Today, the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee adopted a resolution on child, early and forced marriage. Canada is proud to have joined Zambia in leading this resolution, which received the support of a total of 114 co-sponsors from around the world. The resolution highlights concerning trends emerging in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and calls upon the international community to take concrete action to maintain and accelerate progress to end child, early and forced marriage.
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, co-hosted today the second Global Conference for Media Freedom with Kabo Neale Sechele Morwaeng, Botswana’s Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration.
The undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition’s Executive Group express concern at the continued restrictions on media freedom in Egypt, including the recent arrest and intimidation of individuals associated with journalist Khaled el-Balshy, editor-in-chief of the news website Darb. In particular, the Coalition is concerned by the arrest of Kamal el-Balshy, brother of Khaled, on September 20, 2020. The Coalition urges authorities to allow journalists in Egypt to practise their profession without fear of arrest or reprisal.
China’s decision to remove four democratically elected lawmakers from office in Hong Kong is a further assault on Hong Kong’s high degree of freedoms under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The Global Conference for Media Freedom 2020 will convene a broad group of experts, including foreign ministers, high-level government officials, journalists, media organizations, international organizations, and civil society representatives to help address the challenges to media freedom and promote the health of the global information.
Effective immediately, Canada is imposing sanctions against Belarusian officials in response to gross and systematic human rights violations that have been committed in Belarus.
In coordination with the European Union, Canada is today imposing further sanctions against an additional 13 Government officials of Belarus. Canada and the EU continue to share serious concerns about the ongoing situation in Belarus.
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada will co-host the UN Peacebuilding Fund (Fund) Replenishment Conference in January 2021.
