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UN expert to assess human rights situation in Eritrea through neighbouring countries

UN expert to assess human rights situation in Eritrea through neighbouring countries   BANJUL (11 April 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Beedwantee Keetharuth, today regretted that the

UN expert to assess human rights situation in Eritrea through neighbouring countries  

BANJUL (11 April 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, Beedwantee Keetharuth, today regretted that the Eritrean Government continues to deny her access to assess the situation of human rights in the country, and announced she will undertake a mission to neighbouring countries to talk to Eritrean refugees.

“I have urged the Eritrean authorities to cooperate with my mandate, as required by the UN Human Rights Council,” Ms. Keetharuth said during the 53rd session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, The Gambia, where she held an ad-hoc meeting with the delegation of Eritrea in the margins of the event.

“In the meantime, I will engage with all others concerned by human rights in Eritrea, including those who consider themselves to be victims of alleged human rights violations, human rights defenders and other civil society actors,” she explained. The Special Rapporteur will present her first report on the human rights situation in Eritrea to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2013.

Ms. Keetharuth welcomed a call on the Government of Eritrea to fully cooperate with international and regional mechanisms and to implement previous decisions by the African Commission, made by the NGO Forum which preceded the regional meeting. During the NGO Forum, she introduced her mandate and exchange information on the situation of human rights in Eritrea with various stakeholders.

Earlier calls by the African Commission for the release of eleven former Eritrean Government officials detained in 2001, a fair trial for 18 journalists detained without trial since 2001 and the lifting of the ban on free press have remained unanswered by the State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

From human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur heard about the Eritrean Government’s blatant disrespect for the rights and dignity of its people. They highlighted the indefinite national service, forced labour, and arbitrary and incommunicado detention of those held in more than 300 prisons throughout the country in inhumane conditions.

They also stressed the alarming living conditions in a country where most people are struggling to survive on insufficient food rations, lack access to health care and are faced with frequent shortages of electricity, water and the absence of an independent press.

All these factors were presented to the UN independent expert to explain why thousands of Eritreans deciding to leave their home county per months despite the serious risks along the routes to where they hope their human dignity will be respected.

“I reiterate my hope that the Eritrean Government would consider the mandate of the Special Rapporteur as an opportunity to start a fresh and constructive dialogue on human rights issues that have been raised by the international community and other stakeholders,” Ms. Keetharuth said, while stressing that the primary concern of the mandate is to provide an objective, fair and impartial picture of human rights in Eritrea.

The human rights expert also expressed her expectation that the Eritrean Government would view her mandate as an opportunity “to safely and in all trust, address Eritrea’s compliance with its human rights obligations as contained in international treaties to which the country is a party.”

ENDS

Beedwantee Keetharuth was appointed as the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea during the 21st Session of the UN Human Rights Council in September 2012.  She took her functions on 1 November 2012.  As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity.  A lawyer from Mauritius, she has extensive experience in monitoring and documenting human rights violations, advocacy, training and litigation in human rights in Africa.

UN Human Rights, country page – Eritrea: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AfricaRegion/Pages/ERIndex.aspx

For more information and media requests, please contact Birthe Ankenbrand ( +220 721 3240 / +41 22 928 9465 /bankenbrand@ohchr.org) or write to sr-eritrea@ohchr.org

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14 COMMENTS
  • Andebrhan Ekube April 12, 2013

    It is about the end of the dictator to disappear from Eritrea .

    • Aba_chegora April 13, 2013

      I hope you are right. I want to know however why you think the government is about to disappear.

  • Amanuel, Dawit, Mebrahtu, Bereket Birmingham April 12, 2013

    WHY ICC is not dealing with the issue, it is genocide in Eritrea. Thousands and thousands of Eritreans lost direct and indirectly by this cruel government and what the UN is waiting for. Does the UN want to see like the Arab spring in Eritrea? Syrian? why they donot act sooner than later waiting things to be our of control.??????????? Wake up UN, WAKE UP UN. Issais will never sit with you to discuss never and ever, if you think that why then you donot know who you deal with. He has been killing innocent eritreans for the last 50 years. we know him better than anyone.

    • Genet April 15, 2013

      AMANUEL, DAWIT, MEBRAHTU, BEREKET BIRMINGHAM

      HOW MANY ERITREAN DO ALL OF YOU KNOW, WHO ARE SILL SUPPORTING THIS REGIME? HOW ARE YOU HANDLING IT?

