UN finds Eritrea responsible for systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations, calls for international protection for those fleeing
The United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea today released the report of its findings which concluded that the Government of Eritrea is responsible for systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations on a scope and scale seldom witnessed elsewhere, and some of the violations may even constitute crimes against humanity.
EIN members can read the brief version of the report here and the full, near 500-page report here.
The report strongly urges continued international protection for Eritrean refugees fleeing human rights violations, and warns against sending them back to danger in a country that punishes anyone who tries to leave without permission.
The UN report will come as a challenge to the policy of a number of European countries towards Eritrean asylum seekers, including the UK.
Eritreans are second only to Syrians among nationalities currently seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya. In 2014, Eritreans were the largest single nationality seeking asylum in the UK, BBC News reported.
Last year, the Danish Immigration Service released a controversial report which found that previous claims that returned Eritreans can face retribution or even possible death if they fled the country to avoid military service were unsubstantiated.
As The Local reported, the Danish report instead said that such Eritreans can merely sign a repentance letter and agree to pay an extra two percent 'Diaspora tax'.
The report followed a fact finding mission undertaken due to a large increase in Eritrean asylum seekers in Denmark.
Two Danish Immigration Service employees, who were critical of the report, resigned in protest. Human Rights Watch said the report seemed more like a political effort to stem migration than an honest assessment of Eritrea's human rights situation.
In April, BBC News reported on new Home Office guidance which signalled a change of UK policy and suggested that only those who have been politically active in their opposition to the Eritrean government are likely to be at risk of harm for leaving Eritrea illegally if they were to return.
According to BBC News, the change came after 87% of Eritreans who applied for asylum in the UK in 2014 were given the right to stay.
The UK-based group Human Rights Concern Eritrea criticised the Home Office guidance, saying it contained gross inaccuracies.
The Local reported last month that Norway's government is seeking to negotiate a deal with Eritrea which would see failed asylum seekers forcibly returned.
Jøran Kallmyr, the Norwegian Secretary of Justice, was quoted as saying: "it is likely that we can send them back before the end of 2015 if we reach a return agreement … We expect that the Eritreans will increasingly comply with human rights."
The newsinenglish.no website reported that Kallmyr travelled to Asmara last week to have talks with representatives of the Eritrean government.
Reuters reported in March that the European Union is to offer development aid to Eritrea to help stem the growing exodus of Eritreans attempting the journey to Europe.
In releasing today's report, Sheila B. Keetharuth, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, said Eritreans deserve international protection.
"This is why one of our key recommendations in the report is aimed at the international community, urging it to continue to provide protection to all those fleeing Eritrea; to respect the principle of non-refoulement; and to end bilateral and other arrangements that jeopardize the lives of those who seek asylum. To ascribe their decision to flee solely to economic reasons is to ignore the dire human rights situation in Eritrea and the very real suffering of its people", she said.
TesfaNews quoted Eritrea's Minister of Information as claiming the UN report was a case of "garbage in, garbage out" as it had been cobbled together from "550 confidential interviews with witnesses abroad and 160 written submissions".
The report relied on the testimony of witnesses in third countries as Eritrea refused to reply to UN requests to permit the Commission of inquiry unrestricted access to visit the country.