On March 8, two important and interrelated events took place: it was International Women’s Day, as well as the day of the announcement of the resumption of funding to the United Nations aid agency for refugees Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (UNRWA) by Canada and Sweden. In light of these two events, it seems relevant to question Canada’s consistency in its international policies on gender, peace and security.
Indeed, the impression we get from his hasty withdrawal is a lack of cohesion and coherence between his desires, the implementation of tools to achieve them and the implementation of his policies. Can we, in these conditions, allow ourselves to put on the hat of a feminist country and a leader in humanitarian aid as proudly as we do? I do not believe.
Feminist international aid policy
In 2017, Canada launched its Feminist International Assistance Policy (FAIP), claiming to be a champion of gender equality with its international aid programming. It thus committed to promoting the empowerment of women through its international aid. However, in the context of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the ambivalence he displays regarding his involvement in financing aid to Palestinian refugees demonstrates a real lack of desire to fulfill his promises to international feminist aid.
Would this statement then constitute perjury? Is it only symbolic? Is it only so that Canada continues to be perceived as a progressive, avant-garde and more egalitarian country on the international scene?
It is women who bear the burden of care, in addition to caring for children. They are the ones who are more victims of violence during wars. Gender equality requires obtaining material goods and sufficient financial and environmental resources to meet their basic needs, such as the acquisition of sanitary napkins, means of contraception, reproductive and sexual health care, etc. Equality absolutely requires closing the gaps — all the gaps — between the genders. Thus, financing Palestinian refugees has a direct impact on the well-being of Palestinian women, because this money allows them to have greater access to the resources named above.
Trust in the United Nations
Many will retort that this short withdrawal was justified, because UN representatives involved in this agency plotted in the October 7 attack perpetrated by Hamas in Israel. However, Canada is supposed to have confidence in the United Nations and its emblematic institutions of international peace. Not blind trust, of course, but cooperative and meaningful trust, because he has maintained a relationship of exchange and collaboration with the organization since its creation, in addition to having served on the Security Council many times.
Furthermore, through its involvement in various third-party UN organizations, such as UN Women, as well as through the ratification of certain resolutions — notably Security Council Resolution 1325 which recognizes that women and girls are the most affected in war contexts and calls for the equal participation of women in peace and security processes relating to decision-making processes — Canada should be more rational and thoughtful before withdrawing from a project or commitment like this there, carried by an organization with this presence.
This preventive withdrawal had tangible consequences on refugee women, girls and children, as well as on the perception of Canada’s confidence in the various UN bodies. He also suggested that at the slightest media splash, the country could withdraw from a cause, however just it may be. It also sowed doubt: perhaps Canada does not believe that the case of Palestinian refugees, especially that of women, is legitimate enough to maintain a firm humanitarian position.
In conclusion, Canada should do more to embody the character it has created internationally, that of a feminist leader for whom gender equality is achieved even in its external policies. Indeed, his lack of conviction regarding the causes that he expresses his desire to defend, but defends poorly, as well as his lack of confidence in the institutions with which he has collaborated for years weaken the value of his feminist and humanitarian proclamations. There is definitely still work to be done on the Canadian leadership side on this front.