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Eritrea
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Released by the Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor
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March 11, 2008
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Eritrea, with a population of
approximately 3.6 million, is a one‑party
state that became independent in 1993 when
citizens voted for independence from
Ethiopia. The People's Front for Democracy
and Justice (PFDJ), previously known as
the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, is
the sole political party and has
controlled the country since 1991. The
country's president, Isaias Afwerki, who
heads the PFDJ and the armed forces,
dominated the country, and the government
continued to postpone presidential and
legislative elections; the latter have
never been held. The border dispute with
Ethiopia continued, despite international
efforts at demarcation, to the detriment
of the country's international trade and
external relations. The situation was used
by the government to justify severe
restrictions on civil liberties. Civilian
authorities generally maintained effective
control of the security forces.
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The government's human rights record
remained poor, and authorities continued
to commit numerous serious abuses. They
included: abridgement of citizens' right
to change their government through a
democratic process; unlawful killings by
security forces; torture and beating of
prisoners, sometimes resulting in death;
arrest and torture of national service
evaders, some of whom reportedly died of
abuses while in detention; harsh and life
threatening prison conditions; arbitrary
arrest and detention, including of family
members of national service evaders;
executive interference in the judiciary
and the use of a special court system to
limit due process; infringement on privacy
rights; and roundups of young men and
women for national service. They also
included: severe restrictions of basic
civil liberties, including the freedoms of
speech, press, assembly, association, and
religion, particularly for religious
groups not approved by the government;
restriction of freedom of movement and
travel for diplomats, the personnel of
humanitarian and development agencies, and
the UN Mission to Eritrea and Ethiopia
(UNMEE); and restriction of the activities
of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).
There was societal abuse and
discrimination against women; widespread
practice of female genital mutilation
(FGM); governmental and societal
discrimination against members of the
Kunama ethnic group; widespread societal
discrimination based on sexual
orientation, and reports of discrimination
against those with HIV/AIDS. There were
limitations on workers' rights.
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The government acted as a principal source
and conduit for arms to antigovernment,
extremist, and insurgent groups in
Somalia, according to a June report issued
by the UN Munitions Monitoring Group.
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URGENT
ACTION APPEAL
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PUBLIC
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AI Index: EUR 42/001/2008
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21 February 2008
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UA 46/08
Deportation/Torture
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SWEDEN
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Jamil Mohammad Burhan (m), aged 24
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The Swedish authorities are preparing to
deport asylum-seeker Jamil Burhan to
Eritrea, where he would be at real risk of
being detained and tortured simply for
having applied for asylum, which the
authorities regard as betraying the country.
Sweden is a state party to a number of
international treaties that expressly
prohibit deportation in these circumstances.
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According to his lawyers, Jamil Mohammad
Burhan was born in Saudi Arabia to Eritrean
parents. He grew up there, and his family
still live there. It is not clear what
nationality or citizenship he holds, but
apparently he has no right of entry to Saudi
Arabia, so cannot be sent there.
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CPJ
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ERITREA
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Eritrea
remained the leading jailer of journalists in
Africa, with as many as 14 writers and editors
held incommunicado in secret locations. At least
one journalist died in state custody, sources told
CPJ in February. The only country in sub-Saharan
Africa without a single independent news outlet,
Eritrea subjected its own state-media journalists
to government surveillance and harassment. One
state journalist died in June while trying to
escape years of repression by fleeing into Sudan.
- President Isaias Afewerki
continued the brutally repressive policies that
began a week after September 11, 2001, when the
government effectively shuttered the nation’s
once-vigorous private press and arrested its most
prominent journalists. The crackdown came shortly
after the press covered a split in the ruling
party, providing a forum for debate on Afewerki’s
rule.
- The government, dominated by
members of Afewerki’s Popular Front for Democracy
and Justice, refused to disclose the whereabouts,
legal status, and health of the jailed
journalists.
