Volkan Bozkir convened experts from the UN, academia and civil society for an online discussion to examine links between political leadership and preventing violence targeting women and girls.
It takes much more courage to put your name on a ballot paper than it does to mount an attack on someone else. It is a sad reality that women in leadership have defeated the odds. Despite a myriad of attacks, they persist. Women in leadership are an inspiration to us all. pic.twitter.com/66cXVOImKv
“If we are to protect and uphold the rights of the people we serve, those who govern should reflect those who are governed. In short: we need to elect more women”, he said.
“We need to remove barriers to participation, and end violence against women in politics. I believe that this is crucial to ensuring that more women enter – and remain active – in politics.”
The world is still struggling to combat violence against women more than two decades after the landmark Beijing Conference on women’s rights, Mr. Bozkir said, and the spike in cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, serves as a testament.
66,000 women killed annually
Gender-based violence is also a pandemic, according to Krishanti Dhamaraj, Executive Director of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers University in the United States. She said nearly two billion women worldwide are affected, and around 66,000 are killed annually, though numbers could be higher.
“We need to continue to recognize and address gender-based violence as a human rights violation” she added. “Gender-based violence is a manifestation of gender-based discrimination that is structural.”
Ms. Dhamaraj proposed taking a human rights approach to prevention by acknowledging women’s right to safety and “bodily integrity”; a view supported by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Dubravka Simonovic.
Second pandemic
“We are looking into vaccines against COVID-19. But what about a vaccine against gender-based violence against women as a human rights violation pandemic?” said Ms Simonovic.
“We do have vaccines. We do have UN and regional human rights instruments. We need to implement those instruments.”
Ms. Simonovic also spoke of her research on issues such as intimate partner killings and femicide. She lamented the lack of data across countries, as it could be used to compare and monitor incidence, though she noted some governments have established “femicide observatories” or similar mechanisms.
No progress without men
The Secretary General of the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), Martin Chungong, argued that national legislatures must show political leadership in preventing discrimination and violence against women, given that making laws and ensuring government accountability are among the “powers” they wield.
Although two-thirds of countries worldwide have laws on ending violence against women, Mr. Chungong acknowledged that enforcement remains a challenge. Parliament again has a role to play here, he said, by “holding the feet of the government and other stakeholders to the fire, to make sure that laws are implemented as they are meant to be.”
The IPU chief said governments also must listen to survivors of gender-based violence so their interests are reflected in law. “And, of course, we need the budgetary allocations”, he added, highlighting how parliaments have “the power of the purse” to implement policies.
Mr. Chungong also stressed that men must be recruited into the global fight to end violence against women, stating “without the involvement of men, I think our efforts will be doomed to fail.”
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
