Dear Mr. Adeboye,
I was pleased to learn about your recent visit to Eritrea. Engaging with different nations and experiencing their cultures first-hand is always valuable. However, I only became aware of your visit after reading your interview, which was conducted by a government-assigned individual and published on the Eritrean Ministry of Information’s official website, on 6 February 2025.
While I appreciate your opportunity to visit Eritrea and the welcome you received, it is striking that no member of the UN Human Rights Council or Special Procedures Mandate holders, who have long been requesting access to Eritrea, have ever been invited or permitted to visit the country. Yet, you were warmly received and granted access. This selective hospitality calls for reflection.
Your interview raises serious concerns, particularly regarding the realities that were overlooked. Eritrea remains one of the most closed and repressive nations in the world. Since 2013, the Eritrean regime consistently denied access to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea, as well as the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) in 2015 and 2016. The COI’s 2016 report concluded that crimes against humanity were being committed in Eritrea, yet the regime continues to avoid accountability. Given this context, the government’s warm welcome to you raises serious questions: Why were you granted access while independent UN mechanisms were denied? It is clear that the government selectively permits visits from individuals it believes will serve its interests, rather than those committed to exposing the truth.
As a senior UN Head of Communications Officer, one would expect that you would have taken the time to learn about Eritrea, often referred to as the ‘North Korea of Africa,’ before traveling there.
In this letter, I wish to address the narrative you presented in your interview and highlight the realities that remain hidden beneath the surface.
You stated: “So it’s been 11 days now; I am a full-blown Asmarino. It’s a beautiful city, and the people are wonderful and friendly.”
While Eritrea’s natural beauty and the hospitality of its people are undeniable, this statement overlooks the broader reality. Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, like the rest of the country, is under strict government control, where citizens live in fear and forced labour is rampant. The streets may appear calm, but beneath the surface, repression stifles any genuine expression of happiness. Eritrea is a police state where citizens are unable to speak freely due to fear of reprisals—something that is not visible to short-term visitors.
Some of the most notorious prisons, such as Karsheli, Wengel Mermera, the 2nd and 5th Police Stations, Adi Abeto Prison, and Mai Serwa, are located in the heart of Asmara or close by. Hundreds of prisoners of conscience are held incommunicado, without legal due process, and subjected to brutal torture. These abuses are well-documented in testimonies from former detainees.
Among the countless political prisoners, Bitweded Abrha has been detained incommunicado in Karsheli prison for 33 years, since October 1991. Many others, including those arrested 20 years ago, remain imprisoned without due process in Asmara. Yet, none of this was mentioned in your interview.
By ignoring these grave injustices, you contribute to the Eritrean government’s effort to silence dissent and repress fundamental freedoms at home, and to obscure realities and avoid accountability internationally.
You said, “Definitely, whatever you are learning or hearing about is very different from what’s here.”
This is a dangerous and misleading assertion. Reports from independent human rights organizations, testimonies from refugees, and extensive documentation by the United Nations itself confirm the widespread human rights violations in Eritrea.
One of the most alarming aspects of the Eritrean government’s policies is its indefinite national service program, which has effectively enslaved its own citizens. Conscripts from as far back as 1994 remain in service to this day, forced to work in government-controlled construction projects, mines, farms, factories, ministries, and hospitals for little more than pocket money. These individuals are not free citizens; they are state-owned laborers who face severe punishment if they question their condition.
In Eritrea, young people and conscripts are prohibited from possessing mobile phones, and internet access remains extremely limited. This level of control is designed to isolate the population from the outside world and suppress information. The claim that Eritreans enjoy basic freedoms is completely detached from reality.
Every year, thousands of Eritreans flee the country, risking their lives to escape indefinite forced conscription, oppression, and lack of basic rights and freedoms. These individuals do not leave their homeland lightly, but are forced to make perilous journeys due to the unbearable conditions imposed by the regime.
You stated, “The real issue is that there isn’t much of a narrative but much of an absence.”
