4th June - Experts discuss the situation in #Tigray Representatives from the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies and the New Lines Institute hold a news conference in Ottawa to discuss the latter's report on the situation in Tigray. The Genocidal war between #Ethiopian, #Eritrean, #Amhara and... other regional forces against the regional #Tigray lasted two years and ended with a ceasefire agreement in November 2022. The conflict is estimated to have killed up to 300,000 civilians and over 400,000 soldiers. The New Lines Institute's report concludes there is reason to believe that all sides in the conflict committed war crimes, and that Ethiopian and allied forces appear to have committed crimes against humanity and acts of #Genocide against Tigrayans. Despite the ceasefire, there are reports of continued atrocities in the Tigray region. Taking part in the news conference are Azeem Ibrahim (New Lines Institute), Kyle Matthews (Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies), Annika Weiss (New Lines Institute), Ali Ehsassi (Liberal MP), John Packer (University of Ottawa) and Makeda Leul (Security and Justice for Tigrayans Canada). cpac 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocideshow more

4th June - ❝The conflict in Ethiopia (#Tigray) was one of the bloodiest of the 21st Century, during which over 700,000 individuals perished. The @NewlinesInst report that is released today delves into significant Human Rights Abuses and War Crimes that were committed during that period. However, despite the horrific toll and the scale of the violence unleashed in Ethiopia, the conflict remained underreported and has generally evaded public attention. I certainly hope this new report will ensure that parliamentarians, government officials, academics, and experts pay attention to our responsibilities and focus on what needs to be done going forward. The report identifies concrete steps that the International Community should consider to promote a Just and Stable Peace in Ethiopia.❞ - Opening remarks by @AliEhsassi, Member of the House of Commons of #Canada @CPAC_TV 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocide

4th June - ❝The #Tigray war in Ethiopia currently stands as the deadliest armed conflict of the 21st century, and the bloodiest since the end of the Cold War. Some credible estimates state that over 1 million people have died both civilian and soldiers, but despite this staggering loss of life and despite the magnitude of this strategy, the world has largely turned a blind eye to this forgotten War. Initial International efforts have faded away, the international Commission of Human Rights experts on Ethiopia has ceased operations without completing its work, The #USA 🇺🇲 has returned to providing financial and economic assistance to Ethiopia as if nothing had ever happened, and even the #European 🇪🇺 Union has resumed its $680 million of development strategy with Ethiopia. This neglect by the International Community is extremely serious, it is a serious breach of international law that have not been thoroughly investigated and adequately addressed. And it's for this reason that the New Lines Institute commissioned this groundbreaking report to shed light on the sheer scale and variety of the criminal conduct in Tigray. The result is that we have produced the most comprehensive report on this subject that examines the evidence and provides the most extensive and detailed legal analysis. We approached this report through the lens of the Genocide convention, but we also outline paths to accountability at National and International levels. The report took over two years to do and involved hundreds of thousands of words. And this is not something new, The New Lines Institute did extensive reports on Genocide on the #Uyghur issue on the #Rohingya and in #Ukraine. This was the logical next project to ensure that the Genocide convention is upheld. All sides to be clear committed War Crimes, but in particular the report finds that the #Ethiopian National Defense Force, the #Eritrean Defense Force, and #Amhara Special Forces committed Crimes Against Humanity and Genocidal acts against the #Tigrayan people. #Genocidal Acts were part of a deliberate plan, and supported at the most Senior level. To give you an example; one of the Prime Minister's Social Affairs advisor said on record the "Tigrayans, they should be erased and disappeared from Historical records, a person who wants to study them should find nothing about them, maybe he can find out about them by digging in the ground". That's a quote from the Prime Minister's Special Advisor. The report also finds that Ethiopia as a state party breached the #Genocide convention and was obligated to prevent and punish Genocide. In light of this report, we can no longer allow this tragedy to remain in the shadows, it is now time to take a stand. It is time to recognize the atrocities that have been committed, and it is time that decisive action to ensure Justice for the victims of Genocide in Tigray is is delivered soon.❞ - @AzeemIbrahim ( @NewlinesInst ) @CPAC_TV 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocide

