UN expert raises concern about the deterioration of human rights in Eritrea News
Voice of America, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
UN expert raises concern about the deterioration of human rights in Eritrea

A UN expert on Friday warned that the human rights landscape in Eritrea is continuing to deteriorate, as concerns grow regarding the ongoing use of enforced disappearances, indefinite military conscription, torture, and the government’s refusal to cooperate with international organizations to address these issues.

In outlining the gravity of the violation of human rights issues in the country, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, stated:

Regrettably, the core human rights issues that prompted the creation of this mandate 14 years ago remain mostly unresolved…The ongoing systematic, widespread, and enforced disappearance and prolonged incommunicado detention without charge or trial, torture, and the persecution of political opponents, journalists, and members of religious communities remain central features of governance in Eritrea.

His comments come amid the unveiling of a report on the country’s situation at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, a particularly crucial time as the expiration date of the UN Human Rights Council looms. With the large scale of violations of fundamental civil liberties in the country, the expiration of the mandate, which acts as an independent mechanism to investigate and document the severe human rights abuses in the country, presents an uncertain future for ordinary civilians.

Although Babiker welcomed the recent release of 13 civilians who were arbitrarily detained, he pointed out that inquiries should be made into the disappearance of prominent religious leaders. Religious institutions in Eritrea face targeted discrimination by the one-man dictatorship government due to the regime’s goal of exerting full control over all aspects of civil society and eliminating any possible independent opposition. At present, the government only recognizes four religious denominations as legitimate.

Any religious expressions that fall outside these four denominations often result in members being subjected to indefinite and uncharged imprisonment, typically in degrading conditions. However, leaders of the four government-approved denominations are not exempt from state interference as the regime routinely dictates their appointments, seizes their assets, and arbitrarily detains individuals who fight for independence in religious matters. For instance, Abune Antonios, the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, passed away in detention in 2022 after being subjected to a more than decade-long house arrest for his opposition against the government.

Additionally, rights organizations have criticized the country’s indefinite mandatory military conscription, which often lasts for decades despite legally being limited to a duration of 18 months. The harsh and prolonged nature of the service has led to hundreds of thousands emigrating from the country to seek asylum overseas, with many of these evaders later being threatened, trafficked, or deported.

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