time-bound, Indigenous-led, trauma-informed and culturally sensitive National Action Plan “Implementation Strategy” outlining how all 231 Calls for Justice will be implemented to prevent and end violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples. To address law enforcement misconduct and continued institutional failure to protect Indigenous women and girls, we call on the federal and provincial governments to urgently work with Indigenous survivors and families to create robust and well-funded Indigenous civilian oversight mechanisms in all jurisdictions, that would observe and oversee investigations concerning police violence and misconduct.
“The issue of Black femicide is being overlooked, discounted and wholly erased because Black femicide data is not being collected, resulting in under-reporting of femicide cases” said Dr. Temitope Adefarakan in a collaborative Shadow Report submission with Amnesty International Canada to the CEDAW Committee.
Despite limited data, violence experienced by Black women, girls, and gender expansive, non-binary and trans people who identify as Black is a serious issue, a trend that is rooted in anti-Black racism, misogynoir and socio-economic disparities. Black women, girls and gender expansive, non-binary and trans people who identify as Black are often overlooked in prevention and intervention efforts on femicide, despite evidence pointing to their heightened exposure to anti-Black gender-based and sexual violence.
Recognizing femicide as a distinct crime in the Criminal Code of Canada is a critical first step to making access to justice more equitable for intersectionally marginalized communities. These efforts will raise public awareness about the gravity of this crisis and its root causes. Canada must introduce accurate disaggregated race-based data collection and reporting mechanisms to record femicides against Black, Indigenous, racialized women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people with an emphasis on research on anti-Black gender-based violence. Following the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission’s recommendations, Canada must also establish core funding to prevent and end gender-based violence commensurate with the scale of the problem. Emphasis must be on establishing funding for Indigenous, Black and racialized-led initiatives.
In November 2022, Canada announced free trade talks with Ecuador. In early 2023, Global Affairs Canada invited input from Canadian stakeholders. Organizations representing Indigenous women in Ecuador, including Amazonian Women Defenders of the Rainforest (Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva), were excluded from this consultation. To date, they have been neither informed nor consulted by the Government of Ecuador or the Government of Canada.
Indigenous women in Ecuador are at severe risk as they denounce violations of their rights and territory by Canadian companies. After being informed by Amnesty International Canada about Canadian government statements regarding their goals for a free trade agreement with Ecuador and intention to seek Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), Amazonian Women Defenders of the Rainforest issued a Public Statement in February 2023 expressing concerns that a free trade agreement “poses a grave threat to the human rights of Ecuadorian citizens and Indigenous peoples” due to the legal protections that a free trade agreement could grant to Canadian companies.
During a visit to Canada from 29 September to 6 October 2024 by a delegation of Indigenous women and water defenders from Ecuador, Fanny Kaekat, a leader of the Shuar Arutam Indigenous People and member of Amazonian Women Defenders of the Rainforest testified:
“We are being threatened and our territory is being expropriated. Speaking out here puts my safety at risk. But mining projects continue to violate our rights, harm the environment, generate conflicts and increase levels of violence and insecurity for women and girls.”
Zenaida Yasacama, Vice-President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), shared the following concerns at a press conference in October 2024:
“The expansion and intensification of Canadian mining activity in the territory of Indigenous peoples and campesino communities in Ecuador has led to the deforestation and destruction of vital wetlands, forests, and ancestral territories. Climate change is no longer a threat of the future. We are experiencing it firsthand, right now, with droughts, floods, and forest fires that are exacerbated by the extractive industry. Women who defend territory in Ecuador are seeking to protect the rights of all. It is water – our most precious resource – that mining companies are seeking to control. We demand that the government immediately cease its promotion of Canadian mining and oil projects in our ancestral territories.”
Amnesty International calls on Canada to comply with the recommendations of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises and ensure that all existing and future agreements, including the negotiation of a Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement, are compatible with their international human rights obligations, removing investor-State dispute settlement provisions and ensuring ex ante and ex post human rights impact assessments, paying particular attention to the impact on Indigenous women and girls. Canada must also ensure that no trade agreement with Ecuador advances in the absence of mandatory human rights and environment due diligence, through a legal framework enshrined in legislation, and access to remedy when rights are breached by Canadian companies. In addition, shortcomings, identified by UN experts like the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, about the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise, must be addressed – including by granting power to compel companies to provide witnesses and documents.
LEARN MORE
Read Amnesty International’s collaborative Shadow Report submission with partners to the UN CEDAW Committee:
Amnesty International Canada Shadow Report to the UN CEDAW Committee (89th Session)
Watch the Public Briefing Session here:
2099th Meeting, 89th Session, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
