I had the good fortune of meeting His Holiness in March 2008 when he came to consecrate the Coptic Orthodox Church Centre and Coptic Orthodox Cathedral Of Saint George Stevenage U.K. I was able to thank him on behalf of the Eritrean People, and for his support of Patriarch Antonios, whom he had mentioned three times in the service, in particular. He inquired after Patriarch Antonios’s health. He told me that the Patriarch was in his prayers.

His Holiness appointed the exiled Bishop Makarios to lend support to the clergy and the laypeople who are loyal to the Patriarch Antonios.

His passing is a great loss not only to his people but to the Coptic community worldwide and to us, the Eritreans.

He will always be in our hearts and minds.
Elsa Chyrum
London, U.K
5 April 2012

Eritrea: Human Rights Council Must Increase Attention to Widespread and Systematic Violations

14^th March 2012

44 countries yesterday called on the Government of Eritrea to end its use of arbitrary detention and torture of its citizens. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Human Rights Concern – Eritrea and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project welcome this long overdue attention paid to the widespread and systematic human rights violations continuing in Eritrea for over a decade.

In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council, states from Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America expressed their concerns about the government’s refusal to hold national elections or allow opposition parties, independent media or international non-governmental organisations to operate; as well as the severe restrictions on freedom of religion and belief. The States also expressed concern about reports of inhumane prison conditions, disappearances, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings. The use of forced conscription into mandatory national service and the use of extortion to collect the 2% “diaspora tax” are also cause for concern.

In Eritrea there is no independent judicial process.  Unions cannot be formed; political parties cannot be created.  Citizens cannot protest peacefully and domestic human rights organisations do not exist.  Eritrea is ranked last of 179 countries by Reporters Without Borders because there is no press freedom.  All independent media organisations were closed in 2001 and their journalists, and editors imprisoned.

Repression for any form of dissent is severe.  Thousands of Eritreans are detained arbitrarily for political purposes, suffering routine deprivation and torture.  An estimated 2-3,000 Christians alone are detained without trial inhumanely and indefinitely, including many from “approved” churches including Patriarch Antonios, head of the Orthodox Church. Army conscripts, including the under-aged, endure indefinite terms of service and face forced labour in development projects, farms, or the burgeoning mining sector. 

The situation in Eritrea has direct and profound consequences for the region and for the wider international community. The thousands of Eritreans that flee their country on an annual basis should be of concern to the UN and the Member States that accommodate them.  The exodus also contributes to regional instability through trafficking and associated international crime.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Human Rights Concern – Eritrea and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project believe that the credibility of the Human Rights Council is at stake when such a human rights record persists unchallenged, and now for over a decade. Yesterday’s statement is a positive first step in addressing the human rights violations in Eritrea, but it is not enough. The organisations therefore encourage the High Commissioner for Human Rights to brief the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Eritrea at its 20^th session in June 2012 as requested by the statement, and call on the members of the Human Rights Council to mandate a Special Procedure to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Eritrea as a matter of priority.

http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2012/03/somalia-general-debate-item-4-34th-meeting.html

For more information, please contact:

Elizabeth Chyrum, Executive Director, Human Rights Concern-Eritrea: +44 795 800 5637 or hrc_e@yahoo.co.uk

Matthew Jones, Public Affairs Officer, Christian Solidarity Worldwide: +44 782 693 8360 or matthewjones@csw.org.uk

Rachel Nicholson, Advocacy Officer, East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project: +41 762 556 769 or advocacy@defenddefenders.org

As a defender of the human rights of those Eritreans attempting to escape the horrors that constitute their daily life in Eritrea, I am deeply distressed to learn that such anti-humane measures are being considered by the Knesset Committee. Some of the people who would be affected by this law are hundreds of Eritrean refugees who suffer the worst forms of abuse while trying to reach Israel through Egypt. By labelling refugees and asylum seekers as ‘infiltrators’ they have been effectively criminalised, and left open to even more abuse which is this time ‘legitimised’ because it is supposedly anti-terrorist. The new proposals would also criminalise anybody who attempted to help these innocent and helpless asylum seekers. I myself, therefore, a Human Rights activist, would be subject to five years in prison if I were nearer in person to these displaced people rather than attempting to help them while living in diaspora. I am not, however, a criminal. The 13,000 Eritrean refugees who have ’infiltrated’ Israel are not criminals. They are no more criminal than the millions of Jews who fled Nazi persecution during the Second World War.

