Subcommittee on International Human Rights Committee on June 11th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 53 of the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Before we begin, I would like to ask all members and other in-person participants to consult the cards on the table for guidelines to prevent audio feedback incidents. Please take note of the following preventative measures in place to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters. Only use a black approved earpiece. The former grey earpieces must no longer be used. Keep your earpiece away from all microphones at all times. When you are not using your earpiece, place it face down, on the sticker placed on the table for this purpose.

Pursuant to our routine motion, I wish to inform the subcommittee that all witnesses have completed the required sound tests in advance of the meeting.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the subcommittee on Tuesday, April 30, the subcommittee is commencing its study of the current situation in Ethiopia.

I would now like to welcome the witnesses. We have, by video conference and as an individual, Yonas Biru, former interim chair of the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council and former deputy global manager of the International Economic Comparison Program at the World Bank. We also have, by video conference and as an individual, Meaza Gebremedhin, independent researcher and human rights defender. From the Canadian Amhara Societies Alliance, we have, by video conference, Wosen Yitna Beyene, president of the Amhara International Movement. In person, from Ethio-Canadians for Human Rights, we have Semaneh Jemere, chairperson, and Yohannes Berhe and Aserdew Kebbede, members. Finally, in person, from Security and Justice for Tigrayans Canada, we have Kidane Gebremariam, former chair and current board member.

The witnesses will have approximately four minutes for their opening remarks, after which members of the committee will ask their questions.

I would like to ask members if I have unanimous consent to go beyond 5:30 until six o'clock. If you would like to go beyond even that, I would like to have your unanimous consent for that, too.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you for your understanding.

Now, I would like to invite Mr. Yonas Biru to take the floor for four minutes. I'll ask you to respect the time, because we have restrictions today.

Please, go ahead. The floor is yours.

[Yonas Biru, Former Interim Chair of the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council and former Deputy Global Manager of the International Economic Comparison Program at the World Bank, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

In November 2022, the Ethiopian government and the TPLF signed a ceasefire in Pretoria. Sadly, the humanitarian crisis has not improved. The prime minister has launched a new war in the Amhara region on top of an already raging war in the Oromo region. These two regions account for 61% of the nation's population and 87% of its food production.

Furthermore, in April 2024, Tigrayan forces opened a new war against Amhara forces, leading to the displacement of 50,000 people. TPLF is preparing to start another war on a second front. The international community has humanitarian and geostrategic reasons to intervene. In the past, its interventions have been focused on Tigray. Two factors explain this. First, the TPLF has a robust international public relations campaign, and second, TPLF's digital army terrorizes foreigners who oppose their narratives. The head of the Tigrayan government is on the record stating, “We don’t care (what their nationality is). We will hunt them down.”

Hunt they have done. Some of the hunted are Canadians. Today, two international witnesses are testifying confidentially to avoid the wrath of the digital terror group. TPLF has effectively silenced foreign experts. As a result, its narratives dominate international attention.

There is no question that the people of Tigray have suffered unimaginable atrocities; so have the people of Amhara and Afar. The international community must not become an arbiter of genocide claims and counterclaims. It must learn from Amnesty International.

In 2021, Amnesty International issued what it characterized as compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their report was based on 41 survivors and 20 eyewitnesses. Two weeks later, a senior Amnesty International official admitted the evidence was false. When 61 witnesses repeat the same false story, it's obvious that the story was scripted and asserted to boost TPLF's genocide allegations.

This did not stop the New Lines Institute from referring to the proven false evidence 11 times.

Further, the report extensively used material compiled by TPLF's foreign advocates. Three such advocates were referred to in the genocide report a total of 124 times. Meanwhile, prominent foreign experts with differing views were completely shut out.

The New Lines Institute's report on genocide in Tigray is based on unverified information at best. At worst, it fails to pass the test of impartiality and ethical integrity. In the best of circumstances, its utility does not go beyond making a case for unfettered international investigations.

This committee can have an enormous positive impact on the lives of all Ethiopians by advocating for such investigations of an international investigation by credible and mandated UN agencies.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you for respecting the time.

Now, I would like to invite Ms. Meaza Gebremedhin to speak.

Ms. Gebremedhin, you have the floor for four minutes, please.

[Meaza Gebremedhin, Independent Researcher and Human Rights Defender, As an Individual]

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.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you. Also, thank you for respecting the time.

Wosen Yitna Beyene from the Canadian Amhara Societies Alliance, you have the floor for five minutes. Pease go ahead.

[Wosen Yitna Beyene, President of International Amhara Movement, Canadian Amhara Societies Alliance]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to thank the committee members for inviting the Amhara voice to this hearing.

