CSW, Church in Chains (Ireland), the Eritrean Orthodox Church in the UK, Human Rights Concern-Eritrea and Release Eritrea held a protest vigil outside the Eritrean Embassy in London on 29 May. 

The protest has taken place every year since 2003 to mark the anniversary of the Eritrean government’s effective outlawing of religious practices not affiliated with the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox Christian denominations or Sunni Islam in May 2002, the ensuing and ongoing crackdown on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), and the widespread arbitrary detention of religious adherents, including those from the four permitted faith traditions.  

Speaking at the protest, Dr Berhane Asmelash, Director of Release Eritrea, detailed the regime’s continuing crackdown on Christians, sharing that over 200 have been arrested since January this year, in many cases leaving their families with no-one to support them. He also highlighted the inhumane treatment of prisoners in the country, saying: ‘Many people have died in prison. [Even] when they are diagnosed with aggressive cancer they don’t get treatment. One pastor from the Mennonite Church had a brain tumour and [the authorities] would not release him. When they knew that he was going to die they released him, but they prevented him from getting treatment and he died two months after his release. Then they stopped his family from burying him so he was kept in the morgue, but after an international campaign finally he was allowed to be buried.’ 

Elsa Chyrum, Director of Human Rights Concern-Eritrea, highlighted the plight of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers who face myriad challenges in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Sudan, including kidnapping, detention, sexual violence, killings and mass deportations in violation of international law. ‘Meanwhile, Europe is closing its doors,’ she added. ‘To be Eritrean and seeking refuge today means being trapped between a brutal regime, war zones, and sealed borders. There is nowhere truly safe for Eritrean refugees.’ 

Selam Kidane of Release Eritrea explained the manner in which the Eritrean government exports its repression, committing extraterritorial crimes to control and extort its diaspora: ‘The regime does not just persecute Christians in Eritrea; it doesn’t just persecute Eritreans in Eritrea. The persecution is in fact transnational. It has crossed borders; it has crossed oceans and we Eritreans are persecuted here [in the UK] … We are unable to visit our families. We are unable to access any services that are rightfully owed to us, so the regime in Eritrea is evil inside the country and it’s exporting its evil outside Eritrea.’ 

During the protest, representatives from four of the organisations attempted to deliver a letter addressed to the Head of Mission at the Embassy of Eritrea in the UK and Ireland, Mr Salih Abdalla, highlighting in particular ‘the six senior church leaders who are beginning their 21st year in incommunicado detention without charge or trial, and a seventh who is marking his 20th year of similar incarceration’, and calling for the unconditional release of every prisoner of conscience. As in previous years, the embassy refused to open the door to receive the letter directly, so it was posted through its letter box. 

CSW’s Director of Advocacy and Team Leader for Africa and the Middle East Dr Khataza Gondwe said: ‘Ten years ago a United Nations (UN) Commission of Inquiry concluded that the severe mistreatment suffered by unrecognised religious and belief communities in Eritrea constitutes a crime against humanity, yet the authorities persist in targeting individuals and institutions of every religion and belief both within and outside the country, including those that, ostensibly, are permitted to function. We continue to call on the international community to establish judicial mechanisms to hold the Eritrean regime to account for its gross violations of human rights. We also urge Members States of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to support the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea during the upcoming session, in order to ensure continued international scrutiny of a government deemed to have been committing atrocity crimes since 1991.’ 

Notes to Editors: 

1. The protest was held online from 2020-2023. 
2. Click here to read the letter from CSW, Church in Chains (Ireland), the Eritrean Orthodox Church in the UK, Human Rights Concern-Eritrea and Release Eritrea. 
3. Additional photos are available on request.