The declared purpose of this amendment is to deter asylum seekers, who have been entering Israel in recent years, from doing so. The result would be a massive abuse of human rights. How could a seven-year prison sentence imposed on those who offer humanitarian aid to refugees, and up to fifteen years should a person persist in offering aid after being prosecuted, in any way further human progress?

Although the Eritrean dictator, Isaias Afewerki, maintains a situation where any able-bodied citizen is conscripted into the army for indefinite periods, using the threat of another war with Ethiopia , the State of Israel’s closest ally in Africa, as the ‘reason’, stating that Ethiopia is a ‘threat’ to national security, it should be understood that these soldiers are mainly involuntary; that the average Eritrean has no quarrel with Ethiopia, much less with Israel; the Eritreans entering Israel, those who are lucky enough to arrive alive, are only seeking a decent life where they can work and eat and not be in constant fear of their leader and his inhuman policies. Unfortunately, those who manage to reach Israel receive no medical treatment, no lodgings, no papers, no jobs, and no means for living as normal citizens; the Israeli Parliament has now proposed to resolve this problem by deporting them or locking them up, branding them as criminals.

To enforce the new law, it has been proposed that a prison be built in the Israeli Negev desert that would cost over a billion shekels to erect and run for its first year alone. This huge prison facility would host 10,000 people. Many of these people are already living in a country that is, itself, a giant prison. But Eritrea is not a signatory of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees; Israel, however, is a signatory. Israel also joined the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1967, as well as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which elaborates on the ban against deporting asylum seekers.

The State of Israel is currently home to 36,000 thousand asylum seekers, the vast majority of whom have never had their asylum claims checked and are left with no social or medical rights, as well as no right to work.

Israel began drafting an official constitution in 2003. Eritrea never implemented its constitution, and when this was pointed out by some high-profile journalists, they were imprisoned without trial; any criticism of the Eritrean government results in imprisonment. There have been no national elections since Eritrea gained formal independence in 1993. It is a one-party state. This means there is only one choice, and for a persecuted, hungry, and jobless Eritrean, or one who has had their business taken over by the state, and does not wish to languish either in the army for the rest of their lives, or in prisons (some of which are so bad that even the guards try to escape), fleeing to Israel, even at the risk of further tribulation, is the only real choice.

A special court is widely held to exist where judges who also serve as prosecutors are selected by, and only accountable to, the president. Trials are conducted in secret and defendants are not allowed legal representation. Released prisoners and other sources also describe a system of extra-judicial sentencing by secret committees. Although we have no reports of the death sentence being passed by the courts there are numerous reports of summary executions.

The location of most detention centres is not publicised and visits are usually prohibited, including by family members, who are often not officially informed of the detention. The International Committee of the Red Cross is denied access to Eritrean prisoners. Many sites are below ground where prisoners are kept in dark cells. Elsewhere, detainees are held in metal shipping containers where temperatures are believed to reach the high 40s (Centigrade). There are reports of severe overcrowding. Former guards and detainees describe food, water and medical supplies being strictly limited or withheld. There are multiple reports of systematic torture and people dying in detention. Detainees have described a series of punishments where people are tied in painful positions, for as long as weeks at a time.

NGOs are not allowed to operate independently and there are presently no independent journalists in Eritrea. The Reporters Without Borders 2010 annual report ranked Eritrea bottom of 178 countries worldwide for press freedom, and the organisation estimated that around 30 journalists were imprisoned in Eritrea.