On the contrary, Eritrea’s reality is well-documented: a nation ruled by fear, where over 10,000 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are detained in more than 360 secret prisons. The lack of media coverage is not due to an absence of stories, but rather the government’s total control over information. Independent press has been banned since 2001, with journalists imprisoned for simply doing their jobs. International media outlets are barred from operating inside Eritrea, ensuring the regime’s abuses remain hidden from the world. Furthermore, national human rights organizations are not permitted.
You also said, “One of the challenges that many countries face is controlling their own narrative.”
In Eritrea, the regime does not struggle to control the narrative—it dictates it entirely. There is no free press, no independent judiciary, no religious freedom, and no political opposition. Education is militarized, there is no social security system to support the vulnerable, and elections have not been held since independence in 1993. Despite being ratified, the constitution remains unimplemented. Citizens are systematically deprived of their fundamental freedoms.
You also mentioned, “There is a realization now that no matter how good you are, telling your story is less effective than third-party endorsement.”
The Eritrean regime does not need help in whitewashing its crimes. Yet, third-party endorsements from UN officials like yourself, however unintentional, illustrate a succumbing to state propaganda and serve to provide a false legitimacy to a regime that continues to brutalize its citizens. The only stories that should be amplified are those of the victims who have suffered and continue to suffer under this dictatorship.
Eritreans deserve justice, accountability, and international solidarity in their struggle for freedom, not appeasers who validate the very regime that torments them.
You stated, “I have been overwhelmed by the hospitality, not just from the people but the ministries, and the doors have been opened to us in a way that I have never experienced anywhere else.”
Being welcomed by the regime’s ministries is not a testament to openness—it is a carefully curated experience. The regime tightly controls access, ensuring that visitors see only what it wants them to see. Meanwhile, Eritrean citizens remain trapped under one of the world’s most repressive regimes, where speaking freely can result in imprisonment or worse.
True openness would mean granting access to independent media, UN human rights investigators, and international organisations without restrictions. It would mean opening prison doors for access to arbitrarily detained inmates, and allowing Eritreans to express themselves without fear. Until then, what you experienced is not transparency, but a carefully staged illusion.
As the Head of Communications for the Spotlight Initiative, the UN’s high-impact initiative to end violence against women and girls, your role comes with the responsibility of speaking truthfully and objectively. The suffering of the Eritrean people cannot be erased by a state-controlled tour or a PR campaign. If the UN is genuinely committed to ending violence against women and girls, the plight of Eritrean girls and women, many of whom are subjected to sexual and gender-based violence within the national service system, must be acknowledged.
Of course, the regime was welcoming. You were invited as a guest and shown a carefully managed experience. But behind those “open doors,” Eritreans live under extreme surveillance, facing arbitrary arrests and severe punishment for dissent. The closure of the University of Asmara in 2006, the destruction of the private sector, and restrictions on youth mobile phone usage are just a few examples of the government’s tight grip on society.
Your warm reception by government ministries is not an isolated event; it is part of a repeated strategy to create a misleading narrative. The Eritrean government welcomes visitors like you who can act as their mouthpiece, while silencing independent voices. Meanwhile, thousands of Eritrean youths flee the country at great personal risk. What do you think is driving this mass exodus?
Your interview did not address these critical issues. Instead, you focused on ways to improve Eritrea’s global image, ignoring the fundamental problems experienced by its citizens which are at the basis of its poor image. We urge you to reconsider your statements, to familiarise yourself with UN documentation on human rights in Eritrea, and having done so, to acknowledge the suffering of the Eritrean people.
We strongly encourage you to revisit the facts on the ground and engage with Eritreans who have escaped the regime’s brutality. Their voices must be heard, and their stories should not be dismissed in favour of a sanitized and misleading portrayal.
Yours respectfully
Elizabeth Chyrum
Director
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
Cc:
1. Mr. Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2. Ms. Ilze Brands Kehris, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights
3. Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea.
4. Ms. Nahla Valji, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Eritrea
