VARIOUS-UN/ERITREA REPORT Eritrea continues to deny damning U.N. report on allegations of human rights violations

Record ID: 152036

  • Title: VARIOUS-UN/ERITREA REPORT Eritrea continues to deny damning U.N. report on allegations of human rights violations
  • Date: 24th June 2015
  • Summary: ASMARA, ERITREA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEWS OF ASMARA, ERITREA ASMARA STREET SCENES
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Eritrea
  • Country: Eritrea
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAL20896LGVUXK21YQCMEZV6FQ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: ===PLEASE NOTE, EDIT CONTAINS SOME ORIGINALLY 4:3 MATERIAL===
    Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have lost hope and are risking their lives to escape one of the world's most oppressive regimes, according to a U.N. commission of inquiry on the situation of human rights in Eritrea.
    Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday (June 23) the commission said that 'the dream of a democratic Eritrea free of human rights violations now seems more distant than ever'.
    The commission reported that the Eritrean people have no say in governance and little control over many aspects of their lives, where there is a massive domestic surveillance network that penetrates all levels of society, turning even family members against each other.
    "Much of the population is subject to forced conscription and labour, sometimes in slave-like conditions. Tens of thousands have been imprisoned, often without charge and for indeterminate periods. Eritreans have never voted in a free and fair election. Hundreds of thousands have lost hope and are risking their lives to escape one of the world's most oppressive regimes," said Mike Smith, Chairperson of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea.
    An estimated 5,000 people try to flee the country every month.
    The U.N. has previously reported that human rights violations in the country are fuelling a refugee exodus.
    Eritreans are the most numerous among those attempting the risky crossing from North Africa to Europe by boat, a trip that has killed hundreds so far this year.
    Other asylum seekers now live in camps in neighbouring countries like Sudan where refugees are being hosted at the Shagrab refugee camp.
    A 484-page U.N. commission of inquiry report, published earlier in the month, said the government of Eritrea may have committed crimes against humanity, including extrajudicial killings, widespread torture, sexual slavery and enforced labour.
    The Eritrean Foreign Ministry has dismissed the U.N. findings as "indecent hyperbole".
    "In conclusion, the bleak narrative on human rights in Eritrea that the Commission has portrayed is widely at variance with the prevailing reality in the country. Yes, there are shortcomings and I have no intention to claim that everything is rosy in my country. In any case these have been and are being addressed within the EPR process and engagements. Eritrea is indeed a young nation that is facing numerous problems; a big part of which has to do with externally-induced, existential challenges," said Ambassador Tesfamical Gerahtu, an Eritrean Delegate.
    President Isaias Afwerki's rebel movement turned government, and its one-party system, is criticized by many for creating Africa's most repressive state.
    But the government says Ethiopia, backed by the United States and other Western allies, is spreading lies against it.
    The government began its program of national service in one of Africa's poorest and most isolated nations in 1995 but is said to have turned it into an indefinite conscription.
    National service is supposed to last 18 months, but the commission spoke to one witness who fled after 17 years. Witnesses reported people being executed for trying to avoid being drafted into service as recently as 2013, it said.
    Eritrea has denied that it subjects its citizens to indefinite national service or kills people trying to flee the country, two of the most serious allegations among the findings of a year-long United Nations investigation.
    "The many violations in Eritrea are of a scope and scale seldom seen anywhere else in today's world. Basic freedoms are curtailed, from movement to expression; from religion to association. The Commission finds that crimes against humanity may have occurred with regard to torture, extrajudicial executions, forced labour and in the context of national service," said Smith.
    Asmara has accused The U.N commission for being biased and of finding Eritrea guilty before looking at evidence.
    U.N. Ambassador Girma Asmerom notes that Eritrea had cooperated with "neutral" British and Dutch officials on national reports, but not the United Nations.
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