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Eritrea: UN-mandated inquiry finds ‘very clear patterns’ of human rights abuses

Mike Smith, Chairperson, Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea, speaks to the press after presenting his report to the 28th Session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré 16 March 2015 – A four-month

Mike Smith, Chairperson, Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea, speaks to the press after presenting his report to the 28th Session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
16 March 2015 – A four-month United Nations investigation into the human rights situation in Eritrea has found “very clear patterns” of violations and abuses, according to a report delivered today at the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.
“Most Eritreans have no hope for their future,” said Mike Smith, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, which despite not being granted permission to visit Eritrea, collected testimony from more than 500 members of the Eritrean diaspora.
Presenting the Commission’s interim report, Council, Mr. Smith said that in Eritrea national service is universal and of an indefinite duration. From the age of 17, Eritreans could expect to spend their lives in national service, struggling to live on less than two dollars a day.
Meanwhile, the Government has curtailed basic freedoms to the extent that, “individuals feel that they have hardly any choice with regard to the main decisions in their lives: where to live, what career to pursue, when to marry or who to worship,” he noted in a news release on the report.
For Eritreans, Mr. Smith said, “detention is an ordinary fact of life, experienced by an inordinate number of individuals – men and women, old and young, including children.” Detention centres range from official to the unofficial, located above ground or underground. Some have metal containers where prisoners are kept in extreme heat.
“Once in one of them, there is a likelihood that you will be subject to torture to extract a confession or to simply punish behaviours,” he added.
Torture is widespread, both in detention and during national service. Some Eritreans interviewed by the Commission had been beaten or tortured simply for asking for medicine, or for drinking water without permission.
Mr. Smith pointed out that these violations take place against a backdrop of the so-called “no war, no peace” situation related to Eritrea’s unresolved border issues with neighbouring countries.
“This has become the pretext for almost all the State’s actions that generate and perpetuate human rights violations in the country,” he said. “It is an expression abusively used by the Eritrean authorities to disregard international human rights law.”
Under this pretext, the entire society has been militarised, the Constitution has never been implemented and there is no rule of law, according to the news release, which added that no one was being held accountable for human rights violations.
The Commission of Inquiry, established by the Human Rights Council, is examining a broad range of alleged violations since Eritrea gained independence. It will present a written report of its findings to the Council in June 2015.

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15 COMMENTS
  • AHMED SALEH !!! March 16, 2015

    Sometimes I wonder if the cause of Badme war has hidden political
    agenda behind it . For more than 15 years HGDF exploited the issue
    to defeat the heart and mind of majority . But in contrary the so
    called Eritrean enemies ( Ethiopia) keep progressing by developing
    the infrastructure of their country .
    what is wrong with our people to deny the reality in the ground they
    face in real life . For how long either monkey or gorilla will profess
    them to twist their mind for self destruction . Come’on , give a chance
    for commonsense visit your blurred mind set . Free yourself from life
    of slavery and exploitation before too late after you get old enough and helpless to give up .

  • change March 16, 2015

    I agree with this report 100%, Thank you Mr Smith and God bless you and your your coworkers.

  • change March 16, 2015

    I agree with this report 100%, Thank you Mr Smith and God bless you and you coworkers.

  • rezen March 16, 2015

    1st. Alright, we now have oral report of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Eritrea. Though Eritreans of all walks of Life know it, the oral report is a step forward by the international community as a recognition of the inhuman treatment of people by an indigenous Member State of the United Nations Organization.

    2nd. It is hoped that the next Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva will consider the written report “next June” and elevate the issue to the Security Council of the United Nations Organization for concrete and effective action to alleviate the suffering of the Eritrean people.

    3rd.It is even greatly hoped that Eritrean Human Rights Organisations as well as Eritrean scholars in such fields as: Law, International Relation, Political Science get together (setting aside parochial matters and individual interests)and form a formidable Group to defend and advance the legitimate cause of the Eritrean PEOPLE –their mothers and fathers; brothers and sisters. If they don’t utilize their knowledge and experience now to rescue the Eritrean people when will their life-long education and experience come to a meaningful endeavour? What legacy will they leave for their children? It boils down to a simple sense of sensitivity and conscientiousness. THE END

    • AHMED SALEH March 16, 2015

      Rezen
      Our educated in diaspora became the lost abd selgish breed of Eritrean society which is sad and unfortunate truth .

  • tamrat tamrat March 17, 2015

    Where does UN get all the info if Eritrea is closed for international community?

    Mostly from refugees. The more than 400 000 thousands refugees starting from 1995 have went through a sort of interviews as to why they left their home. According to hgdef all are liers.

    Assuming a good deal number of these are hgdefians, did they lie too? To what purpose? What kind of ‘lie’ they do. That the human right abuse in their country is so unbearable they had have to leave for the unknown.

    This is the most disturbing facts. Lets leave alone those who run away from eritrea because of the oppresive regime. Lets focus on the hgdfians. Why do they lie to the international communities all over the world against their country? Why they become part of the sanctions against their country?

    Hey, they say, dont take our application seriously, we have no money and we know you are destroying our country by giving eritreans asylum and we want to use the opportunity. So we mean the sanctions are at least from our part is nust a pure misunderstanding.

  • nsmer March 17, 2015

    I would like to thank the commission, and all the people and organisations who have been working tirelessly to get this fat to advocate for the victims. To bear fruit we should not relay on UN or any other body. It is Eritreans mess We Eritreans should solve it. We have to advocate for our Victims, We all have to stand to together for justice justice justice.

