HRC56
Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls. Statement delivered by Canada.
This statement is delivered on behalf of a group of 32 States.
June 27, 2024
We welcome the report presented by the Working Group on the “escalating backlash against gender equality and urgency of reaffirming substantive equality and the human rights of women and girls”. We further welcome the attention given by the Working Group to the situation of lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex women[1].
We appreciate that the Working Group, through its work, has shed light on the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that women and girls in all their diversity experience.
For instance, as highlighted by the Working Group, even in cases in which women and girls are not expressly criminalized on the basis of SOGI, they may face increased vulnerability to criminalization and deprivation of liberty, and a heightened risk of finding themselves or being discriminated against in the criminal justice system.
Related to this, we also welcome the specific attention dedicated by the Working Group to discrimination against trans women, who, according to the report, are arbitrarily profiled and targeted by law enforcement for engaging in sex work, and experience disproportionate levels of poverty and economic insecurity because of the discrimination they face in accessing employment[2].
The findings of the Working Group coincide with the recent findings of the Independent Expert on SOGI which concluded that exclusionary narratives and actions related to gender equality and gender identity create risks for the human rights of all women and girls - including lesbian, bisexual and trans women - and contributes to the perpetuation of violence and discrimination based on SOGI[3].
Considering this, we would ask the Working Group to continue to carry out its work by applying a SOGI lens. Could you elaborate on: What role does combatting violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity play in achieving gender equality?
[1]A/HRC/56/51, Para. 52.
[2] Ibid.
[3] A/76/152