Despite opposition from states wishing to hide human right abuses, The UN Human Rights Council has renewed the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea for another year. 

Yesterday, 16 July, 2020, at the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council, a resolution  which was tabled by 34 countries; Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland; was adopted, ensuring that Eritrea’s manifold, widespread and prolonged human rights abuses would not be forgotten or ignored. 

The decision to renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea, Ms. Daniela Kravetz, was hugely significant because it illustrated that the majority of states in the world are aware of Eritrea’s extremely severe infringements of human rights and do not wish them to be hidden and disregarded. 

The resolution also requested an update on progress made in the cooperation between Eritrea and the Office of the High Commissioner, and called upon the Government of Eritrea to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur. This is a key issue, because Eritrea has never allowed the Special Rapporteur to access its territory, and has never co-operated with UN special procedures, despite becoming a member of the Council. That is why it is particularly significance that the Council required a report on the implementation of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate: if there is no change in the attitude of the government of Eritrea, this report will indicate the contempt which Eritrea has shown for the body whose policies and practices it supposedly committed to uphold. 

Elizabeth Chyrum, Director of Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE), commented: “This is a victory for truth and justice, and the UN body is to be congratulated. It is good to know that a majority of nations on the UN Human Rights Council value the vital work of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, and are not willing for the extreme human rights abuses committed by the regime in Eritrea to be obscured or to go unchallenged. Those who oppose the Special Rapporteur’s work effectively support the idea that the Crimes Against Humanity, such as those highlighted by the UN Commission of Inquiry for Eritrea, are a matter for the particular state where they occur, and do not concern other countries.  In reality, such crimes must be exposed and addressed, wherever they occur, and it is incumbent on all UN Member States to do this.”

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)

Email: eritrea.facts@gmail.com

Website: www.hrc-eritrea.org, 

Tel: +44 7958 005 637