Agenda Item 2: Interactive dialogue on oral update by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you Madame President,

CSW thanks the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Eritrea for her important work.

Despite improved relations with its neighbours, Eritrea’s human rights crisis remains acute. Thousands remain imprisoned in inhumane conditions, and civilians continue to flee daily in their hundreds.

We are deeply concerned by the arrest of at least 21 Eritrean Muslims from Mendefera, Adi-Quala and nearby villages in November 2019. No reason was given for their arrests, and their whereabouts remain unknown.

During 2019 CSW received news of the deaths of two Christian men in Dhalak and Mai Serwa prisons, who left families with four and three children respectively.

We remain concerned by the continuing arrest of Christians. For example, in August 2019 Eritrean security officials detained 80 Christians from Godayef, in Asmara.

The ongoing detention of the legitimate patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, is equally worrying, as are official efforts to defame him.

Patriarch Antonios has been under house arrest since January 2007, after being removed from office in 2006 in violation of canon law. Aged 92, the patriarch is severely diabetic and suffers from high blood pressure worsened by privations.

We continue to call for the patriarch’s immediate, unconditional release and reinstatement. We also urge the immediate release without precondition of all prisoners of conscience, including those detained on account of their religion or belief. 

Eritrean officials and security personnel continue to commit severe human rights violations, some amounting to crimes against humanity.

We therefore call for renewed international efforts towards the creation of judicial mechanisms to hold identified perpetrators accountable.

Thank you.