Thousands risk their lives to leave the country illegally every month, despite the shoot-to-kill policy reported to be in force on the border. This is fuelling a demand for people smugglers. Unable to leave by normal means, many Eritreans decide to risk kidnap, extortion, rape and death at the hands of the smugglers in order to leave the country. Some end up having their organs removed against their will and sold on the black market.

The Eritrean dictator, Isaias Afewerki, has been using the excuse of ‘national security considerations’ to rob imprison torture and murder his own people for nigh on two decades. It would seem that the State of Israel is prepared to be as immorally repellent by using the same empty rhetoric, fuelled by concerted media campaigns, to help break the spirit of the African nation that has the worst human rights record of them all.

Elsa Chyrum

Director

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea

London, SW7 5WS

United Kingdom

12 December 2011

Still Waiting for Sanctions on Eritrea for Human Rights Abuses

 As we celebrate International Human Rights Day, we welcome the Security Council Sanctions on Eritrea as a means of bringing to light some of the human rights abuses being perpetrated every day on Eritreans in Eritrea and in some of the countries they flee to, but we would welcome a more human-rights based approach focussing on the internal terrorism inflicted on the Eritrean people.

 The sanctions address the issue of Eritrea’s destabilizing effect on the Horn of Africa: it condemns, for example, the financing of terrorist organisations, such as Al-Shebab, by the Eritrean Government; it condemns the use of the Diaspora Tax to fund said destabilization, and effectively makes illegal any attempt to collect the tax; it also addresses the issue of the Eritrean Mining Sector operations, asking for transparency in its financial dealings. It does not, however, address the issue of how Eritrean workers, some of whom are conscripts on little or no wages, are exploited and abused at these mining sites.

This is the problem with the sanctions as they stand: they do not address the human rights issues directly. They seem to be more concerned with the political angle of Eritrea’s foreign policy.The average Eritrean will be more in the public eye, perhaps, where the international media is concerned, but no sanctions have been passed on the inhuman treatment of Eritreans by the Eritrean government.

 All kinds of freedom – of press, worship, association, etc. – have been forcefully suspended. There are over three hundred prisons detaining dissenting voices, and torture -in the form of beatings, electric shocks, genital torture, rape and sex slavery- are common in those prisons.

There is nothing in the sanctions to stop this, or to limit it in any way.

 Out of Eritrea’s population of about 4 million, 300,000 men and women are serving the never-ending military service imposed by the regime. Children as young as 15, have been rounded up from schools and streets for training in military camps. The conscripts are forced to work in government construction companies and mining projects for 16 hours per day and $10 per month. The indefinite nature of the horrors of military service best illustrates the human rights abuses in the nation.

 This forced conscription and endless military service have caused a mass exodus of the youth from the nation. Parents of army deserters are punished if their children flee the country, even taken hostage – yet another cruel step that the regime has taken to stop the flow of conscripts and army personnel.

 Female conscripts are sexually, emotionally and physically abused, and are made servants and sex-slaves of military commanders. The only university in the nation has been closed, and all other colleges are now military boot camps. Generally, the government has been conducting its domestic policy through nothing else but terror.

 Owing to the severity of the situation and continued violations of fundamental human rights in Eritrea, there is an urgent need to address the situation at the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of the Eritrean people. It is to be hoped that by putting Eritrea more in the public eye, the Human Rights abuses that so badly need to be addressed will be the next logical focus.

 A deadline of 120 days has been given to begin to implement some of the sanctions. When will there be a deadline to save the Eritreans who are suffering in the country’s prisons, and army barracks, or while attempting to escape to other countries, and even upon reaching some of those countries’ and again when attempting to live there?

