SUMMARY OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’S SUMISSIONS TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Canada underwent its sixth review of its compliance to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights before the UN Human Rights Committee in July 2015. Amnesty International was one of 26 civil society organizations to provide written submissions to the Human Rights Committee, representative of the great level of concern with the state of protection of civil and political rights in Canada. Amnesty International provided written submissions at two stages of the review process: to assist the Human Rights Committee in setting out its list of issues it would examine during the review, and submissions for the review itself.
Amnesty International’s submissions highlighted concerns that Canada has failed to institute a transparent, effective, and accountable system for ensuring full and proper implementation of Canada’s international human rights obligations, exemplified by its public hostility throughout the course of 2012 towards UN Special Rapporteurs and Committees mandated to examine Canada’s human rights record. In addition, Amnesty’s submissions drew attention to:
- Inadequate oversight and review of Canada’s national security agencies and alarming human rights implications of Bill C-51, a drastic overhaul to Canada’s national security laws passed in 2015;
- Troubling laws which undermine transparency, the right to a fair trial or appeal process for persons suspected of being threats to national security, and which in some cases permit the revocation of Canadian citizenship;
- Canada’s failure to enforce human rights standards for Canadian mining companies operating abroad;
- Canada’s State Immunity Act, which bars civil lawsuits against foreign officials that commit human rights violations against Canadians;
- Immigration laws which contravene Canada’s obligations towards refugees;
- Canada’s ongoing failure to providing remedies for the torture and ill-treatment and other human rights violations of Canadians that Canadian officials have been found to have been complicit in and partially responsible for;
- Canada’s inconsistent advocacy on behalf of Canadians detained abroad;
- The failure to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture;
- Ongoing inaction to address violence against women in girls in Canada, particularly the epidemic rates of violence, including murder, against Indigenous women and girls;
- Sweeping cuts to federal funding for health services for refugee claimants and refugees;
- Canada’s ongoing use of solitary confinement in detention centres;
- Introduction of a government bill which would allow the imposition of life sentences without the possibility of parole;
- Excessive use of force by police during protests;
- The restriction of freedom of expression for civil society organizations and human rights defenders;
- Inadequate protection of the rights of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, including underfunding of child and family welfare services, inadequate education, failure to respect Indigenous land rights, and persistent sex discrimination under the Indian Act;
- Failure to enact laws to protect transgender individuals against discrimination; and
- Canada’s failure to adopt a national housing strategy to address very high rates of homelessness and inadequate housing.
OUTCOMES OF THE REVIEW
In its Concluding Observations, the Human Rights Committee expressed many concerns about the state of civil and political rights protection in Canada, including:
- The absence of access to justice for victims of human rights abuses by Canadian mining companies operating abroad;
- Continued high levels of violence against women, in particular against Indigenous women who are disproportionately affected by violence, murders, and disappearances;
- The creation of mass surveillance and targeting activities under Bill C-51 without sufficient and clear legal safeguards;
- Excessive use of force by police during protests and lack of accountability for police who violate human rights;
- Violation of the rights of refugees and migrants through mandatory detention, designated safe countries of origin, permitting deportation to torture, and withholding health care;
- The continued use of solitary confinement and prolonged detention of individuals with mental illness; and
- Continued violation of the rights of indigenous peoples, including persistent sex discrimination under the Indian Act, overrepresentation of indigenous peoples in Canada’s prisons, persistent poverty, and underfunding of basic rights.
The long list of issues raised in Amnesty International’s submissions to the UN Human Rights Committee are indicative to the serious deterioration of the state of human rights in Canada over the last decade. As one Committee member stated during the review in Geneva, “This is not the Canada I once knew.” Amnesty International continues to urge Canada to improve its compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and re-emerge as a global leader in human rights promotion and protection.
In 2017, Amnesty International submitted a brief as a follow-up to the Committee’s concluding observations, to inform the Committee’s follow up procedure in relation to the concluding observations. In the follow-up submission, Amnesty International evaluated Canada’s progress in implementing the Committee’s recommendations on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, immigration detention, asylum-seekers and non-refoulement, and Indigenous lands and titles.
LEGAL RESOURCES
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
LIST OF ISSUES
Amnesty International’s Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the List of Issues to adopt in relation to the sixth periodic report of Canada (July 2014)
List of Issues in relation to the sixth periodic report of Canada adopted by the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/CAN/Q/6)
Replies of Canada to the List of Issues (CCPR/C/CAN/Q/6/Add.1)
REVIEW OF CANADA’S SIXTH PERIODIC REPORT TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
Amnesty International’s Submissions to the UN Human Rights Committee (June 2015)
Amnesty International’s Executive Summary and Recommendations, Submissions to the UN Human Rights Committee (June 2015)
Canada’s Sixth Periodic Report to the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR/C/CAN/6)
Concluding Observations of the UN Human Rights Committee on the Sixth Periodic Report of Canada (CCPR/C/CAN/CO/6)
Amnesty International’s Follow Up to the Concluding Observations of Canada’s Sixth Periodic Report (2017)
MEDIA
Joint News Release, “Canada must take action on the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s Concluding Observations released today” (July 2015)
“A sobering look at Canada’s human rights record” (10 July 2015)
“Canada: Amnesty International urges all levels of government to implement Human Rights Committee recommendations” (23 July 2015)
