Thank you very much.
First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on the Eritrean human rights issue. I would like to speak specifically about what is going on in Eritrean Canadian life in Canada.
But before I address that—Elsa has mentioned most of the points—I want to focus on the freedom of the press.
Currently, no privately owned news media functions in what is considered the worst country for journalists in the world since 2001. All seven independent newspapers were forcibly shut down and their editors were arrested in 2001. As we speak, there are 30 journalists in prison. Five of them have already died in prison. We don't know the fate of the rest, but, sadly, their situation is predictable, as they are still in jail in a shipping container.
The authorities—the Eritrean government—have denied that a clampdown took place, claiming instead that either the journalists have merely been sent to carry out their national service or the closure and arrests were necessary for the sake of national unity.
But all of these are baseless accusations. The journalists were arrested because they were calling for the implementation of the constitution. They were speaking on behalf of the people who were arrested, who were voiceless, such as the students who were in jail for speaking up and also the political dissenters. That is the reason they were arrested and their papers were shut down.
In May 2007, the African Commission on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights of the African Union ruled that the detentions of the journalists were arbitrary and unlawful and called on the Eritrean government to release and to compensate the detainees.
Even 15 senior government officials were arrested in 2001. When those senior officials were not happy with the way the president was governing, they wrote an open letter that criticized the president and called for democratic reforms. They published their letter in the newspaper Setit. Eleven out of the 15 have been detained since September 2001. They were accused of crimes against national security and sovereignty; however, to this date no charge has been filed against them or the journalists.
It was the same thing in 2003. The African commission did a thorough investigation and found that the Eritrean government was in violation of articles 2, 6, 7, and 9 of the African charter, and they urged the State of Eritrea to order the immediate release of the 11 detainees. According to recent information that we were able to gather, since 2002 about six out of those 11 detainees have died in prison. We don't know exactly about the rest, since there is no access to see them.
What I would like to stress more is the safety and the security of Eritrean Canadians. The harassment of the Eritrean government is still alive here. The Eritrean government employs a long international arm of terror to vandalize, attack, and punish its critics wherever they are, even here in Canada.
I criticized the Eritrean government representative in Canada repeatedly in Meftih, a newspaper I have published since 2004, for manipulating the community festival to carry out the Eritrean regime's political agenda and raise funds. On July 23, 2007, while I was having lunch in one of the Eritrean restaurants on Bloor Street, somebody, a supporter, who could be a fan of the Eritrean regime, or an agent, slashed two tires of my car. Of course, I informed the police, but the vandals were never apprehended.
In a blog I was writing at asmarino.com, I also criticized the government for converting the country into a huge prison camp. On the morning of the next day, January 3, 2008, I saw that the front and rear windows of my car had been smashed. I reported it to the police, of course, but the vandals have never been apprehended.
I'm not alone. There are approximately 50 journalists who live in exile. There are about six or seven journalists who live in Canada. Most of them live in constant fear.
The Eritrean consulate in Canada uses extortion, threats of violence, and other illegal means to collect a 2% tax from Eritrean Canadians. The Eritrean government's office asks for T4 slips and Revenue Canada forms to prove that Eritrean Canadians are accurately reporting their income.
Most are forced to pay because the government will not honour their requests, such as educational documents, birth certificates, copies of marriage certificates, or any vital documents, without proof of the 2% tax payment. Those who refuse to pay and do not request any documents from the government are still intimidated or approached by the agents of the regime to pay; they are warned to do it for the sake of their families who live back home.
For example, it took me eight years to bring my wife and my children here, because my wife and my children were kept hostage in Eritrea for the last eight years. They were not allowed to travel outside the country. The activities of my wife were scrutinized and closely monitored. Her telephone was tapped.
However, at the end of 2009, thanks to a well-orchestrated operation, I managed to smuggle out my wife and my children. They were able to join me in May 2010. But there are many unlucky people like me.
On the 2% tax, it is not only the tax that is asked for. Individuals are also forced to donate money for what is called “national defence against Ethiopian invasion”. There are four stages that you have to pay in; so at a minimum, you have to pay at least $500 in order to get that proof of payment of the 2% tax.