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea

London, U.K

10 December 2011

Reiterating its full support for the Djibouti Peace Process and the Transitional Federal Charter which provide the framework for reaching a lasting political solution in Somalia, and welcoming the Kampala Accord of 9 June 2011 and the roadmap agreed on 6 September 2011,

Calling upon all States in the region to peacefully resolve their disputes and normalize their relations in order to lay the foundation for durable peace and lasting security in the Horn of Africa, and encouraging these States to provide the necessary cooperation to the African Union in its efforts to resolve these disputes,

Reiterating its grave concern about the border dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti and the importance of resolving it, calling upon Eritrea to pursue with Djibouti, in good faith, the scrupulous implementation of the 6 June 2010 Agreement, concluded under the auspices of Qatar, in order to resolve their border dispute and consolidate the normalization of their relations, and welcoming the mediation efforts of Qatar, the continued engagement of regional actors, the African Union, the United Nations,

Noting the letter of the Permanent Representative of Djibouti to the United Nations of 6 October 2011 (S/2011/617) which informs the Secretary General of the escape of two Djiboutian prisoners of war from an Eritrean prison, while noting that the Government of Eritrea has to this date denied detaining any Djiboutian prisoners of war,

Expressing grave concern at the findings of the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group report of 18 July 2011 (S/2011/433), that Eritrea has continued to providing political, financial, training and logistical support to armed opposition groups, including Al-Shabaab, engaged in undermining peace, security and stability in Somaliaand the region,

Condemning the planned terrorist attack of January 2011 to disrupt the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, as expressed by the findings of the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group report,

Taking note of the Decision of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government held in January 2010 and the Communiqué of the AU Peace and Security Council held on 8 January 2010, welcoming the adoption, by the United Nations (UN) Security Council on 23 December 2009, of resolution 1907 (2009), which imposes sanctions on Eritrea, for, among other things, providing politi cal, financial, and logistical support to armed groups engaged in undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and regional stability; stressing the need to pursue vigorously the effective implementation of Resolution 1907 (2009), and expressing its intention to apply targeted sanctions against individuals and entities if they meet the listing criteria set out in paragraph 15 of resolution 1907 (2009) and paragraph 8 of resolution 1844 (2008),

Noting the decision by the 18th Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), calling on the Security Council to take measures to ensure that Eritreadesists from its destabilization activities in the Horn of Africa,

Noting the letter from Eritrea(S/2011/652), containing a document responding to the report of Somali/Eritrea monitoring group,

Strongly condemning any acts by Eritrea that undermine peace, security and stability in the region and calling on all Member State to comply fully with the terms of the arms embargo imposed by paragraph 5 of resolution 733 (1992), as elaborated and amended by subsequent resolutions,

Determining that Eritrea’s failure to fully comply with resolutions 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and its actions undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa region as well as the dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea constitute a threat to international peace and security,

Mindful of its primary responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security,

Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,

1. Condemns the violations by Eritrea of Security Council resolutions 1907 (2009), 1862 (2009) and 1844 (2008) by providing continued support to armed opposition groups, including Al-Shabaab, engaged in undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia and the region;

2. Supports the call by the African Union for Eritrea to resolve its border disputes with its neighbours and calls on the parties to peacefully resolve their disputes, normalize their relations and to promote durable peace and lasting security in the Horn of Africa, and encourages the parties to provide the necessa ry cooperation to the African Union in its efforts to resolve these disputes;

3. Reiterates that all member States, including Eritrea, shall comply fully with the terms of the arms embargo imposed by paragraph 5 of resolution 733 (1992), as elaborated and amended by subsequent resolutions;

4. Reiterates that Eritrea shall fully comply with resolution 1907 (2009) without any further delay and stresses the obligation of all States to comply with the measures imposed by resolution 1907 (2009);

5. Notes Eritrea’s withdrawal of its forces following the stationing of Qatari observers in the disputed areas along the border with Djibouti, calls upon Eritrea to engage constructively with Djibouti to resolve the border dispute, and reaffirms its intention to take further targeted measures against those who obstruct implementation of resolution 1862 (2009);

