UN Committee to Canada: Do More to Curb Arms Exports to Israel

• Leading international women’s rights body urges Canada to do more to stop arms exports to Israel 

• Call prompted by IHRP/GHRC report revealing devastating impact of Israeli attacks on women’s rights in Gaza 

• Canadian arms exports continue to flow freely to Israel through the US due to legal loophole 

• First major UN body to specifically call out Canada for arms exports to Israel 

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A top UN Committee on women’s rights has urged Canada to do more to stop military exports to Israel – particularly those that move through the United States. 

In October, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women carried out a review of Canada’s compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In its now released findings, the Committee expressed concern about the risk of Canadian arms exports to Israel facilitating serious violations of women’s rights in Gaza, and called on Canada to take all necessary steps to safeguard the reproductive rights of women in conflict.  

The Committee is the first major UN body to specifically call out Canada for contributing to the human rights crisis in Gaza through arms exports to Israel. It comes in response to a report on Canadian military exports to Israel that was submitted to the Committee by the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program (IHRP) and the University of Chicago’s Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC). 

The report – which was endorsed by almost 50 civil society organizations – links Canadian arms exports to Israel to the grave violations of women’s rights to maternal healthcare in Gaza. Since the Israeli Defense Forces began their offensive in Gaza following October 7, 2023, there have been serious rights violations to maternal care. The report illustrates how at every stage of their pregnancy journey -- from trying to get pregnant, through to pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care – Gazan women face violence and human rights violations as a result of hostilities and direct attacks by Israeli forces.  

The report further highlights that although Canada claims that it stopped approving new permits to Israel in January, it has done nothing to curb the far greater volume of Canadian military exports flowing to Israel through the United States. 

The Committee echoed the concerns raised by the IHRP/GHRC report and recommended that Canada develop a transparent mechanism to assess the impact that both direct and indirect military exports may have on the human rights of women and girls living in conflict zones.  

As the report notes, most Canadian military exports to the United States are subject to no export controls whatsoever. In contrast, Canadian military exports to other countries require the exporter to obtain an individual permit from the federal government. This allows Canadian military exports that would not be permitted to go to Israel directly to simply be re-routed through the US instead. 

For instance, in August, the US Department of Defense announced a transaction to send to Israel over 50,000 mortar shells worth US$61.1 million to be purchased from a Canadian manufacturer. 

“With the US supplying nearly 70% of Israel's military imports, weapons reaching Israel through the United States is still a big loophole. These indirect arms exports to Israel must stop,” said IHRP Acting Director James Yap. “The UN CEDAW Committee has made it clear that Canada is responsible for human rights violations facilitated by Canadian arms and components, no matter what route they take. Canada’s responsibility doesn’t end at our borders when Canadian weapons are sold to the United States but are ultimately destined for Israel.” 

“The Committee’s recommendation has important implications for Gaza,” says Nabila Khan, IHRP Research Associate and human rights lawyer. “Canada claims to have a feminist foreign policy and to promote reproductive and maternal health globally, but the women of Gaza have been excluded from these efforts.” 

"We call on Canada to address the transfer of weapons through the United States and take concrete measures to ensure that Canadian arms do not reach Israel where they are at substantial risk of facilitating grievous human rights violations against women and girls,” said GHRC Director Anjli Parrin. 

"Canada holds itself out as a champion of women's rights. But as the CEDAW Committee has pointed out, being that champion requires Canada to ensure that direct or indirect arms transfers to Israel do not facilitate violations of the rights to health and to life of women and girls in Gaza,” said Shelagh Day, Chair of the Human Rights Committee at the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action.

“Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, is lying to journalists, politicians, and Canadians when she says that she isn’t allowing any Canadian-made weapons components to make it to Israel. The fact that Canadian companies produce critical parts for the F-35 warplanes decimating Gaza and Lebanon right now is just one egregious example of our ongoing complicity in Israel’s genocidal violence,” said Rachel Small, of World Beyond War Canada. “The minister must immediately close the US-loophole to ensure Canadian military exports cannot continue to flow to Israel, and impose a full two-way arms embargo given Israel’s ongoing violations of international law.” 

“Canada has consistently downplayed the human rights risk of its arms exports to Israel, but they can’t fool the UN,” said Michael Bueckert, Vice President of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME). “The Committee is clear that Canadian exports, including those sent indirectly via the United States, are contributing to grave violations of women’s rights in Gaza.”

For more information and any media enquiries, please contact:

James Yap 
james.yap@utoronto.ca  

Anjli Parrin 
aparrin@uchicago.edu