Thank you so much, Chairperson. I appreciate the committee's inviting me to provide an update on the dire circumstance in Ethiopia, and particularly in Tigray.
While the world's attention has moved away from the conflict in Tigray after the 2020 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, the state-led genocide against the people of Tigray persists. The Ethiopian government has the people of Tigray in a chokehold with Amhara and Eritrean forces continuing to commit crimes against humanity and what we believe is a state-led genocide in occupied parts of Tigray.
Forty percent of Tigray to date remains under the illegal occupation of Amhara and Eritrean forces. In the areas where these forces are present, human rights violations continue, as do grave violations, particularly in the border area between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eritrean forces continue being sexually violent to women in order to further terrorize the community. This also puts a very critical risk on the minority groups of Irob and Kunama, who are very small in number and are facing real extinction.
We call upon the Canadian government not only to put pressure on the Ethiopian government but also to impose sanctions on the Eritrean government so that the people who have continued to suffer gross violations of human rights can get relief.
We also want to bring your attention to the fact that the Ethiopian government, alongside members of the international community, has been putting immense pressure on the fact that there needs to be disarmament while ignoring the fact that 40% of Tigray remains under the illegal occupation of the Amhara and Eritrean forces.
It is to be remembered that the Pretoria agreement outlines that disarmament needs to happen side by side with the full withdrawal of all foreign forces from all parts of Tigray. However, like I said, the fact remains that the Ethiopian government has allowed Amhara forces and Eritrean forces to continue brutalizing the people of Tigray in the occupied parts of the region.
Particularly in western Tigray and Eritrea, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others have provided conclusive evidence that violations of human rights continue to persist to date. It is upon the international community, particularly member states of the EU, the United Nations and particularly Canada, to ensure that human rights are respected no matter when or where.
In Tigray, human rights have become a tool to push a political agenda by the Ethiopian government. What's happening in Tigray is a catastrophe, a genocide that has been laid and orchestrated by the Ethiopian government alongside its regional, international and local actors, particularly the Amhara militia and the Amhara forces.
It is incumbent on the Canadian government, again, to put human lives first and to enforce and push for the Eritrean government to leave the territories of Tigray, and also for the Amhara forces alongside the Ethiopian government to be held accountable using international mechanisms.
The circus that the Ethiopian government is leading under the guise of transitional justice does not have legitimacy nor acceptance by the people. Survivors of the conflict have related sexual violence, massacres, man-made famine and other atrocities in Tigray, and they continue to call for internationally mandated justice and accountability mechanisms so that they can have a chance at getting redress.
The world, particularly countries like Canada, has failed the people of Tigray in averting genocide, but the people of Tigray have a chance to ensure that they get justice for the crimes they suffered at the hands of the Ethiopian, Eritrean and Amhara militias.
Thank you very much.