6. Demands that Eritrea shall make available information pertaining to Djiboutian combatants missing in action since the clashes of 10 to 12 June, 2008 so that those concerned may ascertain the presence and condition of Djiboutian prisoners of war;

7. Demands Eritrea to cease all direct or indirect efforts to destabilize States, including through financial, military, intelligence and non-military assistance, such as the provision of training centres, camps and other similar facilities for armed groups, passports, living expenses, or travel facilitation;

8. Calls upon all States, in particular States of the region, in order to ensure strict implementation of the arms embargo established by paragraphs 5 and 6 of resolution 1907 (2009), to inspect in their territory, including seaports and airports, in accordance with the National authorities and legislation and cons istent with international law, all cargo bound to or from Eritrea, if the State concerned has information that provides reasonable grounds to believe that the cargo contains items the supply, sale, transfer or export of which is prohibited by paragraphs 5 or 6 of resolution 1907 (2009), and recalls the obligations contained in paragraphs 8 and 9 of resolution 1907 (2009) with respect to the discovery of items prohibited by paragraphs 5 or 6 of resolution 1907 (2009) and paragraph 5 of resolution 733 (1992) as elaborated and amended by subsequent resolutions;

9. Expresses its intention to apply targeted sanctions against individuals and entities if they meet the listing criteria set out in paragraph 15 of resolution 1907 (2009) and paragraph 1 of resolution 2002 (2011) and requests the Committee to review, as a matter of urgency, listing proposals from Member Stat es;

10. Condemns the use of the ‘Diaspora tax’ on Eritrean diaspora by the Eritrean Government to destabilize the Horn of Africa region or violate relevant resolutions, including 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009) and 1907 (2009), including for purposes such as procuring arms and related materiel for transfer to armed opposition groups or providing any services or financial transfers provided directly or indirectly to such groups, as outlined in the findings of the Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group in its 18 July 2011 report (S/2011/433), and decides that Eritrea shall cease these practices;

11. Decides that Eritrea shall cease using extortion, threats of violence, fraud and other illicit means to collect taxes outside of Eritrea from its nationals or other individuals of Eritrean descent, decides further that States shall undertake appropriate measures to hold accountable, consistent with international law, those individuals on their territory who are acting, officially or unofficially, on behalf of the Eritrean government or the PFDJ contrary to the prohibitions imposed in this paragraph and the laws of the States concerned, and calls uponStates to take such action as may be appropriate consistent with their domestic law and international relevant instruments, including the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to prevent such individuals from facilitating further violations;

12. Expresses concern at the potential use of the Eritrean mining sector as a financial source to destabilize the Horn of Africa region, as outlined in the Final Report of the Monitoring Group (S/2011/433), and calls on Eritrea to show transparency in its public finances, including through cooperation with the Monitoring Group, in order to demonstrate that the proceeds of these mining activities are not being used to violate relevant resolutions, including 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and this resolution;

13. Decides that States, in order to prevent funds derived from the mining sector of Eritrea contributing to violations of resolutions 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) or this resolution, shall undertake appropriate measures to promote the exercise of vigilance by their nationals, persons subject to their jurisdiction and firms incorporated in their territory or subject to their jurisdiction that are doing business in this sector in Eritrea including through the issuance of due diligence guidelines, and requests in this regard the Committee, with the assistance of the Monitoring Group, to draft guidelines for the optional use of Member States;

14. Urges all States to introduce due diligence guidelines to prevent the provision of financial services, including insurance or re-insurance, or the transfer to, through, or from their territory, or to or by their nationals or entities organized under their laws (including branches abroad), or persons or financial institutio ns in their territory, of any financial or other assets or resources if such services, assets or resources, including new investment in the extractives sector, would contribute to Eritrea’s violation of relevant resolutions, including 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and this resolution;

15. Calls upon all States to report to the Security Council within 120 days on steps taken to implement the provisions of this resolution;

