Thank you very much, Mr. Reid. And good afternoon, members of the subcommittee. It's a pleasure to be in front of you again. We very much welcome the fact that we'll be discussing a part of the world that for Amnesty International has long been a priority concern.
I was thinking about the fact that my own involvement with Amnesty International back in the mid eighties was marked by an intense campaign of work on that disappearances that were happening in Sri Lanka. More than 25 years later the human rights situation in the country is still very preoccupying for our organization.
We welcome the fact that the Canadian government's views matter when it comes to Sri Lanka, as we have close connections and ties with that country in many respects. A large Sri Lankan expatriate community lives in Canada. We have ties via bodies such as the Commonwealth. So it's very timely and welcome that the subcommittee is giving some attention to the situation in Sri Lanka.
You're going to hear briefly from both of us. My colleague, John Argue, is a member of Amnesty International who for years has coordinated and overseen the work done by Amnesty International here in Canada on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. He is very knowledgeable about the conditions in the country. He will provide you with a quick overview of some of our current concerns. Then I will pick it up and share with you some of the work that we have been following and encouraging within multilateral bodies, such as the United Nations and the Commonwealth, where there are some important initiatives under way to try to address some of the serious concerns in the country.
Mr. Argue will begin.