Human Rights Report Presented to the UN Includes Ecumenical Contribution

Canada’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) took place in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday. Supported by the World Council of Churches as an example of global advocacy, Canadian churches who are members of the World Council of Churches prepared a shadow report to this process. The churches who endorse this report are:

• Anglican Church of Canada
• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
• The Presbyterian Church in Canada
• The United Church of Canada

The delegation from the Government of Canada was led by Her Excellency Leslie E. Norton, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in Geneva, and Hon. Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.

The report from the churches focuses on six areas:

• Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Anti-Black Racism and People of African Descent in Canada
• Refugee rights: US–Canada Safe Third-Country Agreement
• Immigration-Related Detentions
• Migrant Workers in Canada
• Freedom of Religion or Belief

Background

The ecumenical report was coordinated by Adele Halliday, Anti-Racism and Equity Lead for The United Church of Canada, with the assistance of Jonathan Schmidt and Peter Noteboom of The Canadian Council of Churches.

The UPR is held every five years to keep countries accountable for their work around human rights, and is a tool for engaging with public policy work.

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