{"id":244659,"date":"2020-02-11T22:40:33","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T03:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=244659"},"modified":"2020-02-11T22:40:33","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T03:40:33","slug":"trudeau-in-senegal-for-final-african-stop-of-un-security-council-campaigning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/11\/trudeau-in-senegal-for-final-african-stop-of-un-security-council-campaigning\/","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau in Senegal for final African stop of UN Security Council campaigning"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script async=\"1\" defer=\"1\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&amp;version=v6.0\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-video\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JustinPJTrudeau\/videos\/224471338577456\/?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCD353btfGEQj_l3Ku-Nc9506XdL7krLiDux5Sd02qNZn8_OoD9TBiXqaTAh0xBH0DPYQiDo35IflwnCxdOurLBgb7HESKTwDiL5r7LAiCTT7DjV0_H6WTWJnSKDxJNoc1fnwXuDeP6lDRAV356Hhbqq6kL0tazXQtRB4dreppLI1b6mATtZL_L8nSllQLbFB0Nj0vll0s6hfPAdFojK_9Pn_vXCkbgAk1LLmZV1jL0CFilujotDEr_GrBYUhHW-r7fZxO_GXshTqESthtyE3HQtLJqLEPEzFlEZHbmBHcokhu0AVn3tZjpiTHPqWhO0ounNeEfSu8CFAHaoK8b5aHWVnfvaA&amp;__tn__=-R\" data-width=\"1170\">\n<blockquote cite=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JustinPJTrudeau\/videos\/224471338577456\/\" class=\"fb-xfbml-parse-ignore\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JustinPJTrudeau\/videos\/224471338577456\/\">Ethiopia | \u00c9thiopie<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve wrapped up our visit to Ethiopia, where we focused on increasing trade &amp; investment, promoting gender equality, and fighting climate change. In these areas &amp; more, we\u2019re not just partners &#8211; we\u2019re friends. And we\u2019ll keep working together.\/\/Nous venons de conclure notre visite en \u00c9thiopie. Nos priorit\u00e9s : commerce et investissement, \u00e9galit\u00e9 des sexes et changements climatiques. Nous sommes bien plus que des partenaires, nous sommes des amis. Et on continuera \u00e0 travailler ensemble.<\/p>\n<p>Posted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JustinPJTrudeau\/\">Justin Trudeau<\/a> on Monday, February 10, 2020<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>DAKAR, Senegal \u2014 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Senegal late Tuesday for an official visit that will test his commitment to gender equality with one of Canada&#8217;s closest francophone partners in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>He was greeted at the airport near Dakar by Foreign Minister Amadou Ba.<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau&#8217;s visit includes a meeting with President Macky Sall and a moment of reflection at Goree Island, which was once a final African stop for some of the slaves being taken to the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>Dalhousie University political science chair David Black, who studies Canada&#8217;s role in sub-Saharan Africa, says Senegal and Canada have long-standing links, mostly through their shared French language, that Trudeau can build upon.<\/p>\n<p>Black notes Senegal is not without some significant human rights challenges \u2014 homosexuality is illegal and punishable by up to five years in prison for example \u2014 but it&#8217;s considered one of the most stable democracies on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau has committed to women&#8217;s empowerment and human rights as he looks to gain support from Sall for Canada&#8217;s bid for a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfrican countries are increasingly speaking with a single voice on global issues, notably through the African Union (AU). AU countries exercise influence within\u00a0international\u00a0institutions, including the UN, La Francophonie, the World Trade Organization and the Commonwealth,\u201d says a briefing book prepared for the prime minister, which was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.<\/p>\n<p>During a three-day visit to Ethiopia over the weekend Trudeau appeared reluctant to publicly raise the issue of human rights and democratic violations with African leaders he met.<\/p>\n<p>Gender-based violence is a significant problem in Senegal, which made rape a criminal offence only last month. The\u00a0international\u00a0anti-poverty ONE Campaign wants Trudeau to raise the issue of gender-based violence with Sall, hoping to ensure momentum to implement and properly enforce the new law continues.<\/p>\n<p>The rape and murder of two women last May led to a massive outcry and protests erupted that ultimately led Sall to introduce the new law. Before that, rape was considered a minor offence.<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau&#8217;s briefing book makes clear that women and girls face significant barriers in sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWomen&#8217;s political participation and girls&#8217; enrolment in primary education has improved, yet African women and girls still face discriminatory legal barriers, unequal access to resources, and sexual and gender-based violence,\u201d says the memo to Trudeau.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCanada supports efforts to promote inclusive governance and respect for human rights in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for women, girls and other marginalized groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Women&#8217;s empowerment was a big focus during Trudeau&#8217;s three days in Ethiopia. He gave a speech on the subject at a breakfast event during the African Union sessional meetings and met with some local female business leaders for lunch to discuss what more Canada can do to help women gain a bigger foothold in the country&#8217;s economic boom.<\/p>\n<p>Jacqueline O&#8217;Neill, Canada&#8217;s first ambassador for women, peace and security, is accompanying the prime minister in Africa. Her job was created to advance the Liberal government&#8217;s feminist foreign policy.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Neill has helped craft policies on gender and security in NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the United Nations. She also co-founded the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, which tries to end the use of children in armed conflict.<\/p>\n<p>Senegal is one of Canada&#8217;s closest partners in Africa, largely through Canada&#8217;s francophone communities. Those connections could be a boon for Canada&#8217;s hope to get Senegal&#8217;s vote at the UN, because Norway and Ireland do not share the language and cultural ties.<\/p>\n<p>Senegal also recently signed a new agreement with Canada to allow Senegalese students to receive faster processing for study in Canada. More than 1,500 Senegalese students are now studying in Canada, mostly in Quebec.<\/p>\n<p>Two-way trade between the two countries is quite small, at just $60.7 million in 2018, with Canadian exports to Senegal accounting for all but $3 million of that. But the country is expanding oil and gas production, offering some opportunities for Canadian energy firms in particular.<\/p>\n<p>Trudeau completed a whirlwind visit to Kuwait earlier Tuesday where he met with the country&#8217;s head of state, Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.<\/p>\n<p>His trip ends Friday at a security conference in Germany.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 with files from Mike Blanchfield in Ottawa<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopia | \u00c9thiopie We\u2019ve wrapped up our visit to Ethiopia, where we focused on increasing trade &amp; investment, promoting gender &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":244661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244662,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244659\/revisions\/244662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}