Since October 2020 there has been mounting evidence of numerous atrocities committed against Tigrayans by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces. There is evidence of sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, extrajudicial executions and mass killings, and cultural destructions, in what Human Rights Watch described a campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Tigrayans.

In a report released by New Lines Institute in June 2024, a group of international legal experts concluded that, “on the evidence currently available, there is a reasonable basis to believe that members of the [Ethiopian National Defence Force], the Amhara Special Forces (“ASF”), and the [Eritrean Defence Forces] have committed genocide against Tigrayans”.

United Tegaru Canada is a not-for-profit organization based in Canada advocating for the Tigrayan people. On October 21st 2022, Sarah Teich spoke on their behalf at the Subcommittee on International Human Rights to Canadian parliamentarians. Sarah Teich testified that these atrocity crimes meet the threshold for genocide, or at least pose a serious risk of one occurring, according to acts outlined in the United Nations Genocide Convention and in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

These findings mirror those communicated by Sarah Teich on behalf of United Tegaru Canada (“UTC”) at the October 2022 hearings held by the Canadian House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights.

Teich also submitted a written brief to the Subcommittee on behalf of UTC, referred to in oral testimony, containing recommendations for how Canada can and should respond, including by initiating criminal prosecutions using Canada’s universal jurisdiction laws, imposing targeted sanctions on gross human rights violators, and helping to resettle Tigrayan refugees.

Oral submissions can be seen here at 1:20:39 – 1:25:53.