Okay.
The seven crimes against humanity, in the order that we have determined, are first the crime against humanity of murder.
Simply put, multiple murders have been committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack targeting the civilian population, particularly those who were opponents of the regime or believed to be opponents of the regime. The evidence also disclosed that there were at least 6,385 cases of extrajudicial execution by state forces and organizations connected with the state.
The second crime against humanity is that of imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty. We determined that there were 12,000 cases of arbitrary detention, imprisonment and deprivation of liberty, particularly in the widespread and systematic targeting of opponents of the regime.
Third is the crime against humanity of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. I might just sum up the words of my fellow panellist, Justice Manuel Ventura Robles, who said that in all of his 20 years of being a judge, he had never seen such graphic cases of torture and human suffering in that regard.
The fourth crime against humanity is that of rape and other forms of sexual violence as a pattern, including such crimes against persons under state custody.
The fifth is the crime against humanity of persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political grounds. What we found here is that this crime of persecution was present in each of the seven crimes against humanity, in respect of which we had made a determination.
Number six is the crime against humanity of enforced disappearances, and in particular here of political opponents or persons believed to be political opponents.
The final one I take it to be the most important, given the previous panel and the discussions here. It is the one that is most painful, in terms of the immense human suffering. It is what we refer to as a state-orchestrated and state-sanctioned humanitarian crisis, intentionally causing great suffering by way of mental or physical health, serious injury and the like.
What we found was a total breakdown in the health system. There was a dramatic increase in hundreds of thousands of cases of preventable diseases and deaths—malaria, diphtheria, measles, tuberculosis, cancer and the like; dramatic increases in maternal and child mortality; and dramatic food shortages and starvation, involving a discriminatory and persecutory withholding of food on political grounds. We characterized it as food apartheid.
In short, and set forth more fully in the report, what we found was a weaponization of health and food on political grounds, with untold and horrific incidence of human suffering, death and devastation, compounded by the government's denial of the humanitarian crisis and the refusal of any humanitarian assistance.
Let me conclude by saying that when our report was tabled in May, we included two recommendations.
The first was that the OAS Secretary General submit this report and the evidence collected by the special prosecutor of the ICC. That has been done under the leadership of Secretary General Almagro. A meeting was held in which I also participated with the special prosecutor.
The second was that state parties be invited to refer the matter to the ICC as part of a state referral. During the United Nations General Assembly in September, Canada joined Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Paraguay in referring these suspected crimes against humanity to the ICC for a perspective investigation and prosecution. What is notable here is that this is the first time since the ICC was established 20 years ago that there has been any state referral at all. Referrals up to now have always been by human rights organizations.
The second thing is that for the first time it was referred by heads of state. I want to single out Canada's leadership in this regard—not only at the UN General Assembly in September but throughout this process with respect to the OAS—on the particular matter of the combatting of impunity, the state referrals to the ICC, and the involvement since then.
Mr. Chair, I am looking forward to hearing the Secretary General's testimony.