Eritrea: Repression Creating Human Rights Crisis
April 16, 2009 | Human Rights Watch
Host Countries Should Cease Forced Returns of Eritrean Refugees
The 95-page report, "Service for Life: State Repression and Indefinite
Conscription in Eritrea," documents serious human rights violations by the
Eritrean government, including arbitrary arrest, torture, appalling detention
conditions, forced labor, and severe restrictions on freedom of
movement, expression, and worship. It also analyzes the difficult situation
faced by Eritreans who succeed in escaping to other countries such as
Libya, Sudan, Egypt, and Italy.
"Eritrea's government is turning the country into a giant prison," said
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Eritrea
should immediately account for hundreds of ‘disappeared' prisoners and
open its jails to independent scrutiny."
Human Rights Watch called on the United States and European Union to
coordinate with the UN and the African Union to resolve regional tensions
and ensure that development aid to Eritrea is linked to progress on human
rights.
The EU recently approved a €122 million assistance package to Eritrea
despite concerns that development projects in Eritrea are carried out by
conscript or prison labor in violation of international law.
Based on more than 50 interviews with Eritrean victims and eyewitnesses
of abuses in three countries, the report describes how the Eritrean
government uses a vast apparatus of official and secret detention facilities
to incarcerate thousands of Eritreans without charge or trial. Many of the
prisoners are detained for their political or religious beliefs, others because
they tried to evade the indefinite national service or flee the country.
Torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and forced labor are routine for
conscripts as well as detainees. Detention conditions are appalling, with
detainees typically held in overcrowded cells - sometimes underground -
or in shipping containers that reach searing temperatures by day and are
freezing at night.
Those who try to flee risk severe punishments and the possibility of being
shot while crossing the border. The government also punishes the families
of those who escape or desert from national service with exorbitant fines
or imprisonment. Despite these severe measures, thousands of Eritreans
are trying to escape their country.
Most refugees first flee to neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan, and then travel
to Libya, Egypt, and Europe. Hundreds of Eritreans have been forcibly
repatriated from Libya, Egypt, and Malta in the past few years and have
faced detention and torture upon their return.
Because of the risk of mistreatment faced by those who are returned, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has advised against
deporting anyone to Eritrea, including rejected asylum seekers. Human
Rights Watch called on all countries hosting Eritrean asylum seekers not
to forcibly return them, given the risk of torture.
Ethiopia in 1993 after a bloody 30-year war. But the government of
President Isayas Afewerki, who led Eritrea through much of its
extraordinary struggle for independence, has steadily restricted
democratic freedoms, particularly since a 2001 crackdown on political
opposition and media.
Eritrea claims its prolonged mass mobilization is justified by security
concerns stemming from a two-year border conflict with Ethiopia that
cost tens of thousands of lives from 1998 to 2000. The government often
blames the United States, the United Nations, and African states for the
current political impasse, contending that they have failed to pressure
Ethiopia to implement the border demarcation decision of an independent
UN commission, which awarded a disputed area to Eritrea.
Eritrea has had tense relations or military clashes with all of its neighbors
at one point or another, and the political stalemate between Eritrea and
Ethiopia has contributed to regional instability. Each government has
supported armed opposition groups against the other, and Eritrea's
support for militant Islamist groups in Somalia has exacerbated the
conflict in that country.
"Eritrea's human rights crisis is worsening and making the Horn of Africa
ever more volatile," said Gagnon. "The US, European, and other
governments need to coordinate their policies on the Horn to defuse
regional tensions, and make human rights progress an essential
benchmark for engagement with Eritrea."
Selected accounts from Eritrean refugees:
– An elderly man who fought for the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front
(EPLF) in the liberation struggle
– A young man who recently fled national service
- A former army officer who explained how those suspected of trying to
escape from the army were tortured
- A female recruit who served as a conscript for 10 years and suffered
repeated sexual harassment
- A former political prisoner detained on Dahlak Island in the Red Sea
- An officer formerly responsible for rounding up national service
deserters
April 16, 2009 | Human Rights Watch
Host Countries Should Cease Forced Returns of Eritrean Refugees
- (London) - Eritrea's extensive
detention and torture of its
citizens and its policy of
prolonged military conscription
are creating a human rights
crisis and prompting increasing
numbers of Eritreans to flee the
country, Human Rights Watch
said in a report released today.
The 95-page report, "Service for Life: State Repression and Indefinite
Conscription in Eritrea," documents serious human rights violations by the
Eritrean government, including arbitrary arrest, torture, appalling detention
conditions, forced labor, and severe restrictions on freedom of
movement, expression, and worship. It also analyzes the difficult situation
faced by Eritreans who succeed in escaping to other countries such as
Libya, Sudan, Egypt, and Italy.
"Eritrea's government is turning the country into a giant prison," said
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Eritrea
should immediately account for hundreds of ‘disappeared' prisoners and
open its jails to independent scrutiny."