- Fesshaye “Joshua” Yohannes, a
publisher and editor of the now-defunct weekly
Setit and 2002 recipient of CPJ’s
International Press Freedom Award, died in prison,
according to several sources in the Eritrean
diaspora. Yohannes, who was also a poet and
playwright, had fought alongside Afewerki as a
member of the rebel movement that sought Eritrean
independence. Several sources said Yohannes died
on January 11 after a long illness in an
undisclosed prison outside Asmara, although one
source said the journalist may have died much
earlier in a prison in Embatkala, 21 miles (35
kilometers) northeast of Asmara. Information
Minister Ali Abdu told CPJ in June that he had
nothing to say about Yohannes. “I don’t know,” he
said. “This is an Eritrean issue; leave it to us.”
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The government’s monopoly on
domestic media, the fear of reprisal among
prisoners’ families, and restrictions on the
movements of foreigners have made it extremely
difficult to verify unofficial information. An
unbylined 2006 report that was circulated on
several Web sites and considered credible by CPJ
sources claimed that three other journalists also
died in government custody. Abdu said he had no
information on the fates of Said Abdelkader,
Medhanie Haile, and Yusuf Mohamed Ali. CPJ
continued to list them on its annual prison census
as it investigated their cases.
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2 /2 /2008
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Eritrea
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30 January 2008
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Independent journalist Seyoum Tsehaye, the most
recent winner of the Reporters Without Borders -
Fondation de France press freedom prize, is still
alive and is being held in a secret prison camp
called “Eiraeiro,” located near the village of
Gahtelay in a mountainous desert region north of the
Asmara-Massawa road. Seyoum is in cell No. 10 of
block A01, which is reserved for the most sensitive
political prisoners.
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Reporters Without Borders learned this and other
details this month from an Eritrean who has had
access to the prison, where many political leaders
are held. The source must remain anonymous for his
protection.
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According to this source, Seyoum was transferred to
Eiraeiro in about 2003. He was seen being beaten by
guards a year or two after arriving in the camp.
Very agitated, with his head shaved and a long
beard, he rebelled several times against the guards
in charge of him, refusing the prison food and
repeating : “I did my duty,” “it is my
responsibility” and “I don’t care if I die here.”
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[ read more]
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Human Rights
Watch: Report 2008
Eritrea
31/1/2008 -
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Events of 2007
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The government of President Isayas Afeworki
continues to maintain
its totalitarian grip on the country. Arbitrary
arrests and detention without trial are common.
Prisoners are routinely tortured and kept for years
in underground cells in isolation or crammed into
shipping containers. Mass arrests and harassment of
members of minority religious denominations
continue. The government imposes such prolonged and
repeated compulsory military service that thousands
of young men have fled the country.
The constitution approved by referendum in 1997
remains unimplemented. No national election has ever
been held and an interim parliament has not met
since 2002. No political groups are permitted aside
from the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and
Justice (PFDJ), of which Afeworki is executive
secretary. The last session of the PFDJ party
congress occurred in 1997. No media or civil society
organizations exist outside those controlled by the
PFDJ. Private enterprise has been severely
curtailed, largely replaced by PFDJ-owned
businesses.
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[ read more]
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On
Human Rights Day
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Eritrea: the Worst Human Rights Record in the
World
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Every year, the world
celebrates the 10th December by
reviewing progress achieved in promoting respect
for human rights and to give moral support to the
human rights movement. For Eritrean citizens this
anniversary falls at a time when they are
experiencing more, and increasingly brutal,
violations of their human rights by their
government. The number of arbitrary detainees
increases every year. Some of these detainees
have been in prison throughout the last fifteen
years without their families being allowed to know
their whereabouts. In recent years, reports have
indicated that some prisoners have died in
prisons, where torture is systematically practiced
and lack of basic health care is the rule.
Moreover, the judiciary lacks independence as the
executive interferes in its work and security
forces
practise
extra judicial killings with full impunity.
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Public freedoms are
violated around the country. Eritrean people have
no right to elect their government, or to hold it
accountable, let alone to change it. Since 2001,
the government of Eritrea has shown no commitment
or desire to undertake political reforms that
allow for a plural system. Moreover, there is no
independent press in the country. In fact,
Reporters sans frontičres
ranked
Eritrea the in last place in an index
measuring the level of press freedom in the world.
Religion freedoms are also subject to severe
restrictions that affect all sects. Furthermore,
authorities limit freedom of movement as they
don't allow persons aged between five and forty
five to leave the country. Such restrictions are
also applied to persons whose work requires them
to travel abroad as they are required to provide a
sponsor who ensures their return.
