ERITREA

Repression of Religious Freedom, Torture, Arbitrary Detention

  Eritrea is presently one of the most repressive countries on the African continent with regard to its overall human rights record, and even ranks significantly amongst offending countries worldwide. It is also the third worst abuser of religious liberties on the African continent, after Somalia and Sudan.i

A Deteriorating Human Rights Climate

  Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a lengthy and heroic war and there were high hopes that it would be a beacon of democracy and good governance for a continent that had experienced little of this. However, a costly post-independence war with Ethiopia depleted the country's resources, and the continuing tension caused by Ethiopia's refusal to agree to an internationally demarcated border has made the Eritrean government extremely wary of the possible existence of "an enemy within" and suspicious of even the mildest form of dissent. As a result, the country's commendable Constitution was ratified but never implemented, and an irrational fear on the part of the government of any perceived threat to national unity has meant that nearly all of the extensive rights enshrined within it, and accepted in theory by the government that drafted them, have been totally disregarded.

  Large-scale human rights violations are currently taking place throughout the country. There has been no freedom of speech in Eritrea since September 2001, when the government banned the country's independent media, imprisoning over a dozen journalists who remain in incommunicado detention to this day. As the Paris-based organisation Reporters Without Borders recently stated, Eritrea's situation "is unique in the world; . . . Eritrea has been in an extended news blackout since that night in September 2001".ii It is now the only African country, and one of the few left in the world, that does not have any privately owned newspapers, journals or media outlets. Moreover, in September 2004 Jonah Fisher, a BBC and Reuters correspondent and the last remaining foreign journalist left Eritrea after the government unexpectedly withdrew his accreditation.

  Freedom of expression and the voicing of opposing political views were also effectively ended in September 2001, when the government imprisoned 11 former members of the ruling party who had urged greater democratisation. They too are currently held incommunicado and without charge. After arresting the 11 former members, the Eritrean government went on to incarcerate other public servants it considered to be sympathetic to these men, including a former consul general, journalists working for the government press, businessmen, the solicitor-general and local government administrators as well as members of the families of people previously arrested. Students have also faced government pogroms, and several have fled the country.

  In March 2004, and in the first such move of its kind, the African Commission on Human Rights handed down a landmark ruling calling for the release of the 11 men and stating that by detaining them without trial for so long, the government of Eritrea was "in violation of articles of the African Charter of Human and Peoples' Rights", namely, those providing for the right to express and disseminate one's opinions, the right to liberty, and the right to have ones case heard. However, these are a few high profile cases that have managed to receive a degree of international attention. In reality there are estimated to be several thousand political prisoners alone currently detained in Eritrea. iii

Severe Repression of Religious Freedom

  In addition to the political prisoners, there are possibly up to a thousand of prisoners of conscience and belief currently in Eritrea. iv This includes some of the country's Jehovah's Witnesses, the first religious group to face persecution due to their refusal in 1994 to take part in compulsory military service.

  Today the Eritrean government has turned its attention to members of specified Protestant denominations, despite the fact that they willingly accept military service. In May 2002 the government ordered the closure of every Christian church save those belonging to the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran persuasions. 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. Although the government initially stated that churches could apply for official registration, the few churches able to meet its stringent criteria have yet to receive official sanction. Registration was further inhibited by reports that the government has obliged churches to submit documents detailing the names and addresses of their members and subsequently used this information to trace and arrest them.

  Fearful of the denominational links that some of these churches have with sister churches worldwide, the Eritrean government has demonised all of them, alternating between equating them with Islamists and accusing them of being agents paid by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to destabilise Eritrea. It is now almost impossible for members of these churches to meet and worship, even in their own homes, as the government encourages neighbours to spy on each other and report any gatherings that may be church-related. There are currently at least 400 of these Christians in detention in Eritrea. Most were detained during 2003. Government forces have even raided weddings, New Year celebrations and other social gatherings to arrest those attending. In some instances whole families have been arrested whilst holding family devotional times in their homes. None of the detainees has been formally charged with an offence, neither has any one of them been brought before a court of law. Some have been released after being forced to sign documents stating that they had given up their beliefs and joined the Orthodox Church (for a catalogue of repression and of the Christians arbitrary detained since 2003, please see appendix.)