      I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE. NO BODY CARES ABOUT ERITREAN PEOPLE BEING KILLED, BUT ERITREAN PEOPLE. WHEN WE HAVE OUR OWN PEOPLE SUPPORTING THE KILLING OF OUR PEOPLE, HOW DO YOU EXPECT OTHER TO CARE AND DO THE RIGHT THING. ONE OF THE MAIN REASON THE DICTATOR AND PFDJ LEADER ARE RUNNING WILD UNCHALLENGED IS THAT DUE TO THE DIASPORA ERITREAN. THEY ARE SELFISHLY OILING THE PFDJ MACHINE. BEFORE WE GET UPSET ABOUT THE ACTIONS OF OTHERS INCLUDING,THE UN, AND ALL THE OTHER HUMAN RIGHT GROUP, WE HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES THAT WHAT ARE WE DOING? OUR UNIT AND OUR STRONG SENSE OF NATIONALIST HAS BEEN FRACTURED. FOR THE PAST 20 YEARS, THE DICTATOR HAS BEEN DIVIDING US IN MANY WAYS. WHY DID HE DO THAT? BECAUSE WE ALLOWED HIM.

      FOR EXAMPLE, MOST OF THE ERITREAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES IN DIASPORA ARE OPERATED BY PFDJ. STILL PEOPLE GO TO THOSE CHURCHES AND GIVE THEIR MONEYS AND SUPPORT PFDJ. IT SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE A COLT FOLLOWERS. HOW DO YOU SUPPORT A SYSTEM WHICH SEAMLESSLY PUT THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH IN PRISON FOR NO GOOD REASON? HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU KNOW WHO STILL GO TO THE ERITREAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES KNOWING THAT THE PFDJ IS DESTROYING THE ERITREAN CHURCHES? AS AN ORTHODOX, HOW CAN ANY ONE SUPPORT THIS REGIME KNOWING THE DICTATOR IS KILLING OUR PEOPLE. WE ERITREAN ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING CHANGES FOR OUR PEOPLE AND OUR COUNTY’S FUTURE. IF WE DON’T CHANGE OUR WAY OF DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE NOW, WE WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. IF WE, THE DIASPORA ERITREAN DON’T COME TO OUR SENSES AND STOP SUPPORTING THE DICTATOR AND THE PFDJ SYSTEM, WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. SILENT IS EQUAL TO SUPPORTING THE DICTATOR AND PFDJ SYSTEM. THERE FORE, IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF THE ERITREAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND YOUR CHURCH IS CONTROLLED BY PFDJ OPERATIVES, DON’T ATTEND. PRAY FOR YOUR PEOPLE IN ERITREA AND YOUR COUNTRY AT HOME.
      Genet

      • Senayit April 19, 2013

        ብዕራይ ናብ ዘበለ የብል ዕርፊ ኣጽንዕ ኢዩ’ሞ: ኣጆኹም ደቀይን ደቂ-ደቀይን ጀጋኑ መንእሰያትና።
ኩላትና ብሓበራ ኢደይ-ኢድካ ኢልና ነዚ መንነትና ዘዋረደን ንኤርትራ ዘብርስ ዘሎን ኣረሜን፣ ናብቲ ቀዳሞት ኣያታቱ በዓል ሳዳምን ቃዛፊን ዝኣተዉዋ ናይ ዘለኣለም መዓልብኡ ጋህሲ ንደርብዮ። ኣብ ታሪኽ ከም ዝረኣናዮን ዝሰማዕናዮን ውልቀ-ምልካውያን መራሕቲ ብዘይካ ብክፉእ ብጽቡቕ ኣማውታ እግዚኣብሄር ክሞቱ ኣይተራእዩን። ሞት ገበነኛ ኢሰያስ እውን ከም ኣማውታ ኣያታቱ ነዊሕ ዝጸንሕ ኣይኮነን። እዚ ዓመት’ዚ ጸላኢና ዓንዩ ህዝብና ነናብ ገዝኡ ዝኣትወሉ ዓመት ከም ዝኸውን ሙሉእ ዘይጉዱል እምነት ኣሎኒ።
        ዘለኣለማዊ ዝኽሪ ንስዉኣትና
        ዕድመን ጥዕናን ንደቂ ኤርትራ
        ዓወትንህዝቢኤርትራ።

