Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  May I ask you to reformulate the question? I'm not sure that I fully understand the question, because there are many things—

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  On the first element, for sure Canada supports the sanctions against Eritrea imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1907. That's 100% sure. Now on the implementations of the sanctios Canada has implemented requirements giving effect to the sanctions. And third, on whether these affect Eritrea, I would say, probably yes.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Certainly, yes. It's interesting because we had for women's day a conference in Asmara on this issue, which I was invited to. There was a list of progress made on this issue. I would say definitely yes, and it's part of, I would say, the egalitarian doctrine of the regime. Keeping in mind some specific restrictions that we can find in other countries, yes, there is progress on this gender issue.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I said, there is no free media. There is a little access to the Internet. I think their Internet has many technical problems, but yes, people can access the Internet. To be frank and honest, I just watch the TV a very little bit. It's national TV, pro-government national TV.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Just to explain and to clarify to be sure of that, people can talk to each other. We were able to talk to people. It's as I said. If we can make an analogy with Cuba, at a certain time, of course, you cannot communicate publicly. You cannot have, I would say, a platform or medium where you can express your views.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have been to the Bisha mine twice, but as I say, we have been to eastern Eritrea and western Eritrea, and we stopped to discuss issues like the economic situation, or military service, and all those things, and that was okay. We didn't talk about the regime per se. We didn't talk with people about detention, prisons, and torture, obviously.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes. What we can say, just to mention facts, is that we saw many new schools. There are some health facilities, keeping in mind the minimum of resources, for sure, as you can imagine with the economic situation. They are not big budget, but we can just say that they are visible.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  No, it was my first time. Perhaps I can just add something about the schools and dispensaries. The difference with other countries I've been in is that many of the schools and dispensaries were financed by the international assistance. In this case, it's basically coming from their own financial resources.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Your question is interesting because when we met with the UN representatives, some of them were Africans from neighbouring countries. They don't have this full access in their own countries coming.. So I would just cite that. Based on my almost 15 years of experience in Africa, this is a good success, providing people with access to a health system.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Is your question, why don't they advertise these successes?

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much. I would like first to thank the subcommittee for inviting me to testify on the human rights situation in Eritrea, and on my latest visits to Asmara, in Eritrea. I would like to begin by underlining that the human rights situation in Eritrea remains a serious concern for Canada.