UPR Info

To continuing to improve services delivered to Indigenous Peoples — such as education, clean water, housing, and health services. We aim to achieve this through: the full implementation of Jordan’s Principle to ensure that First Nations children receive the same health and social services and supports as other Canadian children; the full implementation of all the orders of the Canadian Human Rights and the co-development transformation of the delivery of Indigenous child welfare.

To co-developing distinctions-based Indigenous housing strategies with First Nations, Inuit and Métis partners to ensure that future housing reform is reflective of their specific needs

To end, by March 2021, all long-term drinking water advisories affecting public systems on reserve

To continue to take legislative and other steps to progressively realize the right to adequate housing as part of an adequate standard of living for its citizens

To initiate a transparent process for ongoing consideration by federal, provincial and territorial governments of adherence to human rights treaties that Canada is not yet a party to

To improve the promotion and public awareness of international human rights in Canada

To conduct human rights analyses to support the implementation of our international human rights obligations

Canada also commits to holding future federal-provincial-territorial human rights ministerial meetings.

Canada also commits to enhancing our federal-provincial-territorial collaboration on human rights implementation through the creation of a senior intergovernmental mechanism

Canada voluntarily commits to strengthening intergovernmental collaboration and public dialogue on human rights, through the development of a protocol for following up on the recommendations Canada receives from international human rights bodies and a stakeholder engagement strategy

Continue the promotion of a culture on human rights, as an indispensable base for a real reconciliation.

Initiate the second phase of the National Plan on Business and Human Rights

Continue the peace negotiation process with the National Liberation Army

Continue the implementation of the Final Agreement for Ending the Conflict and Building a Stable and Lasting Peace between the National Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army

Continue the adoption of measures required for the protection of human rights defenders in Colombia

The United States is firmly committed to addressing the causes and impacts of climate change. The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to incorporate environmental considerations in their planning and decision-making processes. The President's Climate Action Plan has committed to cut carbon pollution and other greenhouse emissions, promote renewable energy development and use, cut waste in homes, businesses, and factories, conserve land and water resources, use sound science to manage climate impacts, launch a climate resilience toolkit and climate data initiative, and actively engage in international efforts to address global climate change.

We are committed to equality of opportunity in education and to helping students succeed in school, careers, and life. To help increase educational excellence, support innovation and improvement, and address continuing challenges, ED has dedicated well over $1 billion to early childhood education, and also has launched a number of other programs and initiatives, including the Excellent Educators for All Initiative in July 2014, which directs states to submit plans in 2015 to help ensure that poor and minority children have equal access to experienced, qualified teachers. Also in 2014, we issued guidance to states, school districts, and schools to help ensure that students have equal access to educational resources, and launched the Performance Partnership Pilots program to test innovative, outcome-focused strategies for achieving significant improvements in educational, employment, and other key outcomes for disconnected youth.

We are committed to expanding access to health care to all our citizens and as such, have made efforts to strengthen and protect our social and health care programs: Medicare for the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid for low-income individuals and families. Under the ACA, Medicare beneficiaries have saved billions of dollars on prescription drugs and have seen no increase in rates since 2013. Additionally, Medicare beneficiaries no longer have to pay cost-sharing for preventive services, and nearly nine million individuals have enrolled in coverage in state-run Medicaid programs since October 2013.

The United States is fully committed to ensuring that individuals it detains in any armed conflict are treated humanely. All U.S. military detention operations conducted in connection with armed conflict, including at Guantanamo Bay, are carried out in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and other international laws, including the Convention Against Torture, as applicable.

The United States has an unwavering commitment to respect the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their immigration status, and vigorously prosecutes crimes committed against migrants and enforces labor, workplace safety, and civil rights laws. All children have the right to equal access to public elementary and secondary education, regardless of their or their parents' immigration status, and such schools must provide meaningful access to their programs to persons with limited English proficiency, including migrants. In January 2015, we issued guidance to help schools ensure that English learner students can participate meaningfully and equally in education programs and services. Employers may not discriminate against employees or applicants based on their race, color, national origin, or, in certain cases, citizenship status.

We are committed to providing formerly incarcerated people with fair opportunities to rejoin their communities and become productive, law-abiding citizens. To this end, the Attorney General has called upon elected officials across the country to enact reforms to restore the voting rights of all who have served their terms in prison or jail, completed their parole or probation, and paid their fines.

Health - We are committed to eliminating health disparities and promoting health, and we actively enforce federal civil rights laws to help ensure that all people have equal access to health care and social service programs. In 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services launched the United States' first plan to specifically address persistent racial and ethnic health disparities. By law, all persons in the United States, including persons without valid immigration status, are entitled to emergency health services.

Labor and Employment - We are committed to protecting all individuals, including members of racial minorities, from workplace discrimination. From 2011-2013, EEOC received 293,086 individual complaints of discrimination, resolved 320,890 charges, and recovered a total of $1.1 billion for affected employees through the administrative process. Over this three-year period, EEOC filed 603 lawsuits on behalf of individuals subjected to workplace discrimination, resolved 817 such lawsuits, and recovered an additional $173.8 million for affected workers. In 2013, DOJ collected record civil penalties from employers in resolving employment discrimination claims based on citizenship status or national origin, and in 2014, it secured a record amount of back pay for these discrimination victims.

The United States is committed to preventing and effectively prosecuting hate crimes. In 2009, we enacted a powerful new tool, the Shepard-Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which enhanced federal prosecution for violent crimes motivated by religious, racial, or national origin bias and enabled federal prosecution of crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and disability. Over the last five years, DOJ has obtained convictions of more than 160 defendants on such charges, a nearly 50 percent increase over the previous five years. DOJ also continues to prosecute other hate crimes, and in 2014 assisted Kansas authorities in the investigation of a fatal shooting at a Kansas City Jewish community center. In January 2015, the FBI began collecting more detailed data on bias-motivated crimes, including those committed against Arab, Hindu, and Sikh individuals.

The United States is committed to supporting tribes' efforts to recover their human remains, sacred and ceremonial objects and cultural property that has been stolen, looted or trafficked.

The United States remains committed to self-determination and self-governance, empowering tribes to make their own decisions about the future of their peoples.

The United States is committed to promoting women's health and eliminating barriers to health-care services. The Government of the United States regularly reviews its policies to take all appropriate measures to improve the health and status of women and girls around the world, including survivors of sexual violence.

For unaccompanied children, the United States is fully committed to holding children only for the shortest amount of time necessary to complete immigration processing and to treating the children with dignity and respect during their time in United States custody.

The United States is fully committed to ensuring that the individuals it detains in any armed conflict are treated humanely in all circumstances, consistent with applicable United States treaty obligations, its domestic law and policy

It has established detailed immigration detention standards and remains committed to preventing abuses regarding detention conditions and bringing to justice those who commit them. More people than ever before are enrolled in alternatives to detention programmes.