  • kebrom haile March 17, 2015

    There will be a huge protest in eritrea in the few days.People all over eritrea are discussing and making ready !This is very encouraging to overthrow the dictator!

  • mm March 17, 2015

    The winds of justice is moving to our direction,pls keep fighting. Thank you to those who are working on behalf of the Eritrean people. No where to hide PFDG, the tyrant’s days are numbered. I call to every Eritrean to keep fighting in every means you can. I call all diaspora to support our cause. Never Surrender. PFDG can steal our wealth,but they can not steal the rules that govern’s human dignity. The world is watching.

  • ኣርዓዶም March 17, 2015

    እዚ ናይ ዓለም ለኸ ተፈላጥነት ሽግር ህዝብናን ሃገርናን ተስፋ ዝገብረልና እዅ እንተመሰለ፡ ዓለም ለኸ ኢንተርናሽናል ኣኽበርቲ ሕጊ፡ ሰሚዖም ክምዝግቡን ክዛረብሉን ተዘይኮይኑ፡ ንህዝብና ዋላሓንቲ ፍታሕ ኣይክገብርሉን ኢዮም። ይኹን ግን ንህግደፍ ምናልባት፡ ተግባራቱ ኣብ ምፍላጥን ማዕቐብ ኣብ ምጽናዕን ይሕግዝ ይኸውን፡ እዚ ግን ፍታሕ ኣይኮነን ንዓና ን ኤርትራውያን።

    ከም ህዝብን ሃገርን መጠን ንኽነብር ተኾይኑ፡ ቕልጡፍ ፍታሕ የድልየና ኣሎ። እዚ ድማ ካብ ባዕልና ተበግሶን ተወፋይነትን እንተዘይኮይኖ፡ ንዓለም ንጽበ ትሃሊና፡ ብጣዕሚ ዓሽና ኣለና ማለት ኢዩ። እቲ ፍታሕ ባዕልና ጥራይ ኢና ከነምጾ ንኽል። ንህግደፍ ብግብሪ ክንቓለሶ ክንክእል ኣለና። ሽዑ ክኣ ኢያ ዓለም ሽግርና ተገንዚባ፡ ኣብ ጎንና ኣብ ጎኒ ውጹዕ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ደው ትብል። ስለዚ ደቒ ሃገረይ፡ እቲ ምንቕስቓስ ባዕልና ኣልዒልና ባዕልና ተዘይወዲእናዮ፡ ካብ ዓለም ምጽባይ ፍጹም ኣይከውንን ኢዩ።

    ዓለም ትሕግዝ እንተትኸውን፡ ንሶርያ ርኣይዋ፡ ብሰንኪ ቕልጡፍ ስጉምቲ ዘይምውሳድ ማለት ኣንጻር እቲ ምልካዊ ስርዓት ኣሳድ፡ ኣሳድ ገበል ህዝቡ ብንክሌራዊ ኣጽዋር ደምሲስዎን ይድምስሶ ኣሎን፡፡ ከም ኡ ድማ ጥሩፋት ሸፋቱ እስላማዊ ወሊዱ፡ ህዝቢ ዓቕሉ ጸቢብዎ ይርከብ። ስለዚ ዓለም ትሕግዝ እንተትኸውን፡ ንኣሳድን ነቶም ሓረድቲ ኢስላምያን ክትድምስሶም ትኽእል ነይራ ኢያ። ግን ዓለም ክሳብ ሕጂ ዝጠቕም ስጉምቲ ኣይወሰደትን፡ ኣሳድ ድማ ህዝቡ ይቐዝፍ ኣሎ፡ ውዒሉ ሓዲሩ ግን ደም ውጹዕ ህዝቢ ኣይክሰዶን ይኸን።

    ዝኾነ ይኹን ኣብ ሃገርና ዘሎ ኣረሜን፡ ካልእ ከልግስዎ ዝኽእሉ እኵ እንተኾኑ፡ ንዕኦም ምጽባይ ህዝቢ ምስ ጸነተ ሃገር ምስ ዓነወ ኢዮም ምናልባት ቑሊሕ ክብሉና ዝኽእሉ። ስለዚ ንዕኦም ክንጽበ የብልናን፡ ዝሓዝና ሒዝብና ባዕልና ክንልዓል ይግባእ።

    ኣርዓዶም

  • Alem March 17, 2015

    Thank you the Commission of Inquiry and the UN delegates who really understood what is going on our tiny nation with its enormous and gross Human Right Abuses. You have understood the suffering and misery of Eritrean people first hand from testimonies given by Eritrean refugees in your perspective countries and also testimonies given to the Commission of Inquiry. The Dictator in Eritrea who happen to be Non-Eritrean will not allow the Commission of Inquiry to come to Eritrea to witness the Human Right Abuses, War Crimes, Genocide, Torture, Illegal arrests, etc. because that will be the end of his life!!!

    Dear Mr. Smith, as a president of the Commission of Inquiry, don’t be naive to expect the Eritrean ruler and Dictator to engage with you in good faith. The Dictator and his junta have blood in their hand and they will lie or promise to change this or that to buy time.

    The only thing remaining is to take the Dictator with his ugly cousins Yemane Monkey, Yemane Charlie and Hagos Kisha to International Criminal Court!!!!

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