Canada: UN expert praises new bill
recognising rights of Indigenous women
GENEVA (28 August 2019) - The UN
Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
Dubravka Simonovic, welcomes the Canadian Government’s introduction of a bill
which removes sexual discrimination from a federal law dealing with Indigenous
peoples.
Prior to the entry into force of
the S-3 Bill on 15 August 2019, provisions within the Indian Act meant women
lost their status when they married non-Indigenous men, while men who married
non-Indigenous women kept their status.
During a visit to Canada in April
2018, Simonovic urged the Government to urgently repeal all remaining
discriminatory provisions in the Indian Act and any other discriminatory
national laws and practices against Indigenous women and girls.
“For decades, First Nations women
and their descendants have faced sex-based discrimination that has been
perpetuated by these provisions, constituting a violation of international and
national gender equality standards,” said the UN expert.
“The removal of the sex-based
hierarchy entrenched in the Indian Act is a pivotal step toward achieving
gender equality, and finally brings to an end the long story of discrimination
and violence that Indigenous women and girls have faced in the country.”
Simonovic praised the tireless work
of civil society organisations who have advocated for decades to withdraw all
the discriminatory provisions included in the Indian Act.
ENDS
Ms. Dubravka Šimonović (Croatia)
was appointed as Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes andconsequences by the UN Human Rights Council in June 2015, to recommend
measures, ways and means, at the national, regional and international levels,
to eliminate violence against women and its causes, and to remedy its
consequences. Ms. Šimonović has been member of the CEDAW Committee from 2002 to
2014. She headed the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Croatia and was the Minister Plenipotentiary at the
Permanent Mission of Croatia to the UN in New York. She was also Ambassador to
the OSCE and UN in Vienna. She co-chaired the Ad hoc Committee (CAHVIO) of the
Council of Europe that elaborated the Convention on Preventing and Combatting
Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).She has a
PhD in Family Law and published books and articles on human rights and women’s
rights.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of
what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special
Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights
system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and
monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or
thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on
a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their
work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in
their individual capacity.
For more information and media
requests, please contact Ms Sara Cavallo (+41 22 917 9553 / scavallo@ohchr.org
or vaw@ohchr.org )
For media inquiries related to
other UN independent experts: Jeremy Laurence – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 /
jlaurence@ohchr.org)
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