Anita Neville, MP for Winnipeg South Centre and the Official Opposition Critic for the Status of Women, joined fellow women representatives from around the world this week to discuss women’s human rights at the GlobalPOWER 2010 conference in Washington, DC.
“Upholding and promoting women’s human rights must be a top priority for the international community, and is a responsibility of every country, including Canada,” said Ms. Neville. “Over the coming days my colleagues and I will discuss the international trafficking of women and girls, and explore policy mechanisms for responding to this urgent crisis within a women’s human rights framework.
“We will also discuss HIV/AIDS and environmental policy through the lens of women’s human rights, and the individual human rights challenges of participant countries,” added Ms. Neville.
The GlobalPOWER program is an initiative of the Center for Women Policy Studies. Its mandate is to “help elected leaders develop creative policy options and strategies to implement them.” Ms. Neville is the first Canadian Member of Parliament to be invited as a participant.
“Participating in this conference is a reminder that the Harper government must take further measures to address women’s human rights crises in Canada, including an inquiry into the missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls, the adoption of pro-active pay equity legislation as recommended by the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force, the restoration of the Court Challenges Program and a commitment to addressing human trafficking,” said Ms. Neville.
“With Persons Day yesterday, there’s no better time to bring the world together to acknowledge that more must be done to achieve full equality for all women, both in Canada and abroad.”