16. Decides to further expand the mandate of the Monitoring Group re‑established by resolution 2002 (2011) to monitor and report on implementation of the measures imposed in this resolution and undertake the tasks outlined below:

(a) Assist the Committee in monitoring the implementation of the measures imposed in paragraphs 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 above, including by reporting any information on violations;

(b) Consider any information relevant to paragraph 6 above that should be brought to the attention of the Committee;

17. Urges all States, relevant United Nations bodies and other interested parties, to cooperate fully with the Committee and the Monitoring Group, including by supplying any information at their disposal on the implementation of the measures decided in resolution 1844 (2008), resolution 1907 (2009) and this resolution, i n particular incidents of non-compliance;

18. Affirms that it shall keep Eritrea’s actions under continuous review and that it shall be prepared to adjust the measures, including through their strengthening, modification or lifting, in light of Eritrea’s compliance with the provisions of resolutions 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and this resolution;

19. Requests the Secretary-General to report within 180 days on Eritrea’s compliance with the provisions of resolutions 1844 (2008), 1862 (2009), 1907 (2009) and this resolution;

20. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Suleiman Abdellah Necklawi, aka “The Sultan”, a notorious Egyptian human smuggler, was killed in a shoot-out by Bedouins of another tribe. Consequently, according to the UNHCR and EveryOne Group, 611 Eritrean refugees who had been held hostage in Egypt’s Sinai have crossed safely to Israel.

Criminal elements within the Sakrawi bedouin tribe had been on the cross-hairs since human rights organization, including EveryOne Group, succeeded in getting US broadcaster CNN to run an expose of their human smuggling and organ theft. The victims are mostly Eritrean, Ethiopian and Sudanese collectively referred to as “Africans” by the Bedouin tribes.

EveryOne Group has alerted the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees and the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings. Many of the Bedouin tribes, who feel that criminals like Suleiman Abdella Nakhlawi and Samih are besmirching their reputation have been co-operating with investigators and human rights organizations, including Egypt’s own New Generation Foundation for Human Rights, which has conducted videotaped interviews investigating the crimes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is also expected to be involved in the investigation.

On a per capita basis, Eritrea is the world’s largest exporter of refugees. At various points, the Eritrean regime had argued that this is primarily due to the West’s magnet of providing no-questions-asked asylums and better living conditions. The Eritrean opposition argues that the Eritrean youth would not have left their country at the pace they are if they saw any hope of a better future in Eritrea and that they are leaving to reject a life of conscription without end.

Read the full Briefing here

Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, said:

“Ten years ago today, freedom in Eritrea was dealt a blow from which it is still to recover. On the 18th and 19th of September 2001, eleven of Eritrea’s leading progressive voices were arrested after calling publicly for democratic reforms. They comprised ministers, generals and senior officials, prominent public figures and heroes of Eritrea’s liberation struggle: Ogbe Abrha, Astier Feshatsion, Berhane Ghebre Eghzabiher, Beraki Ghebreslassie, Hamad Hmd, Saleh Kekya, Germano Nati, Estifanos Seyoum, Mahmud Ahmed Sheriffo, Petros Solomon and Haile Woldensae.

“A decade later, the eleven remain in prison, without charge or trial. No official information has been made available on their whereabouts or condition. It has been reported that many may have died in detention.

“On this solemn anniversary I offer my solidarity to all those Eritreans engaged in the struggle for human rights. In particular, I stand with the families and supporters, and the eleven themselves, who remain incarcerated after so many years. I urge the Government of Eritrea to afford these men and women, and all those Eritreans imprisoned for their beliefs, the rights guaranteed them by the Constitution of Eritrea: the right to human dignity, to fundamental freedoms, and to legal due process.”

After fighting for thirty years, in May 1991, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) liberated Eritrea from the Ethiopian occupation. Two years after, an internationally supervised referendum was carried out and Eritrea became an independent state in May 1993.