The diaspora tax violates the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In areas where the Eritrean government doesn't have diplomatic or consular representatives, the tax is collected by party agents or community activists. The agents visit Eritreans' homes, make note of those who don't pay, and share with them the consequences of not making the payment.
Anyone who left the country after 1998 is asked to fill out a “regret form” so as to get proof of his or her 2% tax payment. They have to fill out that regret form. So despite the fact that most of the people fled the country to escape persecution or indefinite national service, they are extorted to sign a regret form that could identify them as traitors or defectors. If you don't comply, the government refuses to honour your requests, so you can't enrol in your education or get whatever document you are requesting from them.
The extortion goes far beyond that. The Eritrean consulate forces Eritrean Canadians to attend fundraising events or meetings, to sign petitions, and to participate in demonstrations. The agents of the regime are very instrumental in such tasks. They call everyone's home and they go to churches or mosques to make announcements of any fundraising events organized by the consulate of the government under the guise of the community. In total, the Eritrean consulate raises from $10 million to $20 million per year.
The Canadian government grants an entry visa for the Eritrean military cultural troupe at least three times a year to perform in events organized by the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario, which is indirectly governed by the Eritrean consulate. Each year, the troupe puts on approximately 20 shows all over Canada. That allows them to generate $1 million.
The 2% diaspora tax levied by the Eritrean government enables them to raise about $15 million.
Through ongoing activities in Canada, agents of the ruling party also raise funds in the name of orphaned Eritrean children, but the huge amount of money collected has never been used for those needy children.
All this is done under the very nose of the Canadian government. Sometimes, some of us Eritrean Canadians wonder who is ruling here: the Canadian government or the Eritrean government? The expectation of most Eritrean Canadians, after all, is that the Canadian government will be vigilant in protecting its citizens, regardless of their country of origin.
This should be a big concern for the Canadian government, as al-Shabaab has been cultivated by the Eritrean government to commit terrorist activities in neighbouring countries. As the UN Monitoring Group on Eritrea and Somalia has confirmed, those groups were trained, armed, and financed by the Eritrean government. There is also a rumour that the flight tickets of the six Somali Canadian youths who left Toronto in 2009 to join al-Shabaab were paid for by the Eritrean consulate. The Eritrean consulate also tries to work under the guise of the community it controls, such as, in Toronto, ECAO, the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario, and the Eritrean Community of Winnipeg Incorporated, in Manitoba.
Therefore, I urge the Canadian government to take action to ban the 2% diaspora tax; to ban the fundraising events organized by the Eritrean Cultural Centre or the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario; to treat the illicit activities of the agents of the Eritrean regime similarly to how the Canadian government treated the illicit activities of pro-Tamil Tigers groups; to fully support and implement immediately UN Security Council Resolution 2023, which puts restrictions on investment in the Eritrean mining industry; to review the diplomatic relationship Canada has with Eritrea, as the Eritrean consulate has repeatedly acted out of its diplomatic mandate; to investigate the activities of the Beilul exchange bureau, which is based in Toronto and registered as a private company but acts as the main collaborator of the Eritrean regime in transferring money to Dubai, Sudan, Eritrea, Kenya, and other countries; and to investigate the activities of the Eritrean consulate in Canada to see if it paid for the flight tickets of the six Somali Canadians who left Toronto in 2009 to join al-Shabaab.
Moreover, I urge the Canadian government to see the root cause of the problem and focus on bringing about a sustainable solution, which is to inform and educate Eritreans who live in Eritrea via an alternative media. What we see now is that the Eritrean repressive government continues to control the only existing public media outlets, which continue to propagandize the society with dogmatic information. The only option left for Eritreans is to build an alternative media platform from outside the country, one that promotes one's rights to freely express herself or himself and in which Eritreans could exercise their rights to freely exchange ideas and information without government interference. This would enable Eritreans to gain greater control over their lives and to exert greater influence upon events that affect the society and its future, or else they will continue to live their lives in fear or flow to the refugee camps of Sudan and Ethiopia.
We call upon the Canadian government to assist Eritrean Canadians in establishing an alternative media—shortwave radio or satellite radio—that could broadcast from here to Eritrea.
Thank you, again.