Speaking of the current situation in Ethiopia.... There is only one war conducted under the state of emergency, which is the war on the Amhara people that started in April 2023 and was launched in a coordinated manner by the Abiy regime; the Tigray People's Liberation Front, TPLF; and the Oromo Liberation Army, OLA, following the war in north Ethiopia.

For more than 13 months, the Abiy regime subjected the Amhara people throughout Ethiopia to an unlawful state of emergency and put them under siege. As a result, thousands have been arbitrarily killed; have been subjected to weaponized rape, collective punishment, hate speech and profiling; or have been arbitrarily imprisoned and held under cruel, inhumane and degrading conditions. Civilian infrastructure, as well as religious and cultural sites, have been deliberately targeted, including those protected as world heritage sites. The use of schools as military camps has forced over 4.1 million children out of school. Millions in need are not receiving humanitarian relief. In a clear violation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement that it signed on November 2, 2022, the TPLF has launched attacks in the Raya and Tselemt areas since April 12, 2024, committing ethnic cleansing where scores of civilians are killed and young children are burned alive.

The ethnic-based attacks have continued in Oromia region. On May 31, 2024, the Oromo Liberation Army militants killed and abducted Amhara civilians in the West Shewa zone. All these coordinated attacks by the Abiy regime, the TPLF and the OLA demonstrate a pattern of deliberate acts that have the hallmarks of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Considering the imminent existential threat, and after exhausting all peaceful venues in response to the ongoing genocide, the Amhara people had no other option but to exercise their human and legal rights to self-defence, led by the heroic Fano movement. The Amhara Fano represent a diverse cross-section of Amhara society, including farmers, business people, civil servants, medical doctors, engineers, university professors and school teachers. In less than a year, the Fano movement has gained control of 90% of the Amhara region, has established democratic interim administrations and has brought peace to areas under its control.

Here is our recommendation: We urge the Canadian government to explicitly condemn the Abiy regime for its atrocities against the Amhara people and take the following urgent measures.

One, demand that the Abiy army and TPLF forces leave the Amhara region immediately.

Two, demand the end of the telephone blackout, including of the Internet, in the Amhara region.

Three, allow aid organizations in the Amhara region to provide humanitarian assistance.

Four, pressure countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, to stop supplying weapons, including drones, to the Abiy regime.

Five, refrain from supporting the so-called national dialogue and transitional justice process promoted by the Abiy regime to prolong its stay in power and avoid accountability for the heinous crimes it committed.

Six, impose sanctions, including economic and diplomatic, against the Abiy regime.

Lastly, refrain from funding the Abiy regime, the TPLF and the OLA, directly or indirectly.

It is worth noting that, last month, the Canadian Minister of International Development, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, announced $14 million to support disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. The TPLF proudly uses such funds to re-invade the Amhara region.

As Canadian citizens and taxpayers, the Amhara diaspora strongly opposes Canada's promoting double standards in its policy toward the Amhara people. Instead, we urge Canada to make a meaningful shift in its policy, to—

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Please wrap it up. The time is up.

[Wosen Yitna Beyene]

—stop genocide and war on the Amhara people, and to promote genuine peace, democracy and justice in Ethiopia.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you.

Now I would like to invite Mr. Semaneh Jemere, president of Ethio-Canadians for Human Rights.

You have the floor for five minutes, sir. Go ahead.

[Semaneh Jemere, Chairperson, Ethio-Canadians for Human Rights]

Ethio-Canadians for Human Rights makes a special reference to human rights violations in the Amhara and Oromia regions. Ethiopia's crisis stems from the 1995 constitution, which changed the administrative borders from a unified republic to a federation of ethnic regional status drawn on ethnic fault lines.

Unlike Canada's democracy, Ethiopia's constitution grants rights to ethnic groups over individual rights. Ethnic federalism is troubled with inconsistencies as ethnic communities are drawn to live in discrete homelands. Ethnic homelanders have had endless conflict as some 85 ethnic groups have co-existed for centuries. After three decades of experimenting with ethnic federalism, Ethiopia is fed up with it.

In 2018 Ethiopia and the international community welcomed Prime Minister Abiy with euphoria. Hopes for change and reform were further emboldened when the Prime Minister received the Nobel Prize in 2019. Regrettably, the unfortunate Ethiopians got neither peace and security nor political reform. Between 2018 and 2023 there were 5,000 clashes indicating 1,060 conflicts a year as reported by the BBC, of which 58% happened in the Amhara region alone. Conflict has crippled government functions as 65% of the country is out of the regime's hands. Land transport to regional capitals is risky or closed to traffic. Due to the state of emergency, in the Amhara region atrocities are committed against Amharans, particularly in schools, churches and mosques.