Eritrea is a one-party state, and since independence has been ruled by a transitional government, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) which was formerly known as the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, lead by President Isaias Afewerki. Up to this day, no opposition parties have been allowed and no election has ever been conducted.

For some five years after independence, Eritrea was showing some hope that it would not repeat the malaise many African countries have gone through. But it is now clear that this optimism was based on a very poor understanding of the authoritarian nature of the leader Isaias Afewerki who headed the liberation struggle for about 20 years with an iron fist and who has also been at the helm of power for 20 more years since independence.

The tragic border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia that flared up in May of 1998 was the excuse the government badly needed to extend its totalitarian grip over the whole Eritrean population so as to extend its lifespan indefinitely.
A group of higher officials, known as G-11 that included parliamentarians, ambassadors, cabinet ministers and generals, among them were Mahmud Sherifo (who was Vice-President of Eritrea) Haile Weldetensae (who was Minister of Trade and Industry); and Petros Solomon (who was Minister of Marine Resources of Eritrea) were arbitrarily arrested, on 18 September 2001, because they advocated for reform and demanded the implementation of the ratified constitution, which remains suspended to this date. Ever since, they have been languishing in prison without any due process. Tens of thousands more have been arbitrarily arrested and have disappeared since.
So, the story begins on the 18th of September 2001, when those arrested were taken to Embat’kala prison, and moved on to Era’Ero prison where the horror continues to this minute.
At first, the prisoners were kept in a former training centre in Embat’kala – a small town along the road to Massawa. Eventually however, all prisoners ended up in the purpose-built Era’ero prison. The 35 prisoners were initially guarded by 150 prison guards to discourage a rescue attempt that never transpired. Over the years, the guards were reduced down to 80 because of transfers and escapes.
How bad can a prison be when even the guards try to escape? It implies that even the guards themselves were prisoners.
In fact, the whole of Eritrea is a kind of prison for most of its people. There are few places, however as inhospitable as Era’ero – a purpose-built prison and hard to reach as its location is far from the capital, towns, villages and the main road. The temperature is so high and it is hard to imagine how prisoners can survive under that extreme heat without any kind of ventilation. It is a prison without adequate health support. The probability a prisoner will receive any kind of proper medical attention is remote.
At least 15 prisoners of the original 35 have died. Nobody knows for sure what became of their bodies.

Conditions are inhumane. All prisoners have numbers instead of names*. They are only allowed to wash once a week. They are handcuffed and kept in their cells for at least 23 hours a day. Food is limited to an unchanging diet of bread and lentil or chickpea soup with vegetables regardless of medical conditions.
Some prisoners have been driven to suicide and there are some who succeeded on third attempt.

There are prisons everywhere holding ordinary citizens whose basic human rights are non-existent. In fact, some of the prisons are even in a much worse condition where rape and torture are routine. These are typical prisons and that give a glimpse of a systematic process to break the will of the Eritrean people.

The worst manifestation of this reign of terror that the government has unleashed against its own people is the elaborate prison system it has come to erect within a short span of time. Besides the make-shift prisons embedded in every sizable military unit, there are hundreds of conventional prisons, underground dungeons, and metal shipping containers housing political and humanitarian prisoners, whose crimes are to be critical of the government, or to be of the ‘wrong’ religion, or refusing to join the military.

The private media was shut down on 18 September 2001. Eritrea is the only nation in Africa without the existence of independent media. It is also the nation with the highest number of journalists in prison. At least ten journalists working in the private media were arrested in September 2001 and still remain incarcerated without charge or trial. Their whereabouts are not known. Four have presumably died while in detention. These were the pioneers, editors, reporters and writers that had managed to ignite a flame of hope for a brighter future. The journalists, possibly alive and in prison, have no visitors. And the rest have escaped to the West. And even when it comes to its own state-owned media, the government has been very paranoid in regard to its journalists. It has imprisoned some, and many others have been fleeing to the neighboring countries in droves.

