{"id":28709,"date":"2016-10-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/eritrea-inquiry-should-address-un-3282\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:41:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:41:58","slug":"eritrea-inquiry-should-address-un-3282","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/eritrea-inquiry-should-address-un-3282\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrea Inquiry should address UN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is growing concern that the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (COIE) may not be able to present the findings of its final report at the United Nations General Assembly\u2019s (UNGA\u2019s) seventy-first session in New York.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COIE has been omitted from a provisional agenda of UN human rights experts and officials scheduled to give oral updates to the General Assembly\u2019s Third Committee on 27 October. Confidential sources allege that the Commission\u2019s inclusion is being primarily obstructed by a New York-based North African diplomat, ostensibly on the basis that the COIE\u2019s mandate ended once its second report was submitted. The Chair of the Third Committee has submitted the matter to the legal affairs department of the UN, which will decide whether or not the COIE can present its Oral Update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a report issued on 8 June 2016, the three-person Commission concluded there were \u201creasonable grounds to believe\u201d that crimes against humanity, \u201cnamely enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder\u201d have been committed in a \u201cwidespread and systematic manner\u201d in Eritrea since 1991, and continue to occur. Over 833 individuals in over 13 countries provided statements and information during its compilation. On 23 June, members of the Eritrean diaspora held a 12,000-strong rally in Geneva in support of the report\u2019s findings and to encourage its adoption by the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). The diaspora is planning a similar demonstration outside the UN building in New York on 27 October, the day originally slated for the COIE\u2019s oral update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a September 2016 letter to UN officials, CSW and Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) stressed the importance of the COIE report, which \u201cshines a light on severe violations that have continued in relative impunity because perpetrators felt they would never be exposed,\u201d and has raised hope amongst victims that their plight was finally being recognised and addressed \u201cat the highest international level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COIE\u2019s omission from the schedule is puzzling given that the 2015 budget covering its activities made provision for a five-day assignment for \u201cthree Commissioners and the Coordinator to New York in October 2016\u201d for the purposes of \u201can oral update to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the June 2016 UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution<\/a> adopting the findings of the COIE\u2019s report not only requested that the report and oral updates were submitted to all relevant UN bodies \u201cfor consideration and appropriate action,\u201d but also directed the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea to follow up on implementation of its recommendations and \u201caddress and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly at its seventy-first session.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsa Chyrum Director of HRCE said: \u201cWe call on the General Assembly\u2019s Third Committee to allow the COIE to give an oral update during its seventy first sessions. Not only will its exclusion be a betrayal of trust and deprive Eritreans of hope; it will also encourage a repressive regime that has brutalised its own people for 25 years. The international community must begin prioritising the lives of Eritrean citizens by bringing human rights violators to account. Ensuring that the COIE presents its report is a vital first step in this process.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, \u201cThe COIE\u2019s exclusion from the Third Committee\u2019s agenda is hard to comprehend. Eritrea has the dubious distinction of being one of only two nations whose leadership has been deemed by an HRC Commission of Inquiry to be guilty of crimes against humanity