Madam Speaker, I am really pleased to stand today to present these petitions on behalf of Canadians. The first one is on behalf of Canadians as a whole, but also the Ethiopian community. Ethiopia has experienced alarming bouts of unrest and violence in the last year. Conflict has engulfed the Tigray region, leading to egregious human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis.
Whereas humanitarian actors and independent journalists and researchers have almost no access to the affected region, Ethiopian and the Eritrean federal armed forces, forces affiliated with the Tigray People's Liberation Front and Ethiopian regional and military forces have all taken part in this conflict.
Credible reports indicate that war crimes, such as the indiscriminate shelling of civilian towns and villages, extrajudicial killings, and at least one large scale massacre, looting and sexual violence, have all occurred. The situation remains dire with rising hunger, limited access to food and the collapse of the health care system.
As Ethiopia is one of the largest recipients of Canada's international assistance, these individuals are petitioning the government to immediately call for an end to the violence and for restraint from all sides and parties involved in the Tigray conflict; immediate humanitarian access to the region for independent monitoring to be allowed; an immediate international investigation into credible reports of war crimes and gross violations of human rights law; direct and consistent engagement with the Ethiopian and Eritrean governments on this conflict; and the promotion of short, medium and long-term elections monitoring in Ethiopia.