Human Rights Watch called on the United States and European Union to
coordinate with the UN and the African Union to resolve regional tensions
and ensure that development aid to Eritrea is linked to progress on human
rights.
The EU recently approved a €122 million assistance package to Eritrea
despite concerns that development projects in Eritrea are carried out by
conscript or prison labor in violation of international law.
Based on more than 50 interviews with Eritrean victims and eyewitnesses
of abuses in three countries, the report describes how the Eritrean
government uses a vast apparatus of official and secret detention facilities
to incarcerate thousands of Eritreans without charge or trial. Many of the
prisoners are detained for their political or religious beliefs, others because
they tried to evade the indefinite national service or flee the country.
Torture, cruel and degrading treatment, and forced labor are routine for
conscripts as well as detainees. Detention conditions are appalling, with
detainees typically held in overcrowded cells - sometimes underground -
or in shipping containers that reach searing temperatures by day and are
freezing at night.
Those who try to flee risk severe punishments and the possibility of being
shot while crossing the border. The government also punishes the families
of those who escape or desert from national service with exorbitant fines
or imprisonment. Despite these severe measures, thousands of Eritreans
are trying to escape their country.
Most refugees first flee to neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan, and then travel
to Libya, Egypt, and Europe. Hundreds of Eritreans have been forcibly
repatriated from Libya, Egypt, and Malta in the past few years and have
faced detention and torture upon their return.
Because of the risk of mistreatment faced by those who are returned, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has advised against
deporting anyone to Eritrea, including rejected asylum seekers. Human
Rights Watch called on all countries hosting Eritrean asylum seekers not
to forcibly return them, given the risk of torture.
- "Countries
receiving Eritrean
refugees need to
make sure that
they get the
protection and
assistance they
need," said
Gagnon. "Under
no circumstances
should Eritreans
be returned to
Eritrea, where
they face almost
certain detention
and torture
simply for having
fled."
Ethiopia in 1993 after a bloody 30-year war. But the government of
President Isayas Afewerki, who led Eritrea through much of its
extraordinary struggle for independence, has steadily restricted
democratic freedoms, particularly since a 2001 crackdown on political
opposition and media.
Eritrea claims its prolonged mass mobilization is justified by security
concerns stemming from a two-year border conflict with Ethiopia that
cost tens of thousands of lives from 1998 to 2000. The government often
blames the United States, the United Nations, and African states for the
current political impasse, contending that they have failed to pressure
Ethiopia to implement the border demarcation decision of an independent
UN commission, which awarded a disputed area to Eritrea.
Eritrea has had tense relations or military clashes with all of its neighbors
at one point or another, and the political stalemate between Eritrea and
Ethiopia has contributed to regional instability. Each government has
supported armed opposition groups against the other, and Eritrea's
support for militant Islamist groups in Somalia has exacerbated the
conflict in that country.
"Eritrea's human rights crisis is worsening and making the Horn of Africa
ever more volatile," said Gagnon. "The US, European, and other
governments need to coordinate their policies on the Horn to defuse
regional tensions, and make human rights progress an essential
benchmark for engagement with Eritrea."
Selected accounts from Eritrean refugees:
- "I sacrificed my life for the prosperity, development and freedom
of my country but the reverse is true… we did not spend 65,000
martyrs for this!"
– An elderly man who fought for the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front
(EPLF) in the liberation struggle
- "It’s okay to do national service, it’s fair to serve one’s country
but not always. It’s not fair when it’s indefinite."
– A young man who recently fled national service
- "If someone is suspected of escaping then they are tied up - just
hands or hands and feet, or ferro [with iron handcuffs]. ...
Individuals decide what kind of punishment is given, there's no
law. They do not have any crimes but [people are punished
because] they hate the military or hate to be a soldier. That is the
main reason. Because everyone in Eritrea hates to be in the army."
- A former army officer who explained how those suspected of trying to
escape from the army were tortured
- "First you do your military training then they hold you forever
without your rights. The military leaders can ask you for anything
and if you refuse their demands then you can be punished. Almost
every woman in the military experiences this kind of problem."
- A female recruit who served as a conscript for 10 years and suffered
repeated sexual harassment
- "In Dahlak there is no time limit, you are waiting for two things:
either someone is coming to transfer you or to kill you. When I left
Dahlak I was 44 kilograms. My haemoglobin was nothing. I
needed a stick to walk. We were living underground, the
temperature was 44°C; it was unbelievable. There is no word to
express the inhumanity."
- A former political prisoner detained on Dahlak Island in the Red Sea
- "If one of the men escapes, you have to go to his home and find
him. If you don't find him you have to capture his family and take
them to prison. Since 1998, it's standard to collect a family
member if someone flees. The administration gives the order to
take family members if the national service member is not around.
If you disappear inside Eritrea then the family is put in prison for
some time and often then the child will return. If you cross the
border, then [your family] pays 50,000 Nakfa [US$3,300]. If
there's no money then it can be a long time in prison. I know
people who are in prison for six months."
- An officer formerly responsible for rounding up national service
deserters
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