Thank you.
Thank you very much for inviting us at Oxfam to appear before the subcommittee. It's fantastic to be appearing with Ketty and the analysis of amnesty.
My name is Lauren Ravon. I'm the executive director of Oxfam Canada. I'm here with my colleague, Léa Pelletier-Marcotte, from Oxfam-Québec.
We are both joining you, unfortunately, virtually from the traditional territory of the Mohawk peoples and are grateful to our host nation for the privilege of living on their lands.
As I speak to you today, we know the world is experiencing a time of crisis. Extreme inequality, climate change and unprecedented food and energy price inflation, which have all been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, are creating this perfect storm for the most vulnerable people around the world, the majority of whom are women and girls.
According to the UN, 339 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, which is the largest number in history, and acute food insecurity is escalating, with 45 million people at risk of starvation.
All of these crises we're facing have profound implications for women, from restricting their access to sexual and reproductive health services, to exacerbating gender-based violence and increasing their unpaid care work. The progress we've made to achieve gender equality has been set back by generations. It's now estimated that it will take close to 300 years to close the global gender gap.
For example, in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and other external actors have been fuelling armed conflict for close to eight years now, women's rights have faced setback after setback. We see that gender-based violence has increased by at least 66% since the beginning of the conflict, and we know that physical and emotional abuse and domestic violence are intrinsically linked to the deep economic crisis that households are experiencing, and that families are resorting to harmful coping strategies, like child marriage, to survive.
The conflict in Yemen has created one of the worst displacement crises in the world. One in three households that have been forced to flee is headed by a woman, which puts them at an increased risk of violence. Despite the critical role that Yemeni women have been playing to respond to the crisis, their political participation has declined sharply, especially since 2015. In fact, there are now no women in the cabinet of the recently formed Yemeni government, which is a sad first in over 20 years.
Women are also facing risks of arbitrary detention and forced disappearance. We know that many women activists and artists are currently jailed.
In the north of Yemen, women are required by the authorities to be accompanied by a male guardian when travelling. This restriction primarily targets female humanitarian workers, including our Oxfam colleagues and our colleagues in the Yemeni organizations we work with. This not only hampers our ability to deliver life-saving humanitarian aid, but it actually threatens the very existence of many women-led organizations in the country.
Pressure on Yemeni authorities and regional actors by donor countries like Canada can be effective. We saw this result in a relaxing of restrictions last year. However, it's crucial that external pressure be paired with increased support to local civil society, including women's rights organizations.
Looking beyond Yemen, as Ketty said, we're witnessing the rise of interconnected anti-rights movements around the world: anti-women, anti-trans, anti-abortion, anti-feminist, anti-democratic, anti-free press. Attacks on women's rights defenders and LGBTQ activists are on the rises around the world. Women politicians and journalists are being harassed, threatened and attacked both in person and online.
This violence and intimidation is clearly a form of backlash against women's rights. It's intended to silence women and gender-diverse people and keep them from holding positions of power. This is not only a threat to women's rights. It's also a threat to democracy and to all of our freedom.
I just want to end by sharing five of Oxfam's recommendations for the committee's consideration.
First, the government should finally launch Canada's feminist foreign policy, speak up for women's rights in multilateral spaces and use diplomatic channels to protect women's rights and women human rights' defenders.
Second, Canada should increase humanitarian aid to meet record needs, building up to $1.8 billion of new and additional funding by 2025, starting with a $600 million increase in international assistance in this upcoming budget.
Third, Global Affairs Canada should launch the second phase of the women's voice and leadership program. In countries like Yemen, Canada should provide women-led organizations with flexible humanitarian funding and invest in strengthening their capacity to engage in peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
Fourth, Canada should implement a refugee protection and resettlement system that is based on equity and fair access for all and that would allow more people to seek safety in Canada more quickly, no matter where they are coming from.
Finally, as was discussed in the previous session, it should establish an emergency evacuation program and an accelerated visa process for human rights defenders and prioritize those facing heightened risk, including women activists, journalists and LGBTQ defenders.
I'm looking forward to questions. Thank you for the opportunity to appear on behalf of Oxfam.
