Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Feb. 14th, 2012

[Wayne Marston, NDP, Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, ON]

The concern I have is about the coercion and the threats. There are government-to-government relationships that sometimes allow for taxation between countries, but they certainly don't allow for the coercion, the threats, and the type of intimidation that has gone on. I think the government members referred to the fact that if there were more representations made to police....

I want to congratulate the two of you for being here today in public, even understanding there is a certain risk factor to this.

I think I must be nearly out of my time. Thank you.

[Elizabeth Chyrum]

I was going to quickly add something about the 2% tax.

In the U.K., where I come from, people access different types of benefits: disability, job seeker's allowance, and so on. These benefits are how U.K. taxpayers help the disadvantaged. But then those people have to pay £80 per year, for example, and they are asked to produce proof of benefit, which is proof of a disability living allowance. Otherwise, they do not get any clearance.

It's an extortion; it's not a tax.

We are not against paying tax to our country if the money is used toward helping our people build schools and clinics and toward developing the country. But we know that the money goes to al-Shabaab, the money goes to arm the neighbouring countries' opposition. That's what we are objecting to. For example, when I speak about how the U.K. taxpayers' money ended up with al-Shabaab, it's not a made-up story. The UN monitoring group compiled a report, but in my own research and from talking to my people...they said we were training those people.

So it is a fact, based on honest and credible information.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Mr. Hiebert.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Thank you both for being here and having the courage to speak out. I, too, would like to follow up on the diaspora tax and try to get a little bit more information about how they are intimidating Eritrean Canadians.

In your recommendations, Mr. Berhane, you identified a number of organizations. You mentioned the Eritrean Cultural Centre in Toronto, the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario, and the Eritrean Community in Winnipeg Incorporated. Can you tell us more about how these organizations, in your words, operate as fronts for the Eritrean government to raise funds?

[Aaron Berhane]

There is one organization called the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario, which is based in Toronto. What they do is they invite a cultural troupe from Eritrea. This cultural troupe is a military cultural troupe, by the way. They get in through a visa. All of the permits are issued based on the name of the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario. It is registered as a non-profit organization to serve Eritrean Canadians. They perform their show. People have to pay $50 to see this cultural show; they drink soft drinks or beer. All of the money collected during that event does not go to the Eritrean Canadian Association of Ontario. The board members don't have a clue how much money is collected or where it is spent. All of this money goes directly to the Eritrean consulate.

The way this association works is very systematic; it doesn't really share with anyone. Some of the people assigned as board members are members of the ruling party; some of them are agents, so there is no way they can reveal the secret. The community doesn't even provide services to the people who are newcomers. Still, they generate anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 in one event. All of this money is supposed to be invested in the Eritrean Canadian community. Unfortunately, it isn't. They use different techniques, such as inviting this cultural show, and they sell different kinds of pictures, and all of these proceeds are collected to be invested in the Eritrean consulate.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

You also identified the Beilul exchange bureau in Toronto. Can you tell us more about how they function or what they do?

[Aaron Berhane]

Yes. The Beilul exchange bureau is like Money Mart or Western Union. If you want to send money to Eritrea, you go to them. For example, the exchange rate for $100 is equivalent to $4,000, but they don't give you that rate; if you want to send $100, they give your parents $1,500.

If you want to send it in another way, it is illegal, but the actual exchange rate is this amount, so why give this one...? Whether we like it or not, that is the money your parents are going to receive. They use this system, the way they send money, to control everyone, so many people try to send the money in other ways. But the people who work actively on that get arrested. So this—

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

They get arrested...?

[Aaron Berhane]

In Eritrea.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Okay.

[Aaron Berhane]

That's why this has an upper hand, to control Eritreans living here, in the way they send money.

Actually, it is registered as a private company, but it is owned by the ruling party. It is very hard to know, because the person who has registered it is a Canadian citizen. But everything he works is...he doesn't even have—what do you call it?—full control of the business he runs. He rents an office beside the Eritrean consulate, so they're practically one. They share the same staff. It is very vivid if you see how they work and how they function.

