The Standard Awards will be presented at a special awards banquet in Ottawa on June 13, 2001. It provided a historical and political perspective on current tensions in Eritrea and Ethiopia. This created a war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that lasted for 30 years, from 1961 - 1991. After independence in 1991, the 1952 border demarcation dispute resurfaced into a conflict between the countires beginning in 1998 and continuing to the present time. Right now, the world sympathizes with Ethiopia through media and propaganda.
Little attention is given to the rights and history of the Eritrean people.
Eritrean prsident Isias Afuwerki wants peace and so does his people but not with the costs Ethiopia demands. The Friends of Eritrea in Nova Scotia, formed in early 2000, stated in a letter to MP David Gilgour that over 15,000 Eritrean Canadians were devestated by the rejection of a peace proposal by the Ethiopian government. This series of events led to a need for a public response that would counter the attitudes of mainstream media and government inaction. The United Nation and Organization for African Unity responded to the conflict by considering an arms embargo that would affect both countries equally. Sympthizers with Eritrea compare its plight to that of East Timor and Rwanda, where public concern was only directed at the country after unimaginable tragedies had already ocurred.