  Repression is reported to be particularly severe in the armed forces. According to reports received by CSW, prayer meetings are now forbidden and attendance is punishable by imprisonment. Moreover, anyone found in possession of a Bible is liable to face severe punishment. CSW has even received unconfirmed reports indicating that young Christians in the military may have even been shot after being discovered reading the Bible. In one of the most widely reported cases, 57 teenagers were jailed in metal shipping containers in August 2003 after being found with Bibles at their summer military camp. They and others have been kept in these containers in an effort to force them to abandon their faith. The Red Sea climate renders the shipping containers oppressively hot by day and extremely cold by night. Several people have been forced to recant as a result the harsh treatment that they have endured, and all but six of the afore-mentioned students succumbed to these appalling conditions. According to reports, several Jehovah's Witnesses are currently incarcerated in these containers, including an elderly man in his nineties.

Torture

  Incarceration in metal shipping containers is just one of several means of torture employed by the Eritrean regime. Torture appears to be used systematically against anyone deemed to be a critic of the government and, particularly against dissenters in the armed forces. Amnesty International recently exposed several of their methods. Some prisoners are reported to have been tied with ropes for days or weeks in painful positions, such as "the helicopter"(hands and feet tied behind the back, lying face-down on the ground, usually outside for up to several weeks), and the "Jesus Christ" (a position resembling crucifixion). Other forms of torture documented by Amnesty are the "Otto" (Italian for "eight"), where the victim is tied with hands behind the back and left face down on the ground, but without the legs tied and the "Ferro' (Italian for "iron"), where the wrists are bound behind the back with handcuffs while the victim beaten with sticks or whipped with an electric wire on the back and buttocks while lying on the ground face down. There is also the "Torch" or "Number eight", which occurs inside a special torture room. The victim is tied up by wrists behind the back and with the feet bound. A stick is then placed under the knees and supported on a framework on both sides horizontally, and the body is turned upside down with the feet exposed. The soles of the feet are beaten with sticks or whips.v

  It has been reported that prisoners from "forbidden churches" and others have been deliberately exposed to malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It has also been reported that imprisoned Christians held in Assab Military Prison have been placed in 44-gallon drums and rolled in front of other prisoners. Some victims are reported to have become partially paralysed as a result of physical assaults and torture. Several female prisoners are reported to have also suffered sexual abuse.

  Sadly, from being a promising young democracy Eritrea has deteriorated in a matter of years into a country where widespread violations of human rights occur routinely in an atmosphere of impunity. For its part, on 1 May 2003 the Eritrean government issued a blanket denial of the existence of persecution in the country, stating that "no groups or persons are persecuted in Eritrea for their beliefs or religion" and that people were "free to worship according to their wish." It has continued since then to react in an increasingly belligerent manner to all criticisms or supplications made on behalf of those suffering as a result of its policies. When, in September, and for the first time ever, the US State Department designated Eritrea a Country of Particular Concern due to its "particularly severe violations of religious freedom", the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded by saying that it was "only astonishing to see the US, which lacks moral and legal high grounds on human rights and the respect for religions, make an attempt to become the self-appointed adjudicator." The Eritrean statement went on to claim that the US decision did "not come as a surprise to Eritrea as it has been no secret that the CIA and its operatives have been long engaged in fabricating defamatory statements in a bid to embark on other agendas and at the same time conceal its unwarranted intervention."