Since no media advocacy groups or human rights defenders are allowed to operate in the country, it is left up to the free world from outside to keep the plight of the journalists in the limelight and to put pressure on the government of Eritrea.

Torture: Torture in all its forms is the most defining characteristic of the prison system in Eritrea. Prisoners are housed in open-sky concentration camps, medieval-like underground dungeons, overcrowded sitting-room-only cells, narrow and low-roofed cubicles and metal shipping containers. Solitary confinement, brutal beatings, electric shocks, genital torture, rape and sex slavery are common. Deprivations of all kinds – sleep, food, water, clothes, medicine, company, visitation, legal procedures, etc. – are used routinely. There are now many terms for different ways of tying up and beating the prisoner: “helicopter”, “otto”, “Jesus Christ”, “ferro”, “torch”, etc.

Eritrea spends about 25% of its budget, the highest in the world, on the military. Out of Eritrea’s population of about 4 million, 300,000 are in active military service and many more in the reserve; again, the highest proportion anywhere in the world. The cities, towns and villages of Eritrea have been emptied of their most productive population.

One of the ugliest aspects of this endless military service is slave labour. Forced labour of students and other conscripts has been widely used under the pretext of development programmes. The conscripts are forced to work in government-owned projects such as farming, dam building, housing and road construction. And now, with numerous mining projects being developed, there is ample evidence that most of the manual labour in these projects is being provided by military conscripts and prisoners of conscience.

Female conscripts are sexually, emotionally and physically abused; and, on a more sustained level, they are made servants and sex-slaves of military commanders. If they refuse, they are subjected to heavy military duties, torture and severe punishment. Many have ended up with unwanted pregnancies and many others have been infected with HIV. For these reasons, to avoid military service, and without any plan for the future, Eritrean women have been dropping out from school at an alarming rate, getting married at an early age and producing children as early as possible.

Underage conscription into the army is a common practice in Eritrea. And as tens of thousands of soldiers are deserting the army at an alarming rate, the government is increasingly dipping into the underage population to make up for the depletion. Forced conscripts as young as 14 to 17 years old make up a sizable portion of the army and an alarming number of 11 to 14 year-olds are rendered servants of military authorities in various military training camps.

All high school students attend their last year in a huge military camp, primarily taking military training. All colleges have been practically turned into military boot camps. The only university in the nation has been closed after being declared not amenable to the designs of the totalitarian regime.

The worst outcome of the forced conscription and endless military service, with all the brutality it is known for, has been the mass exodus of the youth from the nation. It has been reported that tens of thousands of Eritreans have been fleeing in droves.

One of the cruelest steps that the totalitarian regime has taken to stop the flow of army deserters is to punish parents for the deeds of their adult sons and daughters. This punishment has taken two forms: if the parents cannot come up with the hefty fine for every deserter then they are detained indefinitely, harshly interrogated, and tortured.

Eritrea’s government has been conducting its domestic policy through nothing else but terror. No consultations, dialogues, petitions, elections or legal proceedings ever take place. If the government wants land, it grabs it without any compensation. If an enterprise suddenly becomes profitable, it monopolizes it either by bankrupting the businessmen or by blatantly taking over. If it wants new recruits for its army, it conducts vicious roundups. If it wants workers in its mines, it uses slave labour. If it wants to stop the desertion of army conscripts, it takes their parents hostage. If it does not like a particular religion, it renders it illegal and throws its members into prison. This is how the government “communicates” with its subjects; violence is in its very nature. No media advocacy groups and human rights defenders are allowed to operate in the country.

Fully realizing this, the people of Eritrea do not expect anything better from their government. However, in light of all the evidence presented here, we urge the UN Human Rights Council and member states of the United Nations to consider a full investigation into this state of affairs, to arrange a fact finding mission to Eritrea and to act upon its findings.

Elsa Chyrum
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea