Eritrea
Events of 2006
Since 2001 the government of President
Isayas Afewerki has carried out an
unremitting attack on democratic
institutions and civil society in Eritrea
by arresting political opponents,
destroying the private press, and
incarcerating anyone thought to challenge
the government’s policies. Almost no civil
society institutions survive but the
assault continued in 2006 on religious
practitioners, military service evaders,
and staff of international agencies.
A constitution approved by referendum in
1997 has never been implemented. No
national elections have been held since
independence in 1993. No opposition
political party is allowed to exist. No
independent labor organizations are
permitted. Nongovernmental organizations
have been systematically dismantled and
their assets confiscated; those still
operational are closely monitored. The
government controls all access to
information.
The border dispute with Ethiopia that led
to the devastating 1998-2000 war continues
to fester, a circumstance the government
uses to justify repressive policies.
Ethiopia has demanded “dialogue” with
Eritrea about the border in the Badme
sector (where the war began) before it
will comply with the independent boundary
commission decision on border demarcation,
but Eritrea, having accepted the April
2002 commission decision, rejects further
talks before full demarcation. In 2006 the
threat of war resuming between Ethiopia
and Eritrea waned temporarily, but Eritrea
continued arming rebel forces in parts of
Ethiopia. Eritrea denies reports by the
United Nations and United States that in
2006 it sent arms and military trainers to
assist the Islamic Courts movement that
has taken power in Somalia’s capital and
is strongly opposed to Ethiopia.
Suppression of Political Dissent and
Free Expression
Governing party and government leaders and
journalists arrested in 2001 as alleged
traitors, spies, and foreign agents
continue to be held incommunicado in
undisclosed prisons. In 2006 a website
issued a detailed but unconfirmed report
asserting that 31 prisoners, including the
leaders and journalists, were being held
in isolation cells in a remote jail built
expressly to hold them. The report claimed
that nine of the 31 had died in captivity
(one by suicide).
Absent an independent press and with
foreign broadcasts periodically jammed,
Eritreans seldom have access to
information other than from government-run
media outlets. The government also takes
pains to avoid information filtering out
of the country. There are no domestic
human rights groups; and no international
human rights organizations are allowed to
operate in Eritrea.
Freedom of Religion
The government closed all religious
institutions in May 2002 except those
affiliated with the Eritrean Orthodox,
Roman Catholic, and Eritrean Evangelical
(Lutheran) churches and with traditional
Islam. Although the government claimed it
would register other churches, it had not
done so as of November 2006 despite having
had applications pending for more than
four years. Some religious groups have not
applied, fearing that disclosing
membership rolls will endanger their
members. The government is reported to
have confiscated all assets of the Kale
Hiwot (Baptist) Church in 2006, including
orphanages and kindergartens, even though
the church had applied for registration.
In 2006 the government arrested members
and clergy of religious groups that had
not filed for registration, raiding homes
during worship, including wedding
ceremonies. Several hundred are in
detention, and recantation of church
membership is often imposed as a condition
for release.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been
especially mistreated. Some have been
detained for more than a decade for
refusing to participate in national
military service even though the official
penalty is a prison term of no more than
three years (Eritrea does not provide for
alternative service). Jehovah’s Witnesses
are precluded from government employment
and from receiving many government
services, including business licenses.
Religious persecution has not been
limited to minority religions. The
Orthodox patriarch was placed under house
arrest in 2006 and his lifetime
appointment was rescinded after he
questioned the arrest of three reformist
bishops. He had already been stripped of
administrative functions in 2005 in favor
of a government-appointed lay
administrator.
Military Conscription Roundups and
Arbitrary Arrest of Family Members
Eritrean men between the ages of 18 and 50
must perform two years of compulsory
national service. In addition to military
duties, conscripts are used for public
works projects, but there have been
repeated reports that they have also been
used as laborers on military generals’
personal properties. Spurred by the rigors
and abuses of the national service system,
draft-age Eritreans and high school
seniors have been fleeing the country in
the thousands over the past five years or
have gone into hiding. Refugee agencies
estimated that each month in 2006 about
700 Eritreans fled to Sudan and another
400 to Ethiopia.
Since mid-2005 the government has been
arresting family members when a conscript
fails to report for service. Relatives can
buy their release by forfeiting the
equivalent of about US$3,500, a huge
penalty in a country where, according to
the World Bank, the annual per capita
income is around $220; there were reports
in 2006 that the amount to be forfeited
had doubled.
Prison Conditions, Torture, and
Ill-Treatment
Ongoing political and religious
persecution and the clampdown connected to
evasion of national service have
contributed to thousands of people being
detained. Most of those arrested are held
incommunicado indefinitely without formal
charge or trial. Torture has frequently
been reported. Detention facilities are
severely overcrowded—because of the large
number of arrests, less prominent
prisoners (such as adherents to
unregistered religious groups) are
sometimes packed into cargo containers,
located so as to be unbearably hot or
cold. Other harsh detention conditions
include starvation rations, lack of
sanitation, and hard labor. Psychological
abuse can include indefinite solitary
confinement.
Information on abusive prison conditions
emerges despite frequent warnings to
prisoners who are released not to talk
about their imprisonment or treatment.
Freedom of Movement
Eritreans must have exit visas to leave
the country. These are rarely granted to
men of military age. In 2006 government
officials and members of sports teams
defected when abroad, as others had in
previous years. To discourage defections,
the government reportedly began requiring
the posting of bonds equivalent to
US$7,000 for participants in sports teams
traveling outside the country.
The government imposed internal travel
restrictions in 2006 on all foreign
nationals, requiring permits to travel
beyond Asmara.
Key International Actors
An international peacekeeping force, the
United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (UNMEE) maintains troops and
observers in a 25-kilometer-wide buffer
line between the two countries. The force
and the zone are based on the agreement
suspending the conflict. In late 2005 the
Eritrean government placed severe
restrictions on UNMEE’s patrols and
grounded helicopter surveillance flights,
despite the UN Security Council’s strong
objections. In 2006 the government
periodically arrested UNMEE local staff,
releasing some after a short period but
keeping others jailed. It declared five
UNMEE personnel persona non grata,
accusing them of aiding Eritrean nationals
to escape to Ethiopia. Faced with Eritrean
belligerency and Ethiopian obstinacy, the
Security Council in 2006 reduced the UNMEE
force by about a third, to 2,300.
Because of Eritrea’s woeful human rights
record, it receives little other than
humanitarian assistance. In 2005-06, the
government cut the number of free food aid
recipients from 1.3 million to 70,000 to
promote self-reliance through a
“food-for-work” program. In August 2006
the European Commission, which had
appropriated €6 million for assistance
through UN agencies, stated that it would
protest the selling of food aid without
consultation and might ask Eritrea to
repay €2.4 million for the cost of the
food.
The United States withholds
non-humanitarian assistance in part
because Eritrea has refused to release or
bring to trial US Embassy local employees
arrested in 2001 and 2005. USAID
operations ended in 2005 when the
government demanded that the local USAID
office close. In 2006 the United States
maintained the partial denial of arms
export licenses first imposed in 2005
because of the government’s religious
persecution. It also imposed travel
restrictions on Eritrean diplomats and
consular officials in retaliation for
restrictions placed on US officials in
Asmara.
In 2006 the Eritrean government expelled
six Italian aid NGOs and confiscated their
equipment and supplies; it also told Mercy
Corps, Concern Worldwide, and the Agency
for Co-operation and Research in
Development (ACORD) to leave. Other aid
NGOs, including two Italian ones, have
been allowed to continue operations.
China’s president promised economic
assistance when President Isayas traveled
to Beijing early in 2006, but no major
initiatives have been announced at this
writing.
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