Foreign Affairs committee  I'll turn to my colleague, Ms. Hilary Childs-Adams, if she has any information on this.

Foreign Affairs committee  Obviously, the U.K. is an important partner. The EU is an important partner in our coordination with like minds. We mentioned the President of Kenya, an important partner for us in communication and the role that these elders within the African political community can play in influencing results on the ground.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think there is generally a consensus that an African solution is one that will probably be more acceptable to most parties to the conflict.

Foreign Affairs committee  There is a long history related to the ethnic origins of the conflict in Ethiopia. Eritrea was part of Ethiopia until it achieved its independence. It used to be the province just north of Tigray. There's obviously, from what we can gather, communication and coordination between the Government of Ethiopia and the Government of Eritrea, enabling it to enter the war.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  We have heard reports of the use of children and minors as conflict actors. We still have to receive concrete evidence, but we have heard reports of this. I would also say, to the question of genocide, that it is something that the global community is concerned about. The human rights reporting that was done by OHCHR and the EHRC did not make any allegations of genocide, and have we not heard those from any of the other bodies that have been investigating human rights violations, either.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. That's a very interesting question. We have a very strong alignment with the U.S. on the situation in Ethiopia. Due to the size of our economy and our engagement with them, we have different tools at our disposal and a different impact that we can have in our engagement on the issue, but I would say there generally is a fairly strong alignment between us and the U.S.

Foreign Affairs committee  We generally have a very common view of the conflict, yes.

Foreign Affairs committee  Absolutely. In all of our interventions at the political level, we have been calling for a mediated solution. There is, of course, a national dialogue that the Government of Ethiopia has been intending to undertake, and we support that as well.

Foreign Affairs committee  This question is one that I would say is open, because the possibility of the use of sanctions is always a potential tool for us. My answer to the question is to say that we assess the timing of sanctions, the impact of sanctions, the impact they will have on the civilian population and the impact they could have on civilians, along with other efforts that are being made at the time and that we could be making at the same time.

Foreign Affairs committee  I can respond to that question. The human rights situation you have outlined is indeed the same that we see and hear on the ground in Ethiopia. There are serious violations perpetrated by all parties to the conflict. I think we have been very vocal in all of our diplomatic and political engagements.

Foreign Affairs committee  Our understanding is that all parties have perpetrated serious human rights violations. These were also revealed in the OHCHR Ethiopian Human Rights Commission report. It did make that allegation of all of them. I think we do need to have that independent investigative reporting on all of them.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you for the question. I think that the progress has been slow and insufficient. We haven't seen much progress, especially in the three areas that I referred to. That said, there has been some very recent progress. The possibility of mediation and a national dialogue among the parties to the conflict in Ethiopia is a little more promising.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. This is a significant question in terms of our humanitarian aid and its delivery. I'll just say that, in 2021, we committed $43 million to address humanitarian needs in crisis‑affected areas of Ethiopia. I'll turn to my colleague, Mr. Salewicz, who can talk about the different projects and the $7 million that you referred to.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think engagement of the African Union on the issue of human rights violations is critical. It's been made clear to us by many of the African countries in the region, as well as by the Government of Ethiopia, that this is an African issue and they expect to seek African solutions.