Eritrea: UN expert to investigate pervasive rights abuses as part of ‘historic’ inquiry
29 September 2014 – Amid forced conscription, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the human rights situation in Eritrea continues to remain “dire,” a United Nations independent expert warned, adding that a new Commission of Inquiry
29 September 2014 – Amid forced conscription, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, the human rights situation in Eritrea continues to remain “dire,” a United Nations independent expert warned, adding that a new Commission of Inquiry would help “pave the way” to accountability.
“The creation of my Special Rapporteur’s mandate has increased international awareness about the large-scale violations of human rights in Eritrea,” said Sheila B. Keetharuth, adding that “concrete steps are urgently needed to address such violations.”
Her comments followed a five-day mission to Italy, where she visited Eritrean refugees and migrants and collected their first-hand accounts.
The widespread abuses allegedly faced by many in the Horn of Africa nation have prompted hundreds of Eritreans to flee their home country in search of asylum in Europe. According to the latest estimates produced by Italian authorities, 32,000 Eritreans were rescued in 2014 as they attempted to traverse the Mediterranean – the majority of all migrants rescued by Italy’s comprehensive Mare Nostrum operation.
“Eritreans are escaping systematic and widespread human rights violations,” Ms. Keetharuth said in a news release, citing indefinite forced conscription, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and inhumane prison conditions, as well as political repression.
Last Friday, the UN Human Rights Council appointed Mike Smith of Australia and Victor Dankwa of Ghana to join Ms. Keetharuth on a Commission of Inquiry to investigate all reports of human rights abuses in Eritrea in what the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has described as a “historic moment” for the thousands of possible victims.
As part of its mandate, the Commission will investigate “the most egregious human rights violations,” including cases of extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention, torture, and lack of freedom of expression and opinion, assembly, association, religious belief and movement.
The Special Rapporteur urged the Government and people of Eritrea, as well as the international community, to cooperate with the Commission’s inquiry.
“I hope the Commission of Inquiry would pave the way to establish accountability for these violations,” said Ms. Keetharuth, “especially in view of the continued non-cooperation of Eritrea with my mandate and other UN mechanisms.”
Independent experts or special rapportUNeurs are appointed by the Geneva-based Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
Source: UN News Wire
Teklay Andebrhan October 1, 2014
Just a SHOW is going on ! A concrete project has normaly begin, steps/milestones and an end! But the job Ms. Keetharuth is doing seems for me to be ridiculous. The facts are already since the beging on the table and she searches them, Eritrea will be soon empty as well !!!!
gerimuna October 1, 2014
It is too late. Hence must be done swiftlying And concretely. It is indeed historical and monumental of our times.
ahmed saleh October 1, 2014
History taught us that the world we live in is too complicated and too political . And we learned from
our experience that nobody from outside world will solve our problem except to take matters seriously
in our hand by any means necessary . Because at the end of the day Eritreans are those left behind to
feel depressed , despair , frustrated and sad . The same feelings we feel at such subjects in concern
of our people and the country in general . The more we hear lectures the more it get deep to the bone
on driving us frustrated .
WE LEARNED AND SO IT IS TIME TO TRANSLATE THAT LEARNING INTO ACTION
Tamrat Tamrat October 1, 2014
I think the outside world is helping. UN is helping, the west is helping and some others are also helping. And due to this help that more than million eritreans have the chance to live abroad instead of being harrased by pfdj. What makes the help is not significant is how to organize eritreans in and out.
kahesay keflom October 1, 2014
eritrean soliders are fleeing the country in the south to ethiopia and in the west to sudan.this is almost a sighn of state collapse.Eritrean through out the world united!
kahesay keflom October 1, 2014
eritreaqn diplomats assets and wealths are being sold secretly in asmara. neat Gold jewllery is being issued as a medium to export domestic assets.
Kidane f, October 1, 2014
we need to participate actively to expose hgdf atrocity . all must come forward. palktak discussions too should focus on this issue.
ሓውኻ ኣበይ ኣሎ? October 1, 2014
According to the latest estimates produced by Italian authorities, 32,000 Eritreans were rescued in 2014 as they attempted to traverse the Mediterranean …..and God knows how many poor souls were perished in that sea. Ahh how I hate DIA and his mafia system.
