As repression in Eritrea shows no sign of abating, we welcome the Special Rapporteur’s report.
Since last year, the government has taken no steps to end its widespread forced labor and conscription and continues to severely restrict basic freedoms and obstruct independent scrutiny.
As spelt out in the Special Rapporteur’s report, individuals continue to be held incommunicado and detained indefinitely, some for decades. September marked the 20th anniversary of the government’s arrest of 11 government officials who had called for political reforms and 10 prominent journalists. At least 10 are reported to have died in detention.
People have once again been detained purely because of their religious beliefs. In February 2022, Abune Antonios, the deposed Eritrean Orthodox Church patriarch died while under house arrest, which he had subject to since 2007.
Since war broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray, we have received reports of waves of mass roundups of Eritreans to fill the army’s ranks. This continues to drive flight from Eritrea.
Eritrean forces in Tigray have continued to commit serious violations, including mass arbitrary detentions, as well as pillage and rape of Tigrayans in the Western Tigray zone.
Eritrea’s Human Rights Council membership has not led to greater respect for international standards by Eritrean authorities nor implementation of key recommendations made by the Council’s procedures.
We call on the Human Rights Council to extend the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and call on Eritrea to co-operate with the Special Rapporteur.