September 2017 - OCASI participated in a joint submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights in Canada.
Canada’s third UPR will take place in April/May 2018 during the 30th session of the UPR Working Group.
The UPR is a State-driven process under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council, and involves a review of the human rights records of all UN Member States. The ultimate aim of this mechanism is to improve human rights situations in all countries and address human rights violations wherever they occur. (Click here to read more about the UPR).
The process gives each State to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to fulfil their human rights obligations. Civil society organizations are an important part of the review. They have the opportunity to submit their own reports on state of human rights in the country under review.
OCASI collaborated on the joint report with Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Council of Agencies Serving South Asians and South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario.
Click here to download the Joint Submission [Acrobat 1.12 MB].
Click to download the Matrix – Appendix to the Joint Submission [Acrobat 583 KB].