For Immediate Release

 

Human Rights Rally to commemorate the struggle of the Eritrean people for justice

and to remember Eritrean victims of human traffickers

 

We are sending this to announce Human Rights Rally scheduled for December 10, 2011 on the occasion of Human Rights Day at the Lafayette Park, Washington, DC – In front of the White House from 9:00AM to 1:00PM.

 

Who We Are

We concerned Eritrean and Eritrean American youth across the US are calling for a demonstration to be held on December 10, 2011 in front of the White House to mark the International Day of Human Rights, to remember Eritrean victims of human traffickers, and to commemorate the struggle of the Eritrean people for human rights and justice. Our members are young people who passed through untold suffering at the hands of the Eritrean Government and endless military and National Service.

 

Our Objectives

Our main objective is to tell the world about the suffering of the tens of thousands of young Eritreans who find themselves in the refugee camps of Sudan and Ethiopia, the prisons of Egypt and Libya, as well as the special circumstance of the very unfortunate few kept in the hands of human traffickers in the Sinai. Furthermore we are protesting to express our indignation at the suffering of our people at home who become victims of arbitrary detention, intimidation and violation of their human rights.

 

Background and Context

The world is shocked by recent dramatic evidence showing Eritrean refugees falling victim to human traffickers in the Sinai/Egypt and by the gruesome organ harvesting. However, the problems begin from inside Eritrea. In a country equated to the North Korea of Africa, every young Eritrean male and female is conscripted indefinitely in  military and National Service with minimum or no pay, and is subjected to exploitation by the higher echelons of the army and those in power.

 

The Eritrean regime has detained thousands of people for many years without due process of law. Its constitution has never entered into force since its ratification in 1997. Also known as East Africa’s “Open Air Prison,” Eritrea has no free press, no Parliament that meets, no freedom of religion and no freedom of movement. Any person found crossing to the Sudan or Ethiopia is shot on sight and at times shot point blank after being apprehended. The Eritrean government is also in the business of extortion, where families are forced to pay 50,000 Nakfa (US $1300) to punish the young conscripts who dare to cross the border. Given the dire situation in their country, the people of Eritrea and in particular the young are left with no option but to take enormous risks and to leave Eritrea. Over the past decade Eritrea has ranked in the top ten refugee-producing countries, and sometimes as high as number two worldwide. The majority of these refugees are in adverse conditions in Ethiopia and Sudan; hundreds have perished in the North African deserts and in the Mediterranean Sea, and some are vulnerable to deportation from Sudanese, Egyptian and Libyan prisons back to Eritrea.

 

Our Demands

The Eritrean and Eritrean American youth in North America:

• Call upon the US government to condemn in the strongest possible terms the dictatorial regime in Eritrea for its gross human rights violations and exert all pressures at its disposal to alleviate the suffering of Eritreans.

 

• Call upon the media to expose the crisis facing Eritrean refugees in camps, prisons, and the custody of traffickers. The general media influence can play a big role in the release of kidnapped Eritreans from Egyptian human traffickers and much can be achieved with greater involvement of major US news outlets.

 

• Call upon all international human rights organizations to investigate reported cases of extra-judicial killings, rape, beatings, torture, disappearance, detentions, political imprisonment, forced labor, starvation and destruction of livelihood of Eritreans by the dictatorial regime in Eritrea.

 

• Call upon the US government and other legal institutions to investigate the financial activities of the Eritrean regime in the US and elsewhere to determine if illegal practices or extortion is occurring.

 

• Call upon all peace-loving people of the United States to show their support for the struggle of the Eritrean people for human rights and justice and to help in spreading the message. These are not just crimes against the people of Eritrea. They are crimes against humanity.

 

Eritrean Youth Organizing Committee for Human Rights Rally

Washington D.C.

December 7, 2011

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smerrrrr-Demonstration-in-Washington-DC/127877390655925