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The government of Eritrea severely violates the
text and spirit of the UDHR and the other
conventions it signed without being held
accountable by the international community. Suwera
Center for Human Rights takes this opportunity to
call upon the Human Rights Council and the High
Commissioner of Human Rights to act to save the
lives of prisoners of conscience in Eritrea, and
to pressure the authorities to disclose the places
where they are detained and allow an international
team of investigators to visit prisons. Every day
that passes without disclosing what is happening
in the secret detention centers threatens the
lives of more prisoners of conscience.
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Suwera Center for Human Rights
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9/12/2007
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Reporters Without
Borders:
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On eve of
meeting with African leaders, EU urged to
declare Eritrean president and aides persona non
grata
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6 / 12 2007
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On the eve of the
EU-Africa summit taking place in Lisbon on 8-9
December, Reporters Without Borders today called on
the EU presidency to declare Eritrean leader Issaias
Afeworki and his aides persona non grata throughout
the Europe Union because of serious violations of
human rights and press freedom since 2001.
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President Issaias,
who is due to attend the summit, is not subject to
an EU visa ban, unlike his Belarusian and Zimbabwean
counterparts, Alexandre Lukashenko and Robert
Mugabe. There has been controversy about Mugabe’s
attendance at the Lisbon summit.
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“After years of
impunity, the contempt shown by the Eritrean
authorities for the agreements they have signed with
the EU must finally be punished,” Reporters Without
Borders said. “One cannot carry on making a issue
about Mugabe’s presence or absence and yet ignore
the question of Eritrea.”
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[More]
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Reporters Without Borders:
Eritrea 6 July
2007
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Journalist, one of nine arrested last November, dies
in attempt to flee to
Sudan
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Reporters Without Borders voiced deep sadness today
on learning that Paulos Kidane, a journalist with
the Amharic-language service of state-owned Eri-TV
and radio Dimtsi Hafash (Voice of the Broad Masses)
died last month in an attempt to flee on foot across
the border into Sudan.
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“We join in the mourning of his family and friends
and share their grief in this tragic ordeal,” the
press freedom organization said. “The information
ministry’s lies will not be able to hide the fact
that Kidane was one of the many victims of a cruel
and tyrannical regime. A hitherto apathetic
international community should react with outrage
and hold President Issaias Afeworki accountable.
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[More]
- Statement
- A Report on the 'State of
Human Rights in Eritrea 2006' Released
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27May 2007
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ý
Banning
independent political and trade union activism
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Imposing
limitations on religious and journalistic
freedoms
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Executions
without trial in public spaces in Eritrean towns
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Increased
arbitrary detainees, no family visits and
unknown whereabouts
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Suwera Center for Human Rights (SCHR) released its second annual report 'The
State of Human Rights in Eritrea, 2006'. In
addition to the introduction and
recommendations, the report consists of six
chapters as detailed below.
Chapter 1:
deals with the situation of public and civil
freedoms. It examines five sub-themes including
the freedom of political and trade union
activism, religious freedoms, freedom of
expression, right to fair and just trial and
rights to privacy and freedom of movement.
Chapter 2:
highlights cases of arbitrary detention and
situation of prisons in Eritrea. It includes
three lists of political prisoners in addition
to describing the types of torture that
prisoners are subjected to.
Chapter 3:
exposes the increased violence against women and
their decreased share in education and
employment opportunities and deterioration of
reproductive health.
Chapter 4:
traces the violations committed by authorities
in the context of the implementation of the
national (military) service act.
Chapter 5:
reports on the situation of the Eritrean
refugees in both Sudan and Ethiopia.
Chapter 6:
assesses the relationships of Eritrea government
with the international community during 2006 and
the responses of the international community to
the human rights violations in the country. It
also exposes the role played by international
human rights organizations in revealing
violations committed by Eritrean authorities.
The report
concludes with recommendations on how concerned
parties can contribute to the improvement of
human rights situation in Eritrea including a
recommendation to the UN Human Rights Council to
appoint a special rapporteur to report on the
human rights situation in Eritrea.
Issuing this
report, SCHR is calling upon all human rights
defenders to express their solidarity with the
victims of violations in Eritrea through
condemning these violations and appealing to the
authorities to release all detainees or bringing
them to open, just and fair trials.
For the full
text of the report click here Or pdf
A hard copy
can also be obtained from the center.
Suwera Centre for Human
Rights
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ERITREA
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- 23/5/2007
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Head of state and government: Issayas Afewerki
Death penalty: retentionist
International Criminal Court: signed
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Several thousand prisoners of conscience were
detained incommunicado without charge or trial. Some
former government leaders were held in a secret
place of detention. The whereabouts of many
political or religious prisoners, including
journalists, were not known. Many were in effect
victims of enforced disappearance. An army general
remained held after 14 years, and three religious
prisoners were still held after 12 years. Many
detainees were tortured. Prison conditions,
Eritrean Diaspora urged to intercede on behalf of
imprisoned journalists on 2,000th day since “Black
Tuesday"
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Eritrea9 March 2007
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With the number of days since Eritrea’s “Black
Tuesday” of 18 September 2001 about to reach 2,000,
Reporters Without Borders today urged the Eritrean
Diaspora to demand an explanation from the government
in Asmara for the disappearance of at least 14
journalists in the country’s prisons, four of whom are
feared dead.
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“Tomorrow will be the 2,000th day since President
Issaias Afeworki ordered all the privately-owned
newspapers to stop publishing and proceeded to arrest
all the leading journalists in the capital,” Reporters
Without Borders said. “The Eritrean Diaspora, which
played a key role in supporting the independence war,
must today make its voice heard and insist that
President Issaias respect the country’s constitution
and laws.”
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[More]
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Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006
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Eritrea
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Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor
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March 6, 2007
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Eritrea, with a population
of approximately 3.6 million, is a one party state
that became independent in 1993 when citizens voted
for independence from Ethiopia. The People's Front for
Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), previously known as the
Eritrean People's Liberation Front, is the sole
political party and has controlled the country since
1991. The country's president, Isaias Afwerki, heads
the PFDJ, the national legislature, and the military.
The government continuously postponed presidential and
national legislative elections; national elections
have never been held. Despite international efforts to
resolve the situation, an ongoing border dispute with
Ethiopia seriously hindered international trade,
affected the government's external relations, and was
used by the government to justify severe restrictions
on civil liberties. Civilian authorities generally
maintained effective control of the security forces.
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[More]
Reporters Without Borders annual 2007
Eritrea
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Africa’s newest country, independent since
1993, has become a kind of open-air prison guarded
by an ultra-nationalist sole party which sees the
least democratic claim as a threat to national
security. Among the hundreds of political prisoners,
at least 13 journalists have just spent their sixth
year in jail. Three of them may well have died as a
result of conditions reminiscent of a penal colony.
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Eritrea has just completed a fifth year of terror
and silence. The army command and the sole party,
the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ),
continue to exert total control and to hand down
severe punishment to the least tendency to criticism
in this small country squeezed between Ethiopia,
Sudan and the Red Sea, independent only since 1993.
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- [More]
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On eve of African Union summit, UN
secretary-general
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urged to intercede on behalf of
press freedom in Eritrea
- 27/1/2007
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On the eve of the African Union
summit on 29-30 January in the
Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa,
Reporters Without Borders today
urged the new United Nations
secretary-general, Ban Ki Moon, to
make an official protest to the
Eritrean government about the
arbitrary imprisonment of
journalists and the total absence of
press freedom in Eritrea since 2001.
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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
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Eritrea: Over
500 parents of conscripts arrested
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21/12/2006
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Resorting to
collective punishment, the Eritrean
government has arrested over 500
relatives, mostly parents, of young
men and women who have either deserted
the army or avoided conscription.
Amnesty International strongly
condemns these arbitrary detentions.
The organisation calls upon the
Eritrean authorities to either
immediately release the individuals or
charge them with recognisable criminal
offences and try them within a
reasonable time in full accordance
with international standards for a
fair trial.
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[More]
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An Eritrean Journalist
Safely Escapes to Ethiopia.