4th June - #Tigray ❝ I just want to underline that, here we're talking about something pretty straightforward, pretty clear, we're also talking about a situation which are elaborated in the report of really a catalog of Acts of Violations. Some people say that we really can't talk about Genocide unless there are killings, well there's abundant killings in this case. They say we can't talk about #Genocide unless there are acts against the integrity of individual persons, torture and so. There are abundant cases and so forth and so on. Some really of a horrendous character, it's all horrendous but if we were to say of certain, of manifestations such as sexual violence and so forth; to gain abundant cases. Here we have clear law, clear situation, and at scale, and this simply behooves us to stand up and to identify, & it is really shameful in the International Community, that there has been an effort to suppress this and worse than that to kind of paper over it, Such as the re-engagement by other states because the character of Genocide here is not just something that we're not supposed to do but we are supposed to actively cooperate in the prevention of it. One of the Hallmarks of the Genocide convention is article one, which is a duty to prevent genocide and that duty is not only applicable on all 153 States parties, but between each other. We know according to the internal court of justice that that duty to prevent begins at the moment a state and now I'm quoting or paraphrasing "The moment that a state knows or ought reasonably to know that there is a serious risk of Genocide, we are way past the point of serious risk here" We know what has actually happened, so at a minimum we can say quite definitively that article one has been triggered, that Duty now exists for all states parties including Canada. "What does that duty entail?" The international court of justice has also helped us understand that and the international court of justice has said that that duty entails for states to act proactively, to take steps basically within their capacity and within their proximity. Therefore we have to ask #Canada, and Canada in our relations with other states, we should definitely not be complicit in the performance or the continuation of acts of Genocide but we should also be doing those things which we can to exercise influence, to not only stop but to hold to account, and to ensure reparation, and and so forth. There is a series of undertakings that follow which are material to continuing international relations in this case. The last thing that I'd like to just mention is that the report identifies a very concretely mentions six recommendations which are primarily which are divided in the domain between State responsibility, actions State should take, which are within our Province, to take we don't have to ask anyone about that, we don't have to go anywhere to obtain permission, but it also identifies steps that can and should be taken with regard to individuals who are identifiable who carry particular individual responsibility and they exist. That includes using our own Universal jurisdiction if it's appropriate, if they are persons within the jurisdiction, or acting in concert with other states for international resources, investigations at a minimum and so forth. I think this is fairly clear and we hope that the government of Canada would support this, Thank you.❞ - Prof. John Packer ( @uOttawa ) @CPAC_TV 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocide

4th June - ❝I commend the @NewlinesInst for putting together this report. It's been years that we've seen Atrocity Crimes take place in Ethiopia, in the #Tigray region. We've seen denial by the government, by other actors. The @_AfricanUnion which is seated in Addis Ababa has a mandate to interfere and get involved when there were Mass try crimes taking place including Genocide, which we've seen almost no action by the African Union. I think we are at a point where the international liberal order is tearing apart. It seems that the number of atrocity crimes taking place across the world is a signal of that weakness, and in the case of Ethiopia is a very, very serious situation that needs more attention. #Canada played a very important role in the 1990s in creating and making foreign policies centered on Human Security, a key part of our Legacy under Foreign Axworthy and others. We helped create the Criminal Court, we've also pushed for the norm and the response to protect that we must take action to prevent through all means; be it economic, diplomatic, or in any other settings of using Military Force, including peacekeeping to protect civilians. Unfortunately in the last couple years, especially with R2P that's fallen by the wayside, nobody's talking about it and so we have to engage, we have to find other actors that can help protect the people in Ethiopia, #Tigrayans who are still at at risk. This report comes out says, there is #Genocide occurring, doesn't say that it's over, and I think that's the key point that I would like everyone to hear is that this report says there's Genocide but it doesn't mean that people aren't suffering today, it's continuing so we need to double our efforts and work with Partners to try to protect civilians, ensure human security of Tigrayans are looked after, Thank you.❞ - Kyle Matthews (Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies) @CPAC_TV 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocide

