Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on Nov. 1st, 2012

[Cliff Davis]

I'm not really sure what that means, but I can tell you that all of our staff are free to move. We've never had any difficulties of our Eritreans or other Eritreans moving within the country, in and out of site. We certainly have security at site, I didn't mean to say that, but there's a free flow of people.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

All right. Thank you.

Mr. Sweet, you have time for one more question, and then we will go to Professor Cotler for one more, and I think at that point we may have run out of time.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Mr. Davis, explain this to us, if you would, please, in practical terms. You mentioned this consultant who had come to help set up a system regarding the authenticity of individuals who have come to work for you in Eritrea, that they're there on their own accord. You mentioned that you do check they have their military discharge papers so you know that they filled that obligation and are not there as military agents forced by the government.

What measures do you take to determine that these people aren't forced there by the Eritrean government? What is the interview process? What does it look like practically?

[Cliff Davis]

Practically, we advertise for the positions available. There are a lot of applicants. Significant sifting is obviously by skills, but another significant sifting device is whether or not they are released from national service.

So it's really an application process. When we go out and need to hire ten new people, there is no shortage of applicants. By definition, to me, that's.... They're certainly there of their own free will.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Thank you, Mr. Sweet.

Professor Cotler, please.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Davis, as you know, we have heard witness testimony about the widespread and systematic human rights violations in Eritrea. Indeed the United Nations, our own government, and human rights organizations have reported on this.

Let me just ask you, what do you think are the human rights concerns in Eritrea?

[Cliff Davis]

Sorry, Mr. Cotler, but I am very repetitive to your line of questioning. We are aware of our operations, and we ensure that we have respected and fulfilled all the human rights obligations with respect to anybody on our site, whether they be our employees, our contractor's employees, or our subcontractor's employees.

I read as much as anybody else reads. There are various reports and various sources, and I'm not in a position to verify them in any way.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

So you are not aware yourself of any human rights violations in Eritrea.

[Cliff Davis]

I'm certainly not directly aware at all. All I have is the same access that you have with respect to the Internet, and postings on the Internet, and articles—

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Well, I speak to Eritreans, and they have reported to me about these human rights violations of a widespread and systematic nature, so I'm not only dealing with reports that report this, but Eritreans reported this to me.

Now, you have far more encounters with Eritreans than I have had, and I am asking you if you have any concerns about these human rights violations. Have they been reported to you? Have any of the villagers, any groups, reported to you about any human rights violations?

[Cliff Davis]

No.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

No. Okay.

So you have received no reports of any human rights violations while you have been in Eritrea.

[Cliff Davis]

No.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

We have come to the end of our time.

Mr. Davis, I want to thank you for agreeing, indeed for volunteering, to appear before our subcommittee. We do appreciate that. We are looking into the human rights situation in general in Eritrea, not specific to your company but in the country as a whole.

One thing does cross my mind; perhaps I can just ask this as a final question. In the event you were to come across something that you regarded as being a human rights violation that did come to your attention in Eritrea, would it put your commercial position as a company operating in Eritrea into peril if you were to bring that to public attention, either to the attention of the government itself or to the attention of the international community?

[Cliff Davis]

I don't believe so. I don't think I would have any trouble talking to somebody in government.

By the way, Mr. Chairman, thank you again for the opportunity. Just to put this in context about our request to appear, in February, I guess, after other testimony, it was brought to our attention that this subcommittee existed and that there were a number of witnesses commenting on our operations.

To our knowledge, none of these people has ever visited our operations, and they certainly haven't contacted us either.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Are there any Canadian or other international persons not actually commercially linked to Nevsun or its subcontractors who have had the opportunity to visit your operation?

[Cliff Davis]

Sure: the UN...and I imagine there's a number of people. I don't monitor them all. A lot of people come and visit.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

Right.

[Cliff Davis]

There's a regular frequency of international visitors. There are investors, naturally, potential investors, and people referred to as analysts, certainly who are independent, from outside Eritrea. They come from the U.K., Europe, Canada, and the United States.

[The Chair, Conservative, Scott Reid]

All right.

We appreciate that very much, Mr. Davis. Thank you for making yourself available.

Members of the committee, I'm going to dismiss Mr. Davis. I just ask you to hang on for one item of committee business unrelated to this. Then we'll be out of here and back to the House in time for question period.

Thank you, Mr. Davis.

[Proceedings continue in camera]