- 18 /12 /12006
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Further exposing the severity of the
Eritrean government’s crisis, informed
sources in Ethiopia and Eritrea; have
confirmed that the Voice of Americas
stringer from Asmara Mr. Aklilu Solomon
has managed to safely escape to Ethiopia
- [More]
200 Eritreans Protest outside
the Eritrean Embassy in London
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(London 08-12-04) Nearly two hundred Eritreans gathered
together protesting the Human Rights abuse that continues
unabated in Eritrea. The protest organized by three UK
based Human Rights organizations, to mark International
Human Rights Day, was said, by many participants, to be a
small token of solidarity with thousands of Eritreans who
are unable to voice their plight.
- [More]
On 10th December, the
International Day of Human Rights
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The world celebrates on 10th of December the
Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR). Indeed, the UDHR is the founding document
that established human rights standards and on which the
subsequent development in this field is premised.
On this
occasion, Suwera Centre for Human Rights (SCHR)
calls the attention of the international community to
the serious violations of the spirit and wording of the
UDHR in Eritrea, the member state in the
- [More]
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Singer Freed
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- Published
November 6, 2006
- ASMARA, Eritrea -- Gospel
singer Helen Berhane, who belonged to a banned evangelical
church in Eritrea
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[More]
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AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
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18 September 2006
- Today is the fifth anniversary of the detentions
without charge or trial of 11 former members of
parliament, 10 journalists and hundreds of other men and
women who were arrested in a crackdown on government
critics calling for democratic reforms in September
2001.
- [More]
Eritrea
International Religious Freedom Report 2006
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
- The Government severely restricts freedom of religion for groups that it
has not registered, and infringes upon the independence of some registered groups. The constitution, written in 1997, provides for religious freedom; however, the constitution has not been implemented. Following a 2002 government decree that religious groups must register, the Government closed all religious facilities not belonging to the country's four principal religious institutions--the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Eritrea, and Islam. The membership of these four religious groups comprises a significant majority of the population.
- The extended and costly struggle for national independence has led to an independent state, however, the newly born state has fallen under the grip of a small political sect that has abducted the citizens’ of their rights to choose their rulers, change or even criticize them. The sect has striped the Eritrean citizens of their civil rights and restricted public freedoms.
- [More]
25 May 2006
- Today on Eritrean Independence Day, Amnesty International is making a new call to Eritrea's President Issayas Afewerki to make the coming 14th year of Eritrea's formal independence a year for the implementation of the human rights improvements urgently awaited by the international community, as well as many Eritreans in the country and abroad.
- [More]
23 May 2006
- Several thousand prisoners of conscience, many held because of their religious beliefs and others for political reasons, were in indefinite and incommunicado detention without charge or trial, some in secret locations. Many detainees were tortured or ill-treated, and large numbers were held in metal shipping containers or underground cells.
- [More]
27 April 2006
- In 2005, the Government of Eritrea’s record on human rights worsened as it further restricted basic freedoms. Religious freedom for congregations not registered with the Government was severely constrained, and the United States designated Eritrea as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for the second consecutive year.
- [More]
9 MARCH 2006
- Eritrea, with a population of approximately 4.4 million, is a one‑party state that became independent in 1993 when citizens voted for independence from Ethiopia.
- [More]
19 FEBRUARY 2006
- Seventy-five military conscripts who are evangelical Christians were reportedly detained on 1 February at the main military training centre at Sawa near the western border with Sudan, for praying and reading bibles.
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[More]
29 JANUARY 2006
Eitrean Anti Tyranny Global Solidairty
28 JANUARY 2006
- Eritrea’s efforts to achieve gender equality were hindered by deep-rooted traditional stereotypes and poverty, which was exacerbated by persistent droughts and the border conflict with Ethiopia, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was told, as it took up the situation in that country in two meetings today.
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[More]
24 JANUARY 2006
- The Eritrean government’s tyranny became more ruthless in 2005. Rule by force and caprice remains the norm, as the government aggressively moves to intimidate the population and to isolate it from the outside world.
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[More]
26 DECEMBER 2005
- The following are the recommendations of the seminar organized In 19/12/2005 at the national centre for peace and development, by Suwera center for human rights about The State of Human rights in Eritrea:
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[More]
21 DECEMBER 2005
- In 19/12/2005 and at the national centre for peace and development, Suwera center for human rights held a seminar to discuss: The State of Human rights in Eritrea.
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[More]
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