ኣርዓዶም October 1, 2014
በሉኪ ሕጂ`ከ እንታይ ንጽበ? ኣይንዓሹ፡ እዚኦም ውላ ሪፖርቲ ግይሮም ኣይገይሮም ውላሓንቲ ዘምጽዎ ለውጢ የብሎምን። እዚ ኦም ቻሪቲ ኢዮም ብሽም ህዝብን ሃገርን ኤርትራ ዝሽቕጡ ዘለው ቻሪቲ እምበር፡ ንሕና ኤርትራውያን ሽግርና ካብ ነቓልሕ ልዕሊ 10 ዓመት ኮይኑ፡ እዚኦም ጎኒ ጎንና ድማ፡ ሓለይቲ ብምምሳል ሓንሳብ ራፖርት ሓንሳብ ህዩማን ራይትስ እንዳበሉ ዝሽቕጡ ዘለው መደናገርቲ እምበር፡ ህግደፍ ብሪፖርት ክለቐሎም ዝኽእል ከምዘይኮነ ኣዳዕዲዖም ይፈልጡ ኢዮም።
ንሕና ነብስና ኣይነዕሹ፡ ዓለም ዓለም እንዳበልና ነብስና ካብ ምዕሻው፡ እቲ ፍታሕ ኣብ ኢድና ከም ዘሎ ኣሚና፡ ብሓድነትናን ብግብራዊ ተበግሶናን ትራይ ኢዩ ጸቓጢ ስርዓት ከልግስ ዝኽእል። ፍጹም ኣይትእመኑ፡ዓለም ዓቒባቶ ወይ ቐጺዓቶ ተበልኹም ፍጹም ኣይከውንን ኢዩ። ኢሳያስን ስርዓቱን ዝ ኣኽሎም ስርናይ ኣለዎም፡ ህዝብን ሃገርን እተተቐጽዐ ድማ ዕጅብ ዝብሎም ኣባላት ከምዘይኮኑ ኩልና ንርዳእ። ስለዚ ሁዩማን ራይትስ፡ወይ ስፐሻል ራቦርቲ እንዳበልካ ምሽቓጥ ይኣክል።
እታ ኣደ ኤርትራውያን እንዳበልና ንምክሓላ ኤልሳ ጭሩም ተኾነት፡ ስርዓት ክትልውጥስ ይትረፍ፡ ነቲ ሓድነት ገርካ ምስራሕ ከማን ፈንፊናቶ ኢሎማ፡ ምኽናያቱ ሓድነት ትሃልዩ፡ እታ ናታ ቻሪቲይ ወይ ዓመታዊን ውልቓውን ህያባት ተዘይሃልየን፡ ንሳ ከምዘየላ ኮይኑ ክስምዓ ይኽእል ይኸውን። ስለዝኾነ ብዘይካ በይንኻ ኮይንካ ዓመታዊ ህያባቶም ምርካብ ካልእ ኣይርኣዮም ኢዩ። እዞም ኩሎም ሓድነት ኣብዮም ፍንጥሪዕ ዝብሉ ዘለው፡ ሕማሞም ከምዚ ዝበልኩኩም ምእንቲ እተን ዘይጠቕማ ውልቓዊ ቕብሊት ክብሉ ኢዮም፡ ንቓልሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ጎተት ዝበልዎን ዘብልዎ ዘለውን። እዚ ኦም ውዳብት ዝብሃሉ ኣብ ኤርትራ ጥራይሲ ሰላምን ሕግን ይሃልወና እምበር ዘይሕተትሉ ምኽንያት ከምዘየለ ክፈልጡ ይግባእ። ንገለ መሳኺን ውፉያት ደቒ ሃገር ገዲፍካ ካኣ ኩሎም ስሱዓትን ሓተላታትን ኢዮም።
ስለዚ ብዓል ስፐሻል ራቦርት፡ ናይ ቻሪትኹም በሊዕኩም እንተ ትድቕሱልና ምሓሸ እምበር፡ ክንገብረልኩም ኢና እንዳበልኩም ህዝብን ሃገርን ኣብ ሃንቐውታ ኣይተእትው። እቶም ብዘይካ መሪሕካ እምበር ተመሪሕካ ክንበር ዝክኣል ዘይመስሎም በላዕቲ ቖጽለመጽሊ (ጫት) ወይ ቱምባኻውያን ድማ፡ ንግሆ ንግሆ ማይ ዝሑል ተተሓጺብኩምን እቲ ቖጽለመጽሊ ምብላዕን ትምባኾ ምስዅን ተገዲፍኩሞ፡ ሽዑ ሰብ ከይመርሐን ብብልሓትን ክነብር ከም ዝኽእል ክርድኣኩም ኢዩ። ሽዑ ካኣ ኢኹም ሽግር ኤርትራውያንን ስግርኩምን ንዝርድኣኩም።
ሓውኹም ኣርዓዶም ሒሎ።
Nesredin October 1, 2014
Before they write their report Eritrea will be a history. Dear Eritreans can’t you see that the country is dying????
hmm October 1, 2014
saleh u are the admin of Assenna?
ahmed saleh October 2, 2014
hmm
I do not understand what you mean but please try to engage on healthy discussions . Nothing personal rather issues
that cause in a country dear to all of us . And if you didn’t show respect to the credibility of this forum and your
fellow participants, do not blame nobody but only yourself if they banned your comments . In life there is a common
law which says ” know your limit” or in Arabic” aerf hududek ” , simple way of self discipline conscience .