Today marks the 31st annual World AIDS Day – a time to remember those who we’ve lost, support the over 60,000 Canadians living with HIV/AIDS and recommit ourselves to ending this epidemic once and for all. Today also marks the beginning of Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Week, which helps draw attention to HIV/AIDS in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
Today, Anne Kelly, the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, made the following statement on the coming into force of the Structured Intervention Unit and health services-related provisions of An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act and another Act:
Unexploded landmines prevent local populations from living and working on their lands in more than 60 countries. Every year, 7,000 people lose their lives and thousands more are injured in areas contaminated by these weapons around the world.
Canada strongly condemns the escalating violence in Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protestors and injured thousands more. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
“Today, signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) took a strong stance for a safer world when they agreed unanimously to add Novichoks to the list of chemicals banned by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).”
“Canada is deeply concerned by the violent crackdown on protestors by Iranian security forces, which has resulted in mass arrests and the deaths of demonstrators.”
Around the world, in both peace and war, women, girls and vulnerable populations experience sexual assault and its lifelong adverse effects on health, including psychological, physical, sexual and reproductive health.