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you.

Mr. Cotler.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Along the lines of the previous questions—some of which actually almost took the words out of my mouth, so I will try not to repeat—I've been struck not only by the nature of the testimony and actually the chilling and graphic nature of the testimony. The thing that has been going on in my mind is that, as you mentioned, Eritrea is like the North Korea of Africa.

Eritrea has imprisoned more journalists than any other country in the world, save maybe for Iran, and because we may not know more about it fully, maybe even more than Iran.

But there is an ongoing culture of impunity with respect to Eritrea. On the G-15 detention and imprisonment, we don't even know how many may have died there, as you've mentioned. All these things raise for me the question: why is it that these horrific human rights abuses in Eritrea are simply not on the international radar screen?

I'm delighted that we are holding these hearings, but I'm troubled by the fact that this cri de coeur that you've raised here today, and that's so necessary, is something that's just not being addressed by the international community. Be as indicting as you wish of the international community in your response. I ask myself why such a compelling human rights issue is not being sufficiently or even at all addressed and redressed internationally.

[Elizabeth Chyrum]

I think the Eritrean government has this siege mentality and blame the British, the Italians, and the Ethiopians for all our predicaments in the past. What I also gathered when I used to go to the EU Parliament to lobby was that the U.K. was lobbying for Zimbabwe because of the colonial tie they have. We didn't have anybody except us screaming and shouting. Sometimes they would tell me, “Look, we have to continue negotiating with those people. We know they are bad. They are dangerous. If we are not there, the Iranians will go, the Qatari...and all the other people with negative influence will go to Eritrea. Eritrea is a strategically very important place, so we have to keep negotiating.”

To be honest, the international media have not covered it. Media have a great role, but we haven't had anybody really. We didn't have much support. We've had no allies, nobody to present Eritrea's case. It's only this year that it has really started to pick up because of the UN sanctions and because the IGAD countries have also been pushing the UN Security Council to take action. It's the only country in Africa honestly...another African country or a group of African countries.... This isn't only about human rights of Eritreans in Eritrea. It's appalling, honestly.

This testimony does not even address what is really going on in Eritrea.

[Evidence given in camera]

Honestly, my people need help. It's horrible really when people do not have food. I was campaigning for food aid, and the president would come on the television and say, “We don't need food aid. We don't want to be spoon-fed. Give it to Ethiopia. Give it to whatever.” But people are dying of starvation.

There's no university in Eritrea. The only university in Eritrea is closed. Can you imagine a country with no university? What future will our people have? The youths, the future of Eritrea, are fleeing in droves every day, two hundred in each direction, to Sudan and Ethiopia. I don't know what kind of country we will have, but it's quite worrying really.

I agree with you that for some reason it has not been on the radar.

[Aaron Berhane]

I would add one thing to that, Mr. Cotler, which is that in Eritrea, there are no independent journalists. BBC has reporters and correspondents everywhere. They had them in Eritrea. But reporters have been expelled from Eritrea. There are no NGOs in Eritrea. There are no independent journalists. All information is closed, so the only information that has been coming out is from Eritreans. Sometimes you don't even get credibility, because people who listen just assume that probably you are in opposition. Probably you have a personal issue with the government. So sometimes it is very difficult to be heard.

All the compelling evidence, what you see on the ground, is exactly what is going on over there. But I would say the main problem is probably a lack of interest, because Eritrea is not the first in line on the political agenda of any international group. Because of that, the Eritrean issue hasn't gotten the attention it should. So that could be one of the reasons, I believe.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Unfortunately, that goes considerably over the time that was allotted.

By the way, I see the clock as being 10 minutes to two, which gives us time for interventions by Ms. Grewal for five minutes and then by Madame Péclet for five minutes.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you so much for your time and your presentations.

You might be aware of a Canadian company by the name of Nevsun Resources that is operating in Eritrea. Do you believe that the presence of Nevsun Resources in Eritrea is having any negative effect on the civilians?

