11th June, 2015
A UN report has concluded that the Eritrean Government is allowing "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations", some of which may constitute crimes against humanity.
The report was complied by a three person commission of inquiry which, while it didn’t visit Eritrea, based its almost 500 page report on 550 confidential interviews conducted with witnesses residing in third countries and 160 written submissions.
It found violations included arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, the use of conscripts, forced labour, rape and other sexual violence, forced disappearances and a "pervasive control system" that keeps the population in a "state of permanent anxiety".
The report said only four religious groups are "authorised" in the country – the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Catholicism, the Lutheran church and Sunni Islam – and said any other religious gatherings are prohibited.
"Interference in religious structures and affairs is rampant…" it said. "Religious materials are confiscated. Adherents are arbitrarily arrested, ill-treated or subjected to torture during their detention, and prisoners are coerced to recant their faith. Many religious followers have been killed or have disappeared."
The report said the violations meant that about 5,000 people were fleeing the country each month – mainly to neighbouring countries.
It makes a number of recommendations which, as well as urging the Eritrean Government to respects its obligations under human rights treaties, ask that the international community continue to provide protection to those fleeing Eritrea.
UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide has welcomed the report with chief executive Mervyn Thomas saying it will ensure the "suffering of Eritreans at the hands of their government can no longer be sidelined or forgotten".
"It is deeply regrettable that 24 years after a heroic independence struggle, the nation still awaits the dividends of a hard-won freedom, and our fervent hope is that this report will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Eritrean people."
The Eritrean Government has reportedly called the report "vile slander" and said the UN’s allegations were "totally unfounded and devoid of all merit".
To download the complete report, follow this link.
– DAVID ADAMS