4th June - ❝Today marks a significant day for #Tigrayans worldwide, it is a day of renewed hope as we slowly yet surely inch closer towards Justice for the deliberate suffering unleashed on the people of #Tigray. Since November 2020 Tigrayans have been facing the deadliest war in the 21st century, these are not my words but words quoted by many news outlets and notable diplomatic figures, and most recently in the new published New Lines Institute report. Since the start of the war, Tigrayans worldwide unified as one voice for the people in Tigray who were physically, financially, and technologically cut off from the world while they were viciously massacred, starved, and raped in the dark, and every facet of their way of being completely destroyed.  The signing of the #Petoria peace agreement on November 2nd 2022, brought a sense of relief as it put a stop to the guns and promised a path towards accountability, sustainability and peace. However, nearly two years since the agreement was signed and no tangible steps towards accountability or return to normalcy has been made. Over 60,000 Tigrayan refugees are stuck in #Sudan, escaping home from one war to find themselves caught in another one. They are so vulnerable and desperate that some are even taking the risk to go back to Tigray, where occupying forces are waiting. Just yesterday the @UN's inter-agency standing committee released an evaluation of the response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Tigray and surrounding regions, we commend the Humanitarian Organizations who stayed through the war and delivered services to communities in dire need, under challenging circumstances. However the report found that the quality and appropriateness of the limited aid that reached the communities did not align with the actual scale of need.  In Ethiopia Humanitarian data can only be published with the federal government's approval, and the government has admitted to wanting to starve Tigray, they were skewing the metrics and numbers. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans starved to death or died from lack of medicine, that suffering and death continues today. The inter-agency report yesterday found that serious mistakes made in responding to the needs of the people quote amount to a system failure. We call on @antonioguterres to launch an internal review panel of UN's actions in Ethiopia. There are still nearly one million IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) without adequate living essentials, and over 120,000 victims of extreme gender-based violence, who are left to tend to their physical, and psychological wounds themselves, with virtually no functioning Hospitals left after the deliberate destruction. Many sympathizers and loyalists of the #Ethiopian and #Eritrean governments claim that the lived realities of Tigrayans are made up, and based on biased unverifiable half-truths. Over the last four years, they have heavily invested time and resources into drowning out our voices and flooding social media, and other outlets with misinformation and disinformation campaigns, Doing everything they can to derail Advocacy for the Rights and dignity of Tigrayans. On top of the gaslighting and propaganda from Ethiopian and Eritrean government loyalists, Canada's geopolitical interests in the region have disappointingly taken precedence over the Human Rights abuses in Tigray. The light taps on the wrist for the Human Rights Abuses committed in Tigray, while resuming mining operations to extract gold and other valuable minerals in the region is intolerable. We urg the Canadian government to rethink its investments and to carefully inspect and verify best mining practices in the region, while also applying diplomatic pressure on the Ethiopian government to meet the #Geneva Convention and International law Standards.❞ - Makeda Leul ( @SjtForTigray Security and Justice for Tigrayans Canada ) @CPAC_TV 🔗 #Ethiopia & #Eritrea are guilty of #TigrayGenocide

@BarackObama

The questions I have for you is simple- they will not help you. Probably they will put you in constant war/mistrust with your neighbors. This will create another Palestine in the HOA. Think twice! Make peace with your immediate neighbors. Stop hate!

The so called experts did not save you 2-3 years ago. They were parroting 10,000km away. The same will happen again and again if we failed to make peace for ourselves. TPLFies were terrorizing our people for the last 40plus years.