Human Rights
Watch: World Report 2007
Eritrea
11/1/2007
Events of 2006:
Since 2001 the government of President Isayas Afewerki has carried out
an unremitting attack on democratic institutions and civil society in
Eritrea by arresting political opponents, destroying the private press,
and incarcerating anyone thought to challenge the government’s policies.
Almost no civil society institutions survive but the assault continued
in 2006 on religious practitioners, military service evaders, and staff
of international agencies.
A constitution approved by referendum in 1997 has never been
implemented. No national elections have been held since independence in
1993. No opposition political party is allowed to exist. No independent
labor organizations are permitted. Nongovernmental organizations have
been systematically dismantled and their assets confiscated; those still
operational are closely monitored. The government controls all access to
information.
The border dispute with Ethiopia that led to the devastating 1998-2000
war continues to fester, a circumstance the government uses to justify
repressive policies. Ethiopia has demanded “dialogue” with Eritrea about
the border in the Badme sector (where the war began) before it will
comply with the independent boundary commission decision on border
demarcation, but Eritrea, having accepted the April 2002 commission
decision, rejects further talks before full demarcation. In 2006 the
threat of war resuming between Ethiopia and Eritrea waned temporarily,
but Eritrea continued arming rebel forces in parts of Ethiopia. Eritrea
denies reports by the United Nations and United States that in 2006 it
sent arms and military trainers to assist the Islamic Courts movement
that has taken power in Somalia’s capital and is strongly opposed to
Ethiopia.
Suppression of Political Dissent and Free Expression
Governing party and government leaders and journalists arrested in 2001
as alleged traitors, spies, and foreign agents continue to be held
incommunicado in undisclosed prisons. In 2006 a website issued a
detailed but unconfirmed report asserting that 31 prisoners, including
the leaders and journalists, were being held in isolation cells in a
remote jail built expressly to hold them. The report claimed that nine
of the 31 had died in captivity (one by suicide).
Absent an independent press and with foreign broadcasts periodically
jammed, Eritreans seldom have access to information other than from
government-run media outlets. The government also takes pains to avoid
information filtering out of the country. There are no domestic human
rights groups; and no international human rights organizations are
allowed to operate in Eritrea.
Freedom of Religion
The government closed all religious institutions in May 2002 except
those affiliated with the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and
Eritrean Evangelical (Lutheran) churches and with traditional Islam.
Although the government claimed it would register other churches, it had
not done so as of November 2006 despite having had applications pending
for more than four years. Some religious groups have not applied,
fearing that disclosing membership rolls will endanger their members.
The government is reported to have confiscated all assets of the Kale
Hiwot (Baptist) Church in 2006, including orphanages and kindergartens,
even though the church had applied for registration.
In 2006 the government arrested members and clergy of religious groups
that had not filed for registration, raiding homes during worship,
including wedding ceremonies. Several hundred are in detention, and
recantation of church membership is often imposed as a condition for
release.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been especially mistreated. Some have been
detained for more than a decade for refusing to participate in national
military service even though the official penalty is a prison term of no
more than three years (Eritrea does not provide for alternative
service). Jehovah’s Witnesses are precluded from government employment
and from receiving many government services, including business
licenses.
Religious persecution has not been limited to minority religions. The
Orthodox patriarch was placed under house arrest in 2006 and his
lifetime appointment was rescinded after he questioned the arrest of
three reformist bishops. He had already been stripped of administrative
functions in 2005 in favor of a government-appointed lay administrator.
Military Conscription Roundups and Arbitrary Arrest of Family
Members
Eritrean men between the ages of 18 and 50 must perform two years of
compulsory national service. In addition to military duties, conscripts
are used for public works projects, but there have been repeated reports
that they have also been used as laborers on military generals’ personal
properties. Spurred by the rigors and abuses of the national service
system, draft-age Eritreans and high school seniors have been fleeing
the country in the thousands over the past five years or have gone into
hiding. Refugee agencies estimated that each month in 2006 about 700
Eritreans fled to Sudan and another 400 to Ethiopia.
Since mid-2005 the government has been arresting family members when a
conscript fails to report for service. Relatives can buy their release
by forfeiting the equivalent of about US$3,500, a huge penalty in a
country where, according to the World Bank, the annual per capita income
is around $220; there were reports in 2006 that the amount to be
forfeited had doubled.
Prison Conditions, Torture, and Ill-Treatment
Ongoing political and religious persecution and the clampdown connected
to evasion of national service have contributed to thousands of people
being detained. Most of those arrested are held incommunicado
indefinitely without formal charge or trial. Torture has frequently been
reported. Detention facilities are severely overcrowded—because of the
large number of arrests, less prominent prisoners (such as adherents to
unregistered religious groups) are sometimes packed into cargo
containers, located so as to be unbearably hot or cold. Other harsh
detention conditions include starvation rations, lack of sanitation, and
hard labor. Psychological abuse can include indefinite solitary
confinement.
Information on abusive prison conditions emerges despite frequent
warnings to prisoners who are released not to talk about their
imprisonment or treatment.
Freedom of Movement
Eritreans must have exit visas to leave the country. These are rarely
granted to men of military age. In 2006 government officials and members
of sports teams defected when abroad, as others had in previous years.
To discourage defections, the government reportedly began requiring the
posting of bonds equivalent to US$7,000 for participants in sports teams
traveling outside the country.
The government imposed internal travel restrictions in 2006 on all
foreign nationals, requiring permits to travel beyond Asmara.
Key International Actors
An international peacekeeping force, the United Nations Mission in
Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) maintains troops and observers in a
25-kilometer-wide buffer line between the two countries. The force and
the zone are based on the agreement suspending the conflict. In late
2005 the Eritrean government placed severe restrictions on UNMEE’s
patrols and grounded helicopter surveillance flights, despite the UN
Security Council’s strong objections. In 2006 the government
periodically arrested UNMEE local staff, releasing some after a short
period but keeping others jailed. It declared five UNMEE personnel
persona non grata, accusing them of aiding Eritrean nationals to escape
to Ethiopia. Faced with Eritrean belligerency and Ethiopian obstinacy,
the Security Council in 2006 reduced the UNMEE force by about a third,
to 2,300.
Because of Eritrea’s woeful human rights record, it receives little
other than humanitarian assistance. In 2005-06, the government cut the
number of free food aid recipients from 1.3 million to 70,000 to promote
self-reliance through a “food-for-work” program. In August 2006 the
European Commission, which had appropriated €6 million for assistance
through UN agencies, stated that it would protest the selling of food
aid without consultation and might ask Eritrea to repay €2.4 million for
the cost of the food.
The United States withholds non-humanitarian assistance in part because
Eritrea has refused to release or bring to trial US Embassy local
employees arrested in 2001 and 2005. USAID operations ended in 2005 when
the government demanded that the local USAID office close. In 2006 the
United States maintained the partial denial of arms export licenses
first imposed in 2005 because of the government’s religious persecution.
It also imposed travel restrictions on Eritrean diplomats and consular
officials in retaliation for restrictions placed on US officials in
Asmara.
In 2006 the Eritrean government expelled six Italian aid NGOs and
confiscated their equipment and supplies; it also told Mercy Corps,
Concern Worldwide, and the Agency for Co-operation and Research in
Development (ACORD) to leave. Other aid NGOs, including two Italian
ones, have been allowed to continue operations.
China’s president promised economic assistance when President Isayas
traveled to Beijing early in 2006, but no major initiatives have been
announced at this writing.
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