NDP supports human rights as the central value of an independent foreign policy

NDP Our Vision for Canada

One of the defining features of social democracy is solidarity with people around the globe – particularly with the poor and powerless, those facing persecution, and the victims of acts of genocide. New Democrats believe that support for human rights is the central value of an independent foreign policy.
New Democrats believe that Canada has an obligation to share its wealth with the world’s most poor and vulnerable; that we must become a leader for food security, women’s equality, ensuring environmental sustainability, and ending the AIDS pandemic. Fighting for fair trade includes enforceable standards on human and environmental rights in all agreements, and in all international trade bodies. Canadian companies operating overseas must also safeguard the rights of workers and local communities.
New Democrats believe that defense policy should focus on Canada’s rights as a sovereign and effective world citizen – including defending the Arctic and our territorial waters for the benefit of all citizens and future generations. Peace building will be the top military priority of a New Democrat government.
For social democrats, the aspiration to equality among peoples knows no borders. The need is urgent. The world is waiting. A New Democrat government will answer the call with global leadership.

4.1 Human Rights and World Peace

New Democrats believe in:

1. Using all diplomatic and political means to protect human rights and help those facing persecution, including refugees, women, minorities, and victims of acts of genocide
2. Establishing an independent, principled foreign policy
3. Promoting peace building and peacekeeping as our military priorities, and participating only in United Nations (UN) mandated operations
4. Democratic reform of the UN, promoting positive leadership within multilateral institutions and greater accountability of associated agencies
5. Working closely with the world’s social democratic parties, and with progressive civil society organizations; and
6. Working with partners for peace in Israel and Palestine, respecting UN resolutions and international law, supporting peaceful co-existence in viable, independent states with agreed-upon borders, an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, and an end to violence targeting civilians.

4.2 Aid and Development

New Democrats believe in:

1. Working to develop global strategies to fight hunger and the food crisis
2. Meeting Canada’s development assistance obligations
3. Taking an active role in public health, especially the treatment and prevention of pandemic diseases such as AIDS
4. Stopping the militarising of development aid
5. Supporting development initiatives that promote co-operative economic enterprise models and community economic development
6. Ensuring Canadian companies operate overseas under the same ethical, social, and environmental regulations as they are in Canada
7. Establishing agreements that place the environment and climate change at the centre of a fair and sustainable global economy; and
8. Helping developing countries build energy security and green technologies, and to protect their natural resources and ecosystems.

4.3 Temporary Foreign Workers

New Democrats believe in:

1. A Canadian immigration system that prioritizes nation-building and access to permanent immigration over temporary worker programs
2. Implementing a regularization program that would allow for a moratorium on deportations of non- status workers and their families until their individual cases are adjudicated through a transparent and impartial appeal process
3. Implementing a fair and transparent model for the recognition of and assessment of international credentials d. Calling for a review of the mobility restrictions now in place
4. Allowing temporary foreign workers to bring immediate family members to Canada
5. Ensuring that any temporary foreign workers including those working under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), who works in Canada, should they choose, have the ability to apply for permanent resident status along with their immediate family
6. Ensuring that temporary foreign workers including those working under the SAWP are covered by all applicable employment legislation of the respective province in which they are employed including the right to join a union and collective bargaining; and
7. Creating an effective inspection mechanism to ensure that temporary foreign workers are not being exploited and subjected to poor and illegal working conditions.

4.4 Rights of Immigrants and Refugees

New Democrats believe in:

1. Promoting the reunification of families as the main priority of the Canadian immigration policy while respecting the diversity of family models according to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
2. An annual immigration level of 1% of the population to meet workforce needs and family reunification requests
3. Eliminating application and landing fees
4. Providing language training in English or French as appropriate
5. Working with the provinces and territories to recognize foreign diploma and professional credentials
6. Reforming Immigration Canada procedures to eliminate arbitrariness in processing of requests and appeals
7. Ending the exploitation of temporary migrant workers
8. Simplifying the issuing of visitor visas for people coming to visit family members; and
9. Making international adoption simpler and quicker.

4.5 Fair Trade

New Democrats believe in:

1. Defending Canadians’ economic interests, particularly in terms of foreign investment and takeovers
2. Promoting trade agreements that include enforceable standards for human, workers’ and women’s rights and environmental sustainability, and that protect public services
3. Subjecting all proposed international trade agreements to a Parliamentary vote
4. Demanding more accountability and transparency in international trade organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO)
5. Renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to protect Canadian sovereignty, especially in investment and energy security; and
6. Regulating the flow of international capital and reducing financial speculation.

4.6 Defence and Sovereignty

New Democrats believe in:

1. Defending Canadian sovereignty militarily, socially and economically
2. Ensuring our armed forces are well-equipped with the necessary human and material resources for their operations
3. Affirming that the primary purpose of the Canadian Forces is peace-keeping, defence and support during emergencies
4. Defending our territorial waters, especially the Arctic
5. Standing against nuclear arms build-up and rejecting any ballistic missile defence program
6. Prioritizing peace operations for each of our armed forces
7. Subjecting any proposed military intervention to a Parliamentary vote
8. Improving living and working conditions of military personnel and their families; and
9. Ensuring economic security for Canadian Forces veterans and families, including all spouses, by extending the Veterans Independence Program and enhancing survivors’ pensions.

Read more: http://www.ndp.ca/vision/foreign-affairs#ixzz1EjzaJUsB