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Press Release:
Report on
The state of Human Rights in Eritrea
2005
Banning of political activities;
restrictions on civil liberties, religious freedom and absence of press
freedom
Kidnappings, using killing force,
indiscriminate detentions and torture.
Suwera Center for Human Rights has
prepared a report on the human rights situation in Eritrea in 2005 and
is presenting it to the Eritrean public and the international
organizations engaged in human rights protection. It is the first all
round report on human rights the Center has ever publicized.
The report includes, in addition to the
introduction, five parts. They are:
1.
Public Freedom and
Civil Rights:-
This part deals with absence of rights of political activities in
Eritrea and the domination of power in Eritrea since independence by the
ruling party, Eritrean Peoples Front for Justice and Democracy. It also
deals with civil liberties such as the rights to organize and assemble
peacefully, which are severely restricted by the government; and
violations of individual rights through surveillance of personal postal
and electronic mails, telephones and the storming of private houses
without warranty from the court. In addition, this part deals with
religious freedom whereby all religious sects in the country are exposed
to dangerous harassments the recent example of which is the suspension
of the administrative powers of the patriarch of the Orthodox church,
which represents 80% of the Eritrean Christians. This part also deals
with the absence of press freedom in the country, where no private press
exists and a large number of journalists are in prison and Eritrea is
considered the biggest prison for journalists in Africa.
2.
Kidnappings, using
killing force:-
This part deals with EPLF’s practices of kidnappings starting from the
national struggle for liberation and continuing through the years after
the achievement of independence. The government’s security apparatus and
the army use killing force without any objective reason or pretext. The
incidence of Mai Habar, where by wounded veteran fighter were shot at by
the governments armed units while they were on a peaceful procession to
present their grievances on their deteriorating living conditions to
President Issayas Afewerki and the Adi Abeyto incident where the guards
opened fire on detainees of National Service avoiders who tried to
escape from the narrow and suffocating prison conditions that resulted
in the death of 28 individuals and wounding of hundreds can be cited as
examples of the government’s most dangerous criminal acts.
3.
Indiscriminate
detentions, prison conditions and torture:-
This part deals with the government’s indiscriminate detentions of its
opposition, the prison conditions and the torture committed in it. The
report indicates the presence of thousands of indiscriminately detained
prisoners without the due process of law among which are male and female
elders and the age of some exceeds the eighties. The government does not
allow visits to political prisoners, even though some of them have been
detained for more than 10 years. The list on detainees includes names of
all political and religious persuasions, journalists, soldiers, workers,
farmers, former ministers and government officials. The prison
conditions in the country, especially those where political and
prisoners of conscience are kept especially those where political and
prisoners of conscience are kept, is extremely bad. These prisoners are
kept in under ground cells or in places without ceilings in areas known
for its immensely high temperatures or in containers.
4.
Abuses in the framework
of National Service practices:-
This part deals with excesses or abuses in the framework of the laws
guiding national service practices, whereby the security agents climb
over walls and detain anyone without identity card. The authorities in
the detention centers use brutal punishments on individuals who try to
escape and detain them under harsh conditions and are exposed to severe
beatings. Many female detainees were exposed to rape. The National
Service draftees are kept for more than the years required by law.
5.
Conditions of the
refugees:-
This part which is the last deals with the conditions of the thousands
and thousands of refugees present in the Sudan and Ethiopia. Everyday
about 300 refugees cross the borders of the two countries. The Eritrean
refugees in the Sudan are living under unbearable conditions as the
result of the UNHCR’s rejection of their refugee status and accepting
only those who succeeded in passing the legal screening process, which
constitute 20% of the total number of refugees. The refugees in Ethiopia
are also suffering because the UNHCR does not provide them with much
needed aid. In addition, this part relates about the Eritrean refugees
deported from Libya on the pretext that they entered the country
illegally. In 2002 about 220 Eritrean asylum seekers were deported from
Malta and were detained as soon as they arrived in Asmara airport and
taken to prison. The majority of the deportees stayed for two years in
prison and were exposed to different kinds of torture. The Libyan
authorities handed over 120 deportees to the Eritrean government last
July and their whereabouts is not know to this day. On 29 August 2004
the Libyan government deported 76 Eritreans to their homeland, but they
managed to force the crew to land the plane at Khartoum airport. 61 of
them were given refugee status by the Sudanese government after
undergoing the legal screening process by COR and UNHCR. The rest 15
individuals were sentenced to 5 years in prison and deportation after
the completion of the verdict by a Sudanese court for criminal offenses.
The Appeal Court and the Supreme Court lately reduced the verdict to two
years without changing the decision on their deportation. The lawyers
appealed to the Supreme Court for reviewing the verdict, and on
18/9/2005 the Court issued a decision that dropped the charges against
the prisoners and due to that the prison authorities handed them to the
Sudanese migration authorities till the necessary documentation is
prepared recognizing them as refugees in Sudan. In addition, this part
also deals with the conditions of the Eritrean migrants who fled their
country as the result of the recent war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Suwera Center for Human Rights hopes
that the contents of this report will encourage Eritrean intellectuals
and International human rights organizations and human rights activists
to keep up and solidarize with the human rights situation in Eritrea so
as to put pressure on the Eritrean government to respect the basic human
rights of its citizens as enshrined in international human rights
agreements.
The full report can be obtained from
the Center’s web site:
www.suwera.org
Suwera Centre
For Human
Rights
13/11/2005
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