I enclose our memorandum on human rights abuses in Eritrea. Its very title: ERITREA: Repression of Religious Freedom, Torture, Arbitrary Detention, helps to show the scale of the problem.

  The human rights situation in Eritrea has deteriorated sharply over the last few years. In the words of the memorandum, Eritrea has slipped within a few years from being "a promising young democracy" to being "a country where widespread violations of human rights occur routinely".

  The memorandum notes that "There has been no freedom of speech in Eritrea since September 2001 . . . It is now the only African country, and one of the very few left in the world, that does not have any privately owned newspapers, journals or media outlets."

  MPs, diplomats, journalists, businessmen, administrators and students have been among those arrested. Most have been held incommunicado and without charge. Many have not been heard from since.

  Religious liberty has also been sharply eroded over the last two-and-a-half years in Eritrea. In May 2002 the Eritrean Government issued a decree ordering the closure of every Christian church in the country except those belonging to three denominations.

  As the memorandum notes, "This effectively rendered the country's Evangelical, Pentecostal, Anglican, Adventist and other churches illegal, and heralded the beginning of severe and increasing persecution, particularly of Pentecostal and Evangelical denominations."

  Repression of religious liberty is particularly pronounced in the armed forces; many Christians have been imprisoned in metal shipping containers after being found in possession of Bibles. Other Christians have been left partially paralysed after beatings and torture.

  The memorandum gives details of many similar abuses. In light of such widespread abuses, we find it of very great concern that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights Annual Report 2004 does not give a single mention of the human rights situation within Eritrea. Instead, the few mentions of Eritrea in the FCO report are confined to discussing the peace process between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

  We hope that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee will draw attention to and help rectify this extraordinary FCO omission.

Dr Alan Hobson

Parliamentary Officer

Christian Solidarity Worldwide

8 December 2004