Promoting Sustainability, Peace, and Equality Around the World

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Peggy Nash Campaign for the Leadership of the New Democratic Party

At Issue
Most Canadians need hardly give a thought to freedom and security in our day-to-day lives. But millions around the world do not have the same access to peace, clean water, food, shelter, or a night without violence. Discrimination based on gender, religion, ethnicity, or sexual identity still prevails millions are continually refused the right to determine their own future path. Canada has fallen in terms of reputation and action on promoting peace and prosperity on the global stage. We can do better.

In Context
There are five foreign policy areas in which the Canadian government must increase its commitment and leadership: peace-building, sustainable development, womens rights, climate change, and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans) rights. Civil conflicts with significant implications for neighbouring regions continue to intensify in various parts of the world, despite the decrease in inter-state wars over the past decades. Daily violence rooted in struggles over economics, social, and political power whether between individuals or groups has led to massive destruction and casualties. Canada has traditionally been known as a mediator, peace-builder, and one of the countries best able to identify solutions, even when scales are tipped to full-scale war. There is no longer anything innovative about Canadas role in the international forum. 2

peggynash.ca

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Peggy Nash Campaign for the Leadership of the New Democratic Party

By taking a pro-active, soft power approach, we can help promote sustainable development and peace. Canada needs a foreign policy that places civilian protection at the heart of everything and gives it precedence over economic interest. A lasting peace in places of conflict will never be achieved unless and until all actors, civil society, and minority groups are brought in as part of negotiations and reconstruction processes. This would result in creative problem-solving instead of falling into the same cycles of unsuccessful meetings between diplomats. Women in particular face unfathomable levels of poverty, discrimination, and violence. According to the World Health Organization, gender-based violence is the leading cause of death and disability amongst women aged 15-44. Maternal mortality is the biggest factor of inequality, with women dying in childbirth and pregnancy. And sexual violence continues to be used as a strategic weapon of war everywhere from Burma to the Democratic Republic of Congo to Colombia. Canada must do much more to promote womens access to health care, education, and their security. Study after study shows that when girls in developing nations are educated, they invest over 90 percent of their income back into their families and communities, shattering cycles of dependence and poverty. Canada must take the lead in promoting and ensuring womens rights around the world. We must show girls that they matter by investing in programs that support their future. We must work with local, national, and international organizations to ensure survivors of sexual violence are properly supported and are able to live within secure communities. Despite the fact that Canadians time and time again identify the environment as a top priority and overwhelmingly support climate change initiatives, the Harper Conservatives have moved us backward in this area. Not only has Canada sabotaged global efforts to develop strong international agreements on climate change while pulling us out of them, our failure at home to make meaningful progress cancels any credibility we might have had to be a global leader on this issue.

peggynash.ca

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Peggy Nash Campaign for the Leadership of the New Democratic Party

The Peggy Nash Plan

Under my leadership, the NDP and the next federal government will:

1.

Fulfil Canadas potential as a development partner by:

a. Delivering on our commitment to the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) budget of 0.7 of the GDP with an immediate increase of $500 million and further increases each year; b. Enabling Canadian pharmaceutical companies to export generic versions of lifesaving medicines for people suffering from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other life-threatening diseases; c. Implementing the recommendations of the 2007 National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility to ensure Canadian companies abide by international human rights law and environmental standards when operating overseas, and develop and enforce sanctions if they do not.

2.

Renew Canadas role as an international peace-builder by:

a. Being an active voice in and working to strengthen the international organizations and agencies to which we are party, ensuring adherence to conventions against genocide, promoting human rights, and the rule of law; b. Promoting truth, justice, and reconciliation commissions as a central part of sustainable peace, and assisting in the logistic needs of transitional justice mechanisms in post-conflict regions; 4

peggynash.ca

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Peggy Nash Campaign for the Leadership of the New Democratic Party

c. Actively working with national and community leaders as well as civil society and minority groups in areas facing emergency or protracted conflicts in order to deliver on immediate needs as well as support to reach negotiated settlements for lasting peace; d. Supporting organizations at the local levels laying the foundations for peace in bridging divided communities; e. Placing civilian protection as a lead priority in international strategy.

3.

Make Canada a leader in the struggle for womens empowerment, equality, and the struggle to end sexual violence and other gender violence in conflict by:

a. Fully implementing Canadas Action Plan for the Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security, with timely and transparent monitoring benchmarks; b. Providing funding for programs supporting girls education, safety, skills training and health, ensuring all programs meet safety protocols; c. Reinstating funding to organizations promoting family planning options in developing nations to ensure maternal health is a priority; d. Insisting on womens meaningful participation at peace negotiation tables at national and local levels, as well as their integration into the economic, social, and political post-conflict reconstruction process; e. Supporting the International Campaign to Stop Rape and Gender Violence in Conflict and work with the campaign to push for full implementation of laws supporting survivors of sexual violence and the rule of law around the world.

4.

Lead global efforts to address climate change by:

a. Playing a leading and proactive role in international climate change negotiations; b. Serving as a model to other countries by developing and fully implementing an ambitious domestic plan to avert climate change.

peggynash.ca

Fighter. Builder. Leader.

Peggy Nash Campaign for the Leadership of the New Democratic Party

5.

Promote LGBT rights abroad by:

a. Making the promotion of LGBT rights oversees an active and integrated element of our foreign policy priorities; b. Advancing the promotion of LGBT rights on the agenda of international organizations and agencies to which we are party; c. Prioritizing efforts in those countries where consenting same-sex relations are criminalised or where there are moves to change existing legislation (in either direction), raising the issue and encouraging States to make human rights sensitive legislative changes; d. Identifying situations where political and financial support towards governmental and nongovernmental initiatives in the promotion of non-discrimination and decriminalization would provide added value to this work. .

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