Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We're honoured today to have an expert on the human rights situation in Burundi with us. I will briefly introduce Ketty, and then I'll leave the rest of our intervention to her. Good afternoon, and thank you for this opportunity to address the Subcommittee on International Human

Foreign Affairs committee  We have worked on a number of cases in India recently, and our colleagues at Amnesty International India have a specific project right now whereby they are working on breaking down some of the barriers to women reporting incidents of sexual violence. It's a right-to-report projec

Foreign Affairs committee  To be really honest, it's not something that has crossed my desk. I'm sure it's something that colleagues of mine who follow that file are looking at, but I can't speak to that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Certainly.

Foreign Affairs committee  As I mentioned in my presentation, every person has the fundamental human right to make choices about their own bodies and really has the right to decide if, when, and how to create a family and if, when, and how to have children. We are certainly against forced pregnancy, force

Foreign Affairs committee  People should have the right to decide on the family structure that they want.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's not something we are actively working on, and it's something that doesn't fit within the women, peace, and security file, but we do advocate that women and men have the rights to make decisions about their bodies and their lives without state-controlled criminalization or in

Foreign Affairs committee  It is consistent from what we have witnessed that looking at women's rights issues or other issues, whether it's at pre-conflict, during-conflict, or post-conflict situations, civil society organizations writ large have been impacted by the cut to core funding. This really makes

Foreign Affairs committee  I think one of the biggest things that can be done is to ensure sustained multi-year core funding. One of the things that is such a huge challenge, and it's also the same in Canada, is that women's organizations end up going from project to project to project and no one wants to

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. I think looking at Sweden and their feminist foreign policy is certainly a great place to start, and looking at Norway, which has dedicated funding for grassroots organizations. A key thing about funding like this is making sure that it really is channelled to some of

Foreign Affairs committee  Women's participation in many parts of the world is accompanied by threats and violence, and that's just how it is, as you said, but that shouldn't be a barrier. There are women who continue to participate knowing full well what the risks are. What needs to happen is that we nee

Foreign Affairs committee  For us, regardless of the gender of the next secretary-general, we want to ensure that whoever that person is, that person be an advocate for the rights of women and girls and an advocate for gender equality. That is what is most important to us. In terms of gaps within the UN s

Foreign Affairs committee  I wouldn't say above. I would say that all states have an obligation to protect and respect human rights, and in our globalized world we're not just looking at what happens within our borders; we know that what happens within our borders is related to what happens outside of our

Foreign Affairs committee  Good afternoon, and thank you for this opportunity to address the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as part of your study on women, peace, and security. Amnesty International is a global movement of over seven million people in