I heard the statements also in Geneva a couple of months ago. There was mention of the repressive law and a demand for its repeal.
I guess you know the aid issue is a very difficult situation. I'm not saying it should be completely pulled out. I know Ethiopia needs a lot, but it really has to be looked at very carefully. There are a number of reports that show, and even the human rights report has indicated.... It didn't say Canadian aid, but overall aid money was used to buy political votes and manipulation and similar things.
In fact, if we go a little bit further, there's a BBC report that came out about a month ago that shows that even in 1984-85, the aid money that was sent to northern Ethiopia, when these people were rebels, had been used to strengthen their military wing. This comes from the top brass of the government, people who are in the political party itself.
So there is serious concern about whether our aid, our country's taxpayers' money, is being manipulated or not. I'm not sure. I think there is a good monetary mechanism, but is any of that being manipulated by the government? I can't comment on that. I think there has to be some monitoring.
When we met a couple of weeks ago with the people at CIDA we raised this issue. They said that since the news report a few months ago, they have been talking to other partners and investigating whether this thing is happening or not. But there's no open investigation. I'm not really sure where things are at this point. I'm sure all of you will follow up on that and make sure that Canada's aid is going where it is meant to go.
It's very interesting. Meles said, as you said, that he's going to work through some of the recommendations--through the Human Rights Commission and things like that. I say that because I heard it also from CIDA, the ombudsman's office, and the Ethiopian human rights organization.
Honestly, this is something that you may really have to think about very closely. I know both of these groups are part of the government. The so-called Human Rights Commission of Ethiopia, which is supported by a lot of western powers.... When all of these people were killed, 200 killed in 2005 and thousands--about 40,000 to 50,000--jailed, when all of this was happening, it didn't even issue a single press release condemning human rights abuses in the country. Nothing. But it calls itself the human rights commission and gets all kinds of support from all over the world. That's something to think about.