The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced today that the Honourable Robert Oliphant Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will travel to London, United Kingdom, for the International Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative Conference which will take place on November 28, 2022.

“Canada is deeply committed to addressing conflict-related sexual violence. I look forward to meeting with partners, representatives of civil society organizations and survivors to discuss challenges in, and best practices for, preventing and responding to these crimes. Sexual violence in conflict must end, and we must work with survivors to ensure meaningful justice.”

- Robert Oliphant, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

• Canada participates as a Champion in the United Kingdom’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI), founded by former U.K. foreign secretary Lord William Hague and UN special envoy Angelina Jolie; the PSVI works to raise awareness of sexual violence in armed conflict and rally global action against it.

• Addressing sexual and gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence, is a particular priority for our engagement in Ukraine and why Prime Minister Trudeau announced $9.7M in June 2022 to advance justice and accountability for human rights violations in Ukraine.

• Canada was instrumental in the drafting of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998, which was one of the first international treaties to extensively address conflict-related sexual violence as a crime against humanity, a war crime and, in some instances, an act of genocide.

• Since 2016, Canada has provided over $13 million to UN Women to support the rapid deployment of gender and conflict-related sexual violence experts for war crimes investigations, including in more than 14 countries with 58 deployments.

• Since 2018, Canada has provided $18 million in financial support to the United Nations Development Programme to fight impunity and to support survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Associated links

• Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security: Global Affairs Canada
• Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies
• Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies: Road Map 2021 to 2025

Adrien Blanchard
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Adrien.Blanchard@international.gc.ca

Media Relations Office
Global Affairs Canada
media@international.gc.ca
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