      • Senayit April 19, 2013

        ብዕራይ ናብ ዘበለ የብል ዕርፊ ኣጽንዕ ኢዩ’ሞ: ኣጆኹም ደቀይን ደቂ-ደቀይን ጀጋኑ መንእሰያትና።
ኩላትና ብሓበራ ኢደይ-ኢድካ ኢልና ነዚ መንነትና ዘዋረደን ንኤርትራ ዘብርስ ዘሎን ኣረሜን፣ ናብቲ ቀዳሞት ኣያታቱ በዓል ሳዳምን ቃዛፊን ዝኣተዉዋ ናይ ዘለኣለም መዓልብኡ ጋህሲ ንደርብዮ። ኣብ ታሪኽ ከም ዝረኣናዮን ዝሰማዕናዮን ውልቀ-ምልካውያን መራሕቲ ብዘይካ ብክፉእ ብጽቡቕ ኣማውታ እግዚኣብሄር ክሞቱ ኣይተራእዩን። ሞት ገበነኛ ኢሰያስ እውን ከም ኣማውታ ኣያታቱ ነዊሕ ዝጸንሕ ኣይኮነን። እዚ ዓመት’ዚ ጸላኢና ዓንዩ ህዝብና ነናብ ገዝኡ ዝኣትወሉ ዓመት ከም ዝኸውን ሙሉእ ዘይጉዱል እምነት ኣሎኒ።
        ዘለኣለማዊ ዝኽሪ ንስዉኣትና
        ዕድመን ጥዕናን ንደቂ ኤርትራ
        ዓወትንህዝቢኤርትራ።

  • OROMAI no hope ERITREA April 12, 2013

    Respected Amanuel ,Dawit, Mebrahtu &Bereket ,

    Papa Isaias is doing what he is sent to do,to shatter the false Eritrean dream….and for the last 50 years he has been doing it with our cooperation.His sanction was kind of a drama..He has done a good job of alignating Eritrea..with our airhead mentality´s help.Nobody cares about Eritrean lives when there is gold….specially other Eritreans never cared about Eritrean people. It was hatred gone wild. People wasted their lives for nothing ,nada..and by design only worse is to come..not my wish of course ..but I can predict the obvious.Eritrea have had aids for long..even if it cures it´s tuberclosis (PFDJ)..the AIDS will still mestasize all over .Sad but true.

    • Genet April 15, 2013

      OROMAI no hope ERITREA

      WHAT ARE YOU BUBBLING ABOUT? WHAT KIND OF NAME IS “OROMAI NO HOPE FOR ERITREA” IS THAT YOUR DAILY PRAYERS? WHAT DO YOU MEAN “FALSE ERITREAN DREAM”? WHAT PROVE DO YOU HAVE THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT AIDS IN ERITREA? DO YOU THINK ERITREA HAS MORE AIDS PROBLEM THAN ANY COUNTRY IN AFRICA INCLUDING ETHIOPIA?
      Genet

  • ኤፍሬም April 12, 2013

    ህግደፋዉን ንቶም ብፆቶም ዝነበሩ ብG13 ዝፅወኡ ሐርበኛታት
    ኤርትራዉን አበይ ከምዘእተዉዎም ዝዛረብሉ እዋን በፂሁ አሎ ፈቲዬም ከይኮነስ ከይፈተዉ እሞ አንቱም ደገፍቲ ህግደፍ ሰብ እንደጠፈዐ ዋለ ሀንቲ ዘይትብሉ ልቢ ግበሩ ዳህራይ ታሪኽ ከያሃተኩም

  • A Iyasu April 12, 2013

    All the President’s Torturers….ready how Brazil is trying to reconcile with its past history, especially with regard to the savage political repression that was such a dominant theme of the 1970s.

    http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2013/04/201341014723459696.html

  • Ali-lol April 12, 2013

    do nor expect good thing from UN.

  • kibrom April 14, 2013

    May be that why today
    Dia move 80 prisoners to ala might show to un his someting fake drama …

  • Genet April 15, 2013

    WE HAVE MORE THAN 300 PRISONS. AND THERE ARE ERITREAN PEOPLE WHO STILL SUPPORT THIS DICTATOR AND PFDJ SYSTEM? WHAT IS THAT GOING TO TAKE FOR THEM TO WAKE UP AND CONDEMN THIS DICTATOR? WHAT?? A BRICK ON THEIR HEAD??
    Genet

  • Kokob Abraham April 17, 2013

    Dem nutsuhat settyu zeytsegib chekan siraaat usiraat bebihade haridu wediuuwom . Jeganuna bebihade reshinu wediuuwom . Bdergi skeihns Nerna emo naiezis Gedidu. Dergi zihishelu koinu . Kemzi ziamesele chekan seitan ayteraeyen.