Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to our guests for being here.
I want to pick up on a comment that Mr. Rae made--and I share his thoughts--about the difficulty in reviewing aid. To clarify, I don't think you were saying we should withdraw aid, but certainly we should ensure that the aid is not benefiting the regime. I note--and it's been since 2005, according to my notes here--that there has been suspension of direct aid to the government. But my understanding, from you and others, is that there are other ways for the aid to get to the regime so that it can benefit. I think everyone around this table shares the concern that the regime could benefit from the aid we're sending, but by the same token, everyone is concerned that we still want to help the people who need the help. The general thrust is that we all want to support that. I'd just like you to comment on that.
The other thing I want to touch on is that the government has said it's looking at observers for the elections. I just want to know if there have been any diplomatic notes or missives sent regarding the jailing of the opposition leader.
As well, has our government expressed to the Ethiopian government—and maybe the parliamentary secretary can address this—any concerns around the recent civil society organizations' charities and societies proclamation, which is really retrograde? For those who don't know--and you've already mentioned it--to put a limit of 10% on external financial support to organizations to function in Ethiopia is basically just killing all NGOs that are doing human rights work. Think of Human Rights Watch or Amnesty. They can't go around and raise funds amongst the Ethiopian people. That's just not happening. This is a really retrograde, regressive law, and I'm just wondering if our government has spoken out on the jailing of the opposition leader and on this law, which has really stifled any kind of NGO or third-party voice,
So there are those three things: the issue of aid, the comments from our government regarding the jailing of the opposition leader, and the question of whether our government has spoken out on the charities and societies proclamation, to your knowledge. Maybe Mr. Obhrai can help us there.