  In a letter dated 7 October 2004 the Patriarch of Eritrea Orthodox Church, the Mufti of Eritrea, the Bishop of the Eritrea Catholic Church and the President of Evangelical Lutheran Church issued a statement criticizing the International Religious Freedom report. The leaders began by stating that while they believed in religious freedom and condemned any violation of this fundamental right, "the right to religious freedom, like other freedoms, is not absolute. It is limited by the need to respect the rights of other persons." The leaders proceeded to condemn "fundamentalist movements both of Christian and Islamic orientation in the country" adding that the aim of these movements is "to destroy the existing religious institution, which they brand as impure" and to sow discord among families. According to these leaders the proscribed groups are "intolerant of other beliefs and believers". They arrogate to themselves the monopoly of "the only truth" and accuse other beliefs as erroneous and destined to perdition. They cajole their individual coverts to confess and denigrate their past religious practices as member of the established Christian or Islamic faiths as "sinful" that can only be "purified" by joining the particular fundamentalist sect in question." The leaders add that in reality it is these "alien and externally driven sects" that are violating religious freedom in Eritrea. In an indication of the political exigencies behind the document, the leaders conclude by stating that Eritrea ought to be a country "of particular concern" for the lack of basic human rights to food and shelter of those unjustly deported and those displaced from their homes who are still languishing in tent and cardboard camps. However, leaders of the forbidden churches deny all of the charges leveled against them.

Arbitrary detention

  The tiny country has more or less become a maze of prisons. As conventional prisons overflow with political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and belief and alleged draft dodgers, police cells, army camps and other facilities around the country are also being used as make-shift detention centres.

  Since 1998 the government has regularly conducted arbitrary mass round ups of people within the age of enlistment in order to find "draft dodgers." The most recent one occurred on 4 November and ended in tragedy. The government is reported to have indiscriminately rounded up thousands of people under the age of 50 and incarcerated them in the infamous Adi Abeito army camp/prison, situated just outside Asmara, for several hours. Not for the first time, even Eritreans working for the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) were included in the round up. Some eventually became restive due to the overcrowding, poor sanitation and lack of food and warmth. A prison wall either fell or was pushed over by some of the prisoners. As the wall fell it fatally injured five guards. The rest of the guards began firing indiscriminately at the crowd, killing between 20 and 50 people and injuring scores more. According to one report the authorities hastily buried some of the dead while the injured were hospitalised pending re-arrest. The government has attempted to dismiss reports on the incident as "overblown", and has insisted on describing the victims of the round up as "gangsters" and draft dodgers. Nevertheless according to reports, the situation in the country remains extremely tense following this incident.

  In the aftermath of this incident the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning human rights abuses in Eritrea. The Resolution demanded a full investigation into the incident and expressed anxiety regarding the well being of alleged draft dodgers who continue to be held in detention. It also called on Eritrea to abide by the international human rights conventions, and to immediately release the 11 former members of parliament imprisoned without charge since September 2001. However, in a response from Yemane Gebremeskel, President Isaias Afeworki's chief of staff, the Eritrean government characteristically dismissed the resolution as "is extremely inappropriate". Gebremeskel went on to say that only two people had died during the incident and to add that the Resolution would "only reduce the influence of the European Parliament".

  The government moves swiftly to "disappear" anyone that it feels constitutes or may constitute a threat of any kind, even as they arrive at the country's international airport. Aster Yohannes is a case in point. Aster Yohannes is the wife of Petros Solomon, Eritrea's former Minister of Maritime Resources. He was also previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs, an Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) military commander and intelligence chief, and had been a member of the EPLF political bureau since 1977. Mr Solomon was detained in September 2001 at Asmara airport as he returned from studying in the USA. The shock of Mr Solomon's imprisonment severely traumatised their four young children who have since been separated, the boys to be cared for by their paternal grandmother, the girls to be cared for by Aster's mother. Aster, was also studying in America, tried unsuccessfully to reunite her family in the United States. However, President Issayas Afeworki refused the children permission to leave Eritrea. Aster then sought and received assurances from the Eritrean Ambassador to the USA that she would be allowed to return to Eritrea unmolested to care for her children. Instead, she was arrested at Asmara airport on 18 December 2003 and has not been seen or heard of since.

  The government is also automatically suspicious of Eritreans who live abroad and merely return to the country for a visit. For example, Amnesty International reports that in May 2003, Saleh Ali Sheikh, and his wife, Saret Ramadhan, were reportedly detained on arrival from Saudi Arabia at Asmara airport and have since disappeared.

