Eritrea human rights abuses may be crimes against humanity, says UN

The Eritrean government’s systematic use of extrajudicial killing, torture, rape, indefinite national service and forced labour may amount to crimes against humanity, according to an excoriating UN report.

The 500-page investigation by the UN commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea catalogues a litany of human rights violations by the “totalitarian” regime of President Isaias Afwerki “on a scope and scale seldom witnessed elsewhere”.

It also accuses the government of using a programme of imprisonment, forced disappearance, surveillance and censorship to create a culture of permanent fear and crush all dissent.

The year-long study, which was carried out without the co-operation of the Eritrean government, is based on first-hand testimony gathered through 550 confidential interviews with witnesses in third countries and 160 written submissions.

The report finds gross human rights violations are widespread throughout the state apparatus, and identifies the main perpetrators as Afwerki, his office, the ruling and only party – the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) – the Eritrean defence forces, the national security office, the police, and the ministries of defence, justice and information.

It says that while the struggle for Eritrean independence from Ethiopia has gone down in history as a “major feat of a people’s fight for self-determination”, the fight has long since lapsed into relentless political self-interest and terror.

The report says: “The commission finds that the current situation of human rights in Eritrea is the tragic product of an initial desire to protect and ensure the survival of the young state that very quickly degenerated into the use of totalitarian practices aimed at perpetuating the power of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and its successor, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice.”

The report says that state spying and surveillance are conducted to such a degree in the country that Eritreans live in constant fear of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, disappearance or death. That culture has given rise to a poisonous climate of self-censorship and mistrust that permeates communities and families.

“Information gathered through the pervasive control system is used in absolute arbitrariness to keep the population in a state of permanent anxiety,” it says. “It is not law that rules Eritreans – it is fear.”

One witness told the commission: “When I am in Eritrea, I feel that I cannot even think because I am afraid that people can read my thoughts and I am scared.”

The report also notes the lengths to which the state will go to stop people fleeing.

“Eritreans who attempt to leave the country are seen as traitors,” it says. “For a considerable period of time, the government has implemented a shoot-to-kill policy in border areas to prevent people from fleeing.”

Equally feared is the government’s policy of conscription, which can leave young people trapped in indefinite national service. Some interviewees told the commission they had decided to flee the country after spending 17 years as conscripts.

Conditions in military training camps – which lack adequate food, water, hygiene facilities, accommodation and medical facilities – are further compounded by abuse and ill-treatment of both men and women.

“Sexual violence against women and girls is widespread and indeed notorious in military training camps,” says the report. “Furthermore, the enforced domestic service of women and girls who are also sexually abused in these camps amounts to sexual slavery. The commission considers that these violations of the rights of women and girls also amount to torture.”

It accuses Eritrean officials of using beatings and rapes as a way to inflict severe physical and psychological pain, adding: “The purpose of these acts is to extract confessions and information, and to punish, intimidate and coerce detainees and conscripts.”

In addition to draconian limits on freedom of speech, media, movement and assembly, says the report, only four religious denominations – the Eritrean Orthodox church, the Catholic church, the Lutheran church and Sunni Islam – are tolerated. All other religious communities are restricted or attacked by the government.

Its publication comes as the international community struggles to find a way to deal with the growing number of Eritreans who are fleeing their homeland and crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better life.

Last November, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that the number of Eritreans seeking asylum in Europe had nearly tripled over the first 10 months of the year, rising from 13,000 over the same period in 2013 to nearly 37,000 in 2014.

It found that after Syrians, Eritreans were the most common nationality to arrive on European shores, comprising 22% of all people entering Italy by boat last year. The report expresses little surprise at the exodus.

“Faced with a seemingly hopeless situation they feel powerless to change, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans are fleeing their country,” it says.

“In desperation, they resort to deadly escape routes through deserts and neighbouring war-torn countries and across dangerous seas in search of safety. They risk capture, torture and death at the hands of ruthless human traffickers.”

It adds: “To ascribe their decision to leave solely to economic reasons is to ignore the dire situation of human rights in Eritrea and the very real suffering of its people. Eritreans are fleeing severe human rights violations in their country and are in need of international protection.”

As well as making dozens of recommendations on how Eritrea can address its human rights violations, the report makes a blunt appeal to Afwerki for engagement with the international community and proper political and social reform.

“I sincerely regret that in spite of repeated calls for access and for information related to the human rights situation, your government decided not to engage with us and not to provide any cooperation,” writes Mike Smith, the chair of the commission of inquiry.

“We are still ready to engage with you and your government, should you wish to invite us to visit Eritrea and discuss the outcome of our investigation with you and your collaborators.”

After collecting evidence from more than 700 testimonies, says Smith, the commission has concluded that “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of your government”.

He adds: “The commission also finds that the violations in the areas of extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), national service and forced labour may constitute crimes against humanity. The commission emphasises that its present findings should not be interpreted as a conclusion that international crimes have not occurred in other areas.”

On Sunday, the British prime minister, David Cameron, said more needed to be done to stop people leaving their homelands and crossing the Mediterranean, adding that the UK could use its aid budget to try to stem the flow.

Speaking as he arrived at the G7 summit in Germany and as a British warship picked up at least 500 migrants found in four boats off the coast of Libya, Cameron described Britain as a country with a conscience. “Britain is a country that doesn’t walk on by,” he said.

“But we also need to do more to stop these people leaving their countries in the first place. That’s what we are using our aid budget for, that’s why we will be talking here at the G7 about how we try and put a Libyan government together.

“We need to deal with the causes of this migration, not simply with its consequences,” he said.