[Elizabeth Chyrum]

May I answer that question?

I've done the research on how the mining companies are operating. I have a photocopy—but I have to translate it into French—of a summary of the interviews with the people who work at the mining project.

As for what is happening is, first of all, the people who are employed by Nevsun are well fed and well paid, and they are well quartered.

The subcontractors are the government-owned companies, construction companies, and they employ about 3,000 Eritreans. Those 3,000 are poorly paid. They sleep in a makeshift-like camp. They eat very poorly. They work up to 16 hours. This second group is the conscripts. The conscripts are like a battalion or a brigade. They bring them there and give them the construction company's uniform. The conscripts are warned not to say they are conscripts.

[Evidence given in camera]

Nevsun is the main company. The project, the Bisha mining project, is owned by Nevsun and Eritrea's government.

Nevsun brought in the subcontractor, a South African company called SENET. To be honest, SENET wanted to do everything by the book. They tried everything. Sometimes they even gave the safety equipment, but the Eritreans never.... My people, they work with no industrial gloves, no hard hats, and no goggles or steel-toed boots or safety belts, etc. These are not provided.

The companies, SENET and Nevsun, brought in about 400 Zimbabweans and Philippians from Zimbabwe and South Africa. They are well fed and well protected. You could say that my own people have been used as slaves in their own country, while the others, you could say.... You know, the perception here is like white and black; this was the colony times.

But as for what is happening here for the black Africans from Zimbabwe and the black Eritreans in Eritrea, the Eritreans have nothing to eat, honestly, and $9 a month for 16 hours doesn't add up. I am one hundred per cent sure that Nevsun and SENET, they know, but they just turn a blind eye, and they don't know anything, you know.... So for me, yes, they are making money out of my people, at the cost of my people.

[Nina Grewal, Conservative, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Is there any way that the Canadian government can help ensure better working conditions for local contractors in Eritrea? Is there any way that...?

[Elizabeth Chyrum]

You see, there are no private companies or contractors.

[Evidence given in camera]

Then we didn't understand, but now, looking back, the reason they did that was to monopolize all the contracts. They are the only ones. They use conscripts. They use cheap labour. Their interest is to maximize their profit at any cost. The conscripts are there as slaves, so why would they pay money to my people? It's not about Nevsun and it's not about the mining companies, because they don't listen to them.

Hear what one of the safety officers told us: that in each meeting, SENET, for example, one of the South African companies subcontracted by Nevsun, would say that they wanted the Eritrean staff—they know they're conscripts—to wear the safety equipment and use it. But the Eritreans would say no, that they had their own ways. So for any company that is engaged with Eritrea, no matter how much they try, nobody is going to listen.

So the solution here is not to engage until the human rights situation is improved. It has to be conditional.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you. That's exactly five minutes.

Madame Péclet.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I'll just invite the witnesses to put in their earpieces because I'm going to speak in French, if that's okay.

Ms. Chyrum, you wrote an article specifically about the use of such slavery. You did a great job answering that question. The bottom line, then, is that even without formal evidence showing that Canadian companies use this form of slavery, we can conclude informally that they do.

[Elizabeth Chyrum]

I agree with you 100%, because honestly, national service in Eritrea is for an indefinite period, so the government owns the youth. You cannot even really say the youth, because those between 18 and 50 are still owned by them, used as slaves. They don't own anything except their souls.

[Evidence given in camera]

It is true, they are using slave labour, and they must have this due diligence that they should follow; this is a moral issue. Countries are also responsible for monitoring their national companies' operations abroad.

Thank you.

[Ève Péclet, NDP, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

My second question has to do with the 2% tax collected by the Eritrean government from its diaspora.

Mr. Berhane, you said the Eritrean consulate collected about $10 million to $20 million every year from Eritreans abroad. I was wondering if you had heard of any measures taken by groups denouncing the practice as far as the Canadian government was concerned? That sort of tax is indeed illegal under Canadian law. Do you know anything about that or have any facts you could share with us?