  Today, Eritreans are fleeing a country that they fought valiantly to liberate. According to the US Committee on Refugees World Refugee Survey of 2004, nearly 280,000 Eritreans were refugees by the end of 2003, including some 270,000 in Sudan, nearly 7,000 in Ethiopia, and some 3,000 seeking asylum in various Western countries. In an indication of the atrocious human rights climate currently existing in Eritrea, some refugees are so desperate to leave that they risk crossing the Sahara Desert on foot, travelling via Sudan to Libya. Those who are rejected by host nations are subjected to appalling treatment by the government upon their return. For example, in 2002 over 220 Eritreans, including asylum seekers were forcibly deported from Malta and, upon arrival in Eritrea, were detained in Adi Abeito prison, tortured and subsequently moved to the maximum-security prison in the Red Sea island of Nakhura. Recent escapees from the prison report harsh conditions, including forced labour and confinement in underground cells in the sweltering heat of the desert. The Libyan authorities are reported to have forcibly returned over 110 people on 21 July 2004. If true, it is likely that they too are now in incommunicado detention and are at risk of torture. Small wonder that a recent group of returnees from Libya hijacked the aeroplane that would have taken them back to Eritrea and headed for Sudan, where they applied for protection as refugees, but were instead put on trial.

Human Rights Obligations

  Article 19 of the Eritrean Constitution allows for freedom of conscience, religion, movement, assembly, organisation and expression of opinion. Moreover, in Article 17, the Constitution also stipulates the right to a fair and public trial, the presumption of innocence and the right of appeal. It also states that anyone arrested should be brought before a court of law within 48 hours of their arrest, while the Eritrean Penal Code states once that person should be charged within 28 days or released.

  Eritrea has also acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, all of which contain provisions for, amongst other things, the right to freedom of religion.

Recommendations

  1.  There is an urgent need for high-level advocacy on behalf of Eritrea's many detainees to persuade the government to honour its obligations under international law and ensure:

—  A Return of Religious Freedom: as outlined in Article 18 of the ICCPR. Article 18 also forbids any coercion on the part of the state that would impair this freedom. Eritrea's permanent war footing cannot be used as an excuse to deviate from this right since Article 4 of the Covenant states that even during public emergencies governments should not undertake actions that discriminate on religious grounds.

—  An End to Arbitrary Arrest and Detention: Eritrea has acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights which, in Articles 9 and 6 respectively, outline the Right to Liberty and Security of Person.

—  An End to Indefinite Detention Without Charge: Article 9 of the ICCPR also outlines the right to be brought before a recognised, impartial court without undue delay, as does Article 7 of the African Charter. The government should be persuaded to either bring the detainees to trial before recognised courts of law, which should include the presence of international observers to ensure fairness, or set them free. In some instances children have been arrested. This is contrary to Eritrea's undertakings under the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

—  An End to the Use of Torture: Eritrea has acceded to treaties that prohibit this practice, namely, the ICCPR (Article 7) and the African Charter (Article 5).

  2.   Linked Aid: Aid could be linked to discernable improvements in the country's overall human rights culture, or to an agreement either for the provision of human rights training for members of the state security apparatus or for assistance in improving the capacity of independent local human rights organisations.

  3.   The Border Issue: In order to remove a source of instability that has contributed towards government insecurity and the deterioration of human rights in both Ethiopia and Eritrea, there is a need for key members of the international community to undertake sustained high-level advocacy to ensure that Ethiopia not only acquiesces to the international ruling on the border between the two countries, which the President of Ethiopia has now said he accepts "in principle", but also permits its actual demarcation.

Updated November 2004

  i World Watch List 2004, Open Doors International

  ii "Africa's biggest prison for the press since September 2001", Africa Press release, Reporters Without Borders, 20 September 2004.

  iii Estimates from information on detainees and the "disappeared" obtained by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

  iv Estimates from information obtained by Amnesty International, Compass Direct, CSW, and World Evangelical Alliance.

  v Eritrea: "You have no right to ask—Government resists scrutiny on human rights", Amnesty International, May 2004