Assistance Spending: Gender Equality and Report States

assistance spending: The fact that Canada's international assistance spending is at a near historical low, merely reaching 0.26 per cent of gross national income, as compared to the UN aid target of 0.7 per cent, undermines its credibility and leadership on the international stage, according to National Observer. The study zeros in on areas where women in conflict zones are not getting the help they need or where efforts to improve gender equality in these areas are not being fully realized. Currently, Canada's international assistance funding is out of step with its ambition to be a world leader on gender equality and feminist aid and foreign policy, the report states. Unsettling findings Among unsettling findings are the 25 to 50 per cent of maternal deaths in refugee camps caused by unsafe abortions and related complications. Our argument is that services are totally life-saving when you consider, for example, that last year 500 women and girls died during emergencies every single day from pregnancy and childbirth complications simply because sexual and reproductive health and rights weren't a priority, said Brittany Lambert, a women's rights policy and advocacy specialist with Oxfam Canada. This is due, in part, to a lack of adequate access to sexual and reproductive health services, which are often seen as a second-tier priority when people are forced to flee their homes due to conflict. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.