On International Human Rights Day (10th December), we expect to be celebrating all those freedoms established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including Articles 13 and 14—the rights to “leave one’s own country” and “to seek and enjoy asylum from persecution.” But NOT in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Such rights have long been utterly denied in Eritrea, but until recently were fully available to Eritreans who fled to Ethiopia to find sanctuary there. Ethiopia has now become a very dangerous place for Eritrean refugees.
A constitutional dispute between the leaders of the Regional State of Tigray, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Federal Government of Ethiopia escalated into full-scale war last month when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent the federal army into Tigray to impose a state of emergency by force of arms. Among those most at risk from this military assault have been the 96,000 Eritrean refugees sheltering in four camps and in other parts of Tigray, where, until now, they have enjoyed sanctuary supervised and provided for by the UNHCR.
But it now appears that all Eritrean refugees, wherever they are, throughout the whole of Ethiopia, are in immediate danger of assault, arrest, imprisonment, and deportation. Since the rapprochement between President Afewerki of Eritrea and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, it would appear that there has been a fundamental change of policy by the Federal Government in Addis Ababa which has ended all assurance of protection for Eritreans in the country they have fled to.
The presence of significant numbers of Eritrean military forces in Tigray is an immediate and acute threat to the safety of Eritrean refugees in Tigray. But Eritrean refugees who have resided safely in Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia for decades are now experiencing sudden and unexplained arrest and detention. Forcible repatriation of all Eritreans to the country they had to flee from, in danger of their lives, now looms as an imminent danger which they desperately fear. It was also reported that Eritrean Government security agents have been freely operating in Ethiopia.
Human Rights Concern-Eritrea is continuing to receive frequent reports which confirm the immediate dangers to Eritrean refugees not just in Tigray but in Addis Ababa, at the heart of Ethiopia.
Eritrean refugees have been rounded up in Addis Ababa. 12 members of the Eritrean opposition in exile were arrested on 20th November, and have been detained ever since. In addition, around 300 Eritrean refugees – some brought there by the Ethiopian military from Shire, Tigray, and some having escaped from Adi Harush and other camps in Tigray – have been held in Addis Ababa, at a building managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), near to their office in Bole. The refugees report that their ARRA and UNHCR registration documents have been confiscated. They cannot leave the place, and no explanation has been given for their detention. They fear they will be forcibly returned to Eritrea.
Human Rights Concern-Eritrea has received disturbing news regarding Eritreans who were shot at Hitsats refugee camp on the 27th November 2020. Very early in the morning, about 10 persons in military uniform started shooting randomly at refugees. Some of those who were shot were on their way to church. Around 45 of the refugees, who sustained serious injuries, were forcibly taken to Eritrea, together with Eritrean wounded soldiers, in military trucks.
Elizabeth Chyrum, Director of HRCE, commented:
“The presence of significant numbers of Eritrean military in Tigray, officially unacknowledged by Ethiopia and denied by the Eritrean authorities, is hugely concerning and poses many urgent questions about the underlying purposes of this hidden military incursion into Tigray. The apparent freedom and licence allowed them by Ethiopian Federal forces, which enables them to act as they please, is hugely dangerous to all Eritreans who were forced to leave their country without official permission, because their fundamental right to “leave their own country” (Article 13 UDHR) was denied them. They very justifiably fear that the Eritrean military’s unacknowledged presence in Tigray is part of a criminal conspiracy to forcibly repatriate all Eritrean refugees to the country they fled from, where imprisonment, torture and possible death await them (as the UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights in Eritrea has borne witness). The first reports of such abductions have already been received.”
- “The international community MUST take notice of this imminent threat and recognise the very real danger to all Eritreans in Ethiopia. They MUST NOT be forcibly returned (or “refouled”) to the country from which they fled because of persecution.
- It is essential that UN member states make immediate representations to the government of Ethiopia warning it not to allow such enforced repatriation, which is contrary to fundamental principles of international refugee treaties, such as the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol on Non-Refoulement
- It is requested that UN Member states warn the government of Ethiopia that it is in danger of being complicit in criminal acts by the military forces of Eritrea in Tigray.
- The government of Ethiopia must be reminded of its international legal duty to protect all refugees seeking sanctuary in its territories, and its obligation to allow the UNHCR provide food and medical care to all refugees in the camps in Tigray.”
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