Drone attacks have been a hallmark of government campaigns. The state of emergency has subjected activists and journalists to disappearances, executions and detentions. Amharans who have lived in harmony in all parts of the country for centuries are brutally killed, demonized, labelled and displaced, leading to ethnic cleansing and genocide. Human rights abuses are appalling in the Oromia region where Amharans are “slaughtered like chickens”, as reported by the Guardian. Such killings and wanton human rights violations are concocted and acted upon by government authorities, as chronicled by the State Department's 2023 human rights report on Ethiopia, in violation of international humanitarian law and the Ethiopian constitution itself.

Human Rights Watch reported that Ethiopian national defence forces massacred scores of Amharan civilians in the Amhara and Oromia regions, in what the European Centre for Law and Justice called the Merawi, Finote Selam, Burayu, Shashemene and Metekel massacres, and so forth.

Amhara farmers, the historic breadwinners are being denied fertilizer, a method that is being used to starve the people by political fiat. This is happening as the United Nations has reported over 30 million people are in urgent need of food assistance.

The intent of genocide is amplified by the government of Ethiopia threatening to “slaughter...thousands of people overnight” and warning its opponents of a consequence deadlier than the Red Terror of the 1970s”, when the African Union reported over 700,000 people were killed at the time. The fighting, anarchy and genocide may soon be internationalized.

Cognizant of the dire human rights situation in Ethiopia, we recommend that the over 100,000 Ethiopian-Canadian taxpayers who call Canada home call on the government of Ethiopia to release Amhara and Oromia parliamentarians arrested unconstitutionally. For example, Christian Tadele, Yohannes Buayalew, Mr. Taye Denda and Dr. Kassa Teshager should be released. As well in Amhara and Oromia, all political prisoners, journalists, activists and opinion leaders should be released, and the state of emergency in the Amhara region should be lifted and an all-inclusive transitional government should be established. They should stop meddling in religious affairs and guarantee citizens' right for religious freedom.

Canada should unequivocally condemn the government of Ethiopia's despicable killings, rapes and marginalization of Amhara women, girls and mothers. Canada must immediately work to save lives by providing emergency humanitarian assistance to the Amhara people who have suffered more than any other region.

Canada that helped—

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Can you wrap it up, please?

Your time is over.

[Semaneh Jemere]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Thank you.

I now give the floor to Mr. Gebremariam, former president and current member of the board of directors of Security and Justice for Tigrayans Canada.

You have four minutes, please.

[Kidane Gebremariam, Former Chair and Current Board Member, Security and Justice for Tigrayans Canada]

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

My opening statement focuses on the situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

During the two-year war, from November 2020 to November 2022, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, about one million civilians have been killed; more than 120,000 women have been raped; about two million people have been internally displaced, and more than 100,000 persons have been externally displaced.

Socio-economic infrastructure, including health facilities and educational institutions, factories—

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Excuse me, we have a point of order.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Just so that it's not distracting, the bells are going, during which we would normally pause.

I move that we continue, and we can just vote on our apps.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Do we have consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Okay. Let's go on.

Thank you, Mr. Lake.

Excuse me, you can continue, sir.

[Kidane Gebremariam]

Thank you.

More than 100,000 have been externally displaced. Socio-economic infrastructure, including health facilities and educational institutions, factories and small industries have been destroyed by the joint forces of Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Amhara region.

It is reported by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, New Lines Institute, and the U.S. Department of State that war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and gender-based violence have been committed by the joint forces. I believe that the degree of atrocities, massacre, rapes and drone attacks, sieges and blockades of basic services that the people of Tigray faced was unprecedented, so horrific and amounts to genocide.

According to the genocide convention in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, article 6:

...“genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group...

And so on.

Atrocities committed in the Tigray region of Ethiopia clearly meet the above definition of genocide. Tigrayans have been killed and massacred based on their ethnic identity. Tigrayan women and girls have been raped and gang-raped, causing them physical and mental harm, and denied access to all basic human needs, including food and medicine. Conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction have been deliberately inflicted on Tigrayan children, women, girls, boys and elders. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed incited hate propaganda that Tigrayans are daylight hyena, cancer and weeds. Also, Daniel Kibret Birhane, who is an adviser of Abiy Ahmed, cited that Tigrayans are evil and ghosts and must be exterminated from the face of the earth and erased from our mind.

During the rapes and gang rapes, the rapists put unimaginable objects with the intention to damage Tigrayan women and girls' reproductive organs to prevent them from giving birth. As reported by Human Rights Watch, Tigrayans in western Tigray were told by Colonel Dameke Zewdu, who is the head of security in western Tigray, and his allies, “We will erase you from this land.”

Pekka Haavisto, the European Union's special envoy—

[The Chair, Liberal, Fayçal El-Khoury]

Excuse me. Your time is up.

Can you take a few seconds to wrap it up, please?

[Kidane Gebremariam]

He said that Tigrayans will be wiped out for 100 years.

Thank you.