Marriage-based Migration and Human Rights Education: Where Does Canada Stand?

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noorfarah Merali

Immigration for marriage is one of the most prevalent forms of population movement from developing to developed nations, particularly for women (Ghosh, 2009). As an industrialized nation with an international reputation for embracing diversity and pluralism, Canada is a country where many individuals from the developing world aspire to establish their family lives. Approximately 30 percent of newcomers arriving in Canada annually are family members sponsored by Canadian citizens or permanent residents, with the majority of them being spouses from abroad (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2007). Since the foreign countries from which female marriage migrants have arrived often have different systems of governance and human rights records, the responsibility has been placed on the federal government to educate newcomers about their rights as migrants and their basic human rights (Global Commission on International Migration, 2005). Since Canada’s family sponsorship policy holds male sponsors of immigrant brides directly responsible for facilitating women’s integration and upholding their rights, the government has an equal obligation to educate sponsors about each party’s rights in the sponsorship relationship. This chapter describes the method and results of a content analysis of government issued information for sponsors and sponsored persons and its human rights coverage. It outlines implications for rights-based education targeting both newcomers and their hosts/sponsors in marriage-based immigration cases.

Significance Large demonstrations on May 28 resulted in several deaths in Cali; President Ivan Duque deployed troops there the next day. Although that appears, temporarily, to have restored some order, talks between the government and protest leaders have stalled. Impacts The government still plans fiscal reform of some kind, but any proposals now risk inflaming unrest. Prolonged accusations of human rights abuses and impunity could damage Colombia’s international reputation. Fear of socialism and Venezuela’s struggles offer the government a powerful electoral weapon against the left.


2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene KB Tan

Singapore's immigration discourse is deeply influenced by its need to “right-size” its population. As a society that has and remains in need of immigration, contemporary immigration and globalization have rigorously challenged the conventional thinking and understanding of citizenship, as well as notions of who belongs and who does not. Nevertheless, international marriages and pervasive in-and out-migration for purposes of employment, study, and family, conspire to make more pronounced the decoupling of citizenship and residence in Singapore. This transnational dimension sits uncomfortably with the policy makers' desire for, and the imperatives of, state sovereignty, control, and jurisdiction.Although one quarter of people living in Singapore are foreigners, concerns of human rights and justice are largely peripheral, if not absent from the immigration discourse. This is seen most clearly in employment issues pertaining to foreign female domestic workers (FDWs), most of who come from other parts of Southeast Asia. ‘Rights talk’ is largely absent even as activists seek to engage the key stakeholders through the subtle promotion of rights for such workers.The government, however, has resisted framing the FDW issues as one of rights but instead has focused on promotional efforts that seek to enhance the regulatory framework. This dovetails with the reality that immigration law also functions as quasi-family law in which the freedom of FDWs and other foreign menial workers to marry Singapore citizens and permanent residents are severely restricted. As such, the immigration regime's selectivity functions as a draconian gatekeeper. Justice and human rights are but tangential concerns.


2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Blackstock

Many child welfare statutes protect children when caregivers jeopardise their safety and best interests, but what if the risk is sourced in government child welfare policy or practice? Instead of including provisions to hold governments accountable for placing children in harm's way, governments and their agents are largely protected against any systemic maltreatment claims made against them. This paper describes a precedent-setting case before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal attempting to hold the Canadian federal government accountable for its systemic failure to ensure that First Nations children are protected from maltreatment linked to inequitable federal child welfare funding on reserves. The case is a rare example using an independent judicial mechanism with the authority to make binding orders against the government and enveloping the proceedings in a public education and engagement movement. Implications of the case for child rights in Canada and abroad are discussed.


Subject Foreign fighters' impact on security. Significance Between 3,000-6,000 Tunisians have left to fight alongside jihadist organisations abroad since 2011, many of them in the neighbouring Libya. The possibility of their return has caused domestic anxiety and tension, triggering protests and controversy. Impacts The government will likely seek to tighten security, especially in the border areas. However, excessive force and human rights violations could radicalise the local populations. Public expenditure in the security sector will increase, as well as defence contracts with foreign countries.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron S Phillips

In January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal released its decision regarding the provision of Child and Family Services to First Nations living on reserves and the Yukon. The Tribunal found that the government of Canada had discriminated against First Nations children on the basis of their race. Many of the arguments made by the government of Canada to describe their actions in the provision of First Nations child and family services can be easily transferred to the provision of First Nations education programs and services to First Nations children throughout Canada. This article has replaced child and family services terms and phrases with education terms and phrases in the decision. Hopefully, the federal government of Canada will see the futility of fighting First Nations in education as they did in child and family services. It is time to provide First Nations students on reserves a comprehensive system of education.


Aletheia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Feldman

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization for Inuit in Canada, has voiced serious concern about the food insecurity crisis in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland comprising Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and the Northwest Territories (Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, 2019). The widespread and disproportionate experiences of food insecurity in Inuit Nunangat requires critical examination, especially when access to adequate food has been identified as a human right (OHCHR, 2010). My research paper aims to explore this topic of food insecurity as a human rights concern in Inuit Nunangat. A human rights approach acts as both a pathway to investigate, and a tool to inform, policy development. Such an investigation is especially relevant given Canada’s international reputation and constitutional mandate to grant equal protection of rights to all citizens. In this essay, I review international and domestic human rights frameworks that intersect with Inuit food insecurity, in addition to evaluating Canada’s current interventions. I ultimately argue that, based on Canada’s commitments to uphold rights to food, health, and Indigenous self-determination, the government must increase the enforceability of food rights in domestic policy and, second, there must be strengthened collaboration between the government and Inuit partners to more appropriately conceptualize, and respond to, food needs in Inuit Nunangat.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-137
Author(s):  
Noura Erakat

In late November 2019, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld the Ministry of Interior's order to deport Human Rights Watch (HRW) director for Israel and Palestine, Omar Shakir. The court based its decision on a 2017 amendment to Israel's 1952 Entry into Israel Law enabling the government to refuse entry to foreigners who allegedly advocate for the boycott of Israel. The same law was invoked to deny entry to U.S. congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar in the summer of 2019. The campaign against Shakir began almost immediately after he was hired by HRW in 2016, and the court's decision marked the culmination of a multi-year battle against the deportation order. In this interview, JPS Editorial Committee member, Rutgers University professor, and author Noura Erakat discusses the details of his case with Shakir in an exchange that also examines the implications of the case for human rights advocacy, in general, and for Palestinians, in particular. The interview was edited for length and clarity.


Author(s):  
Retselisitsoe Phooko

On 2 August 2002 South Africa signed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Tribunal and the Rules of Procedure Thereof, thus effectively recognising and accepting the jurisdiction of the SADC Tribunal. Among the cases received by the SADC Tribunal was a complaint involving allegations of human rights violations by the government of Zimbabwe. It ruled that the government of Zimbabwe had violated human rights. Consequently, Zimbabwe mounted a politico-legal challenge against the existence of the Tribunal. This resulted in the review of the role and functions of the Tribunal in 2011 which resulted in the Tribunal being barred from receiving new cases or proceeding with the cases that were already before it. Furthermore, on 18 August 2014, the SADC Summit adopted and signed the 2014 Protocol on the Tribunal in the SADC which disturbingly limits personal jurisdiction by denying individual access to the envisaged Tribunal, thus reducing it to an inter-state judicial forum. This article critically looks at the decision of 18 August 2014, specifically the legal implications of the Republic of South Africa’s signing of the 2014 Protocol outside the permissible procedure contained in article 37 of the SADC Protocol on the Tribunal. It proposes that South Africa should correct this democratic deficit by introducing public participation in treaty-making processes in order to prevent a future situation where the executive unilaterally withdraws from an international treaty that is meant to protect human rights at a regional level. To achieve this, this article makes a comparative study between South Africa and the Kingdom of Thailand to learn of any best practices from the latter.


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 653 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Horlick ◽  
Joe Cyr ◽  
Scott Reynolds ◽  
Andrew Behrman

Under the United States Alien Tort Statute, which permits non-U.S. citizens to bring lawsuits in U.S. courts for human rights violations that are violations of the law of nations, plaintiffs have filed claims against multinational oil and gas corporations for the direct or complicit commission of such violations carried out by the government of the country in which the corporation operated. In addition to exercising jurisdiction over U.S. corporations, U.S. courts have exercised jurisdiction in cases involving non-U.S. defendants for alleged wrongful conduct against non-U.S. plaintiffs committed outside the U.S.The exercise of jurisdiction by U.S. courts over non-U.S. defendants for alleged wrongful conduct against non-U.S. plaintiffs committed outside of the U.S. raises serious questions as to the jurisdictional foundation on which the power of U.S. courts to adjudicate them rests. Defences that foreign defendants can raise against the exercise of jurisdiction by the U.S. courts are an objection to the extraterritorial assertion of jurisdiction, the act of state doctrine, the political question doctrine, forum non conveniens, and the principle of comity. These defences are bolstered by the support of the defendant’s home government and other governments.


Author(s):  
L.S. Kabir

The present study reveals the trends and features of the current state of financing the foreign countries’ transition to a new «green» economic growth model. To summarize the contemporary experience of countries’ integration into public administration practice the approaches and standards in the field of «green» investments financing.The subject of the study is the set of measures implemented by countries to develop sources of finance for «green» economy projects.Tasks: 1) to consider the principal directions of the «green» investments state policy support, its purpose, and the tools used; 2) to identify the market’s role in the «green» economy financing; 3) to clarify the main issues constraining private investments in «green» projects. The countries’ approach to «green» economic growth financing is examined in the present paper by means of common methods of scientific knowledge.There reviewed the arguments justifying the government support for «green» investments. There revealed the problems constraining the market «green» financing development and speculations about their origins. The study concludes that the countries’ economic policies are aimed at improving the existing model’s efficiency, not at the transition to the new «green» economy model. Thus, through the state support tools, there being generated strong signals signifying the creation of favorable market conditions for the functioning of a new economy sector – the sector of «green» technologies.


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