Law students advocating for change in Geneva
At a time when the international legal order is facing significant challenges and uncertainty, human rights advocacy is more important than ever. The International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law gives students the chance to use this legal training to address urgent human rights issues and contribute to the development of human rights norms. This year, I have had the incredible privilege to be a part of the IHRP’s efforts to both uncover the grave human rights violations taking place in Gaza and challenge Canada’s role in the conflict as a weapons exporter.
For the past year, students at the IHRP have been documenting the human rights situation in Gaza, with a special focus on the right to health. Our work has involved tracking damage to medical centres and infrastructure, shortages of critical medical supplies, and direct harm inflicted on healthcare workers and patients. Gathering reliable evidence is an essential part of human rights advocacy and forms the foundation for legal action across a range of forums. In September, we were able to submit a report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on the violation of women’s rights to maternal healthcare in Gaza. The report highlighted Canada’s legal obligations to ensure that the weapons it exports are not used to commit violations of international human rights law.
As a signatory to the CEDAW Convention, Canada undergoes regular reviews by the CEDAW Committee on its human rights record within our borders and internationally. This past October, I was one of four IHRP representatives who had the opportunity to attend Canada’s most recent review in Geneva, Switzerland. We arrived at the Palais des Nations alongside dozens of Canadian activists representing a range of women’s rights groups and issues, all hoping to have their concerns raised by the CEDAW Committee during its dialogue with the Canadian delegation.
With our report in hand, we spent our days in Geneva reaching out to members of the CEDAW Committee and other human rights experts and bodies to share our research. Our work was very well received. We shared our findings with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. We quickly learned that similar efforts are being carried out in several countries to prevent their arms exports from being used in Gaza. While many Western governments have stopped the direct flow of weapons to Israel, weapons continue to reach Israel via the United States. In Canada, permissive trade agreements allow arms manufacturers to sell to the US with little oversight, creating a loophole in Canada’s regulatory framework. After months of arduous research, we felt encouraged to see that our work formed part of a much larger international effort to end these grave human rights violations.
We also had wonderful experiences meeting with members of the CEDAW Committee. As one of the most well-established human rights treaty bodies, the Committee has been willing to take on complex issues like the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada, leading to a national inquiry. Several members showed great interest in our research, listening carefully to our concerns about Canada’s regulation of arms exports, while considering the best way to address the issue with the Canadian delegation.
Our efforts were rewarded on the day of Canada’s dialogue with the Committee. The Committee took time to describe the grave obstetric harms women experienced in Gaza at all stages of pregnancy. While noting Canada’s feminist approach to foreign policy and commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights, the Committee asked what Canada was doing to regulate corporations that contribute to these rights violations through the arms trade. What measures was Canada taking to ensure that the US was not transferring weapons that Canada sold to them, to Israel? These questions and recognition represent an amazing result for our team. The Committee restated these concerns in their final written observation for Canada, including recommending a more transparent regulatory process for assessing the impacts of arms sales on the human rights of women and girls in accordance with Canada’s international legal obligations.
From the outside, human rights legal advocacy may seem like an exciting and highly rewarding field. The reality is somewhat different. Months of research, report writing, strategizing, zoom meetings, and relationship building result in a few crucial lines of text in human rights recommendations. However, our work with the CEDAW Committee is just one small part of the IHRP’s efforts on this issue, and this first win sets a powerful precedent. In the spring, the IHRP will engage in a similar process with the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Work is also underway to request an inquiry by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. These international efforts will also support a domestic lawsuit against the Canadian Government for failing to regulate arms exports properly. In turn, all of our work forms part of a larger international effort to bring an end to the human rights violations in Gaza using every tool possible.
The work of the UN Human Rights System, including the CEDAW Committee, is given meaning through the continued efforts of the activists who take the recommendations back to their home countries and use them to hold their governments to account. This is why the work of the IHRP and other Canadian human rights organizations is so important. I am incredibly honoured to have been a small part of this ongoing effort to advance the cause of human rights in Canada and around the world.
