Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and good afternoon, subcommittee members. It's always a pleasure to be in front of you. I'm certainly delighted to be able to bring such an esteemed and valued colleague as Mohamed Lotfy with me today. As you know, he is here from our internation

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  It is quite significant. I don't know the numbers, but it certainly is a community of note. They're organized, they have associations, and community centres. I know it most significantly in Toronto, but I would imagine it's present in other parts of the country as well.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Sorry, do you mean are we able to work with people who are in Canada who have family members in prison back in Eritrea?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We certainly have had individuals in Canada who have come to Amnesty International with that kind of information. The support we can offer is sort of the assurance that we are campaigning on those issues. As I said, even when you just think about religious followers, there are mo

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Catholics.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  All I am thinking as you are asking the question is, “good question”. I would imagine that if you go further with this study, there probably would be some sociologists or political scientists who would be able to give you some insights into that, because it is a very interestin

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  —maybe not for their religious beliefs, whereas all others are so terribly vilified. It's a perplexing part of the story. I think part of it is that there is just brutality and repression at the heart of so many decisions and policies that get set in Eritrea, and not necessaril

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Oh, if only I had the answer to that. I couldn't agree more that we live in a world plagued by inconsistencies, hypocrisy, and glaring gaps when it comes to the kinds of efforts that states, on their own or multilaterally, take to deal with terrible human rights situations like t

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't know of that company's presence. As I said in relation to Nevsun, regardless of what we do or do not know, or have or have not been able to confirm, the mere fact that a company has made a decision to operate in a country that is so repressive, that has such a pervasive p

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Obviously, even if sort of magically sometime this year the Human Rights Council were to decide to appoint a special rapporteur in Eritrea, I think at least at this point in time we can safely imagine that Eritrea wouldn't let that individual have access to the country. That woul

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There is an arms embargo in place, but clearly Eritrea continues to be a very heavily militarized country with a well-armed armed forces. I don't have research to share with you to illustrate where those arms are coming from. Unfortunately, we know we live in a world where count

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There are certainly allegations that have been documented in the past about ways in which the Tamil Tigers engaged in something along those lines within the Tamil community. That's the only one that I am readily aware of. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it has happened in other

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Do you mean why wouldn't Canada or any other government not take action?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Well, I suppose sometimes you get into difficult questions about sovereignty, and these may be people with dual nationality. It is certainly open to governments to tax their nationals, even when they're living abroad. You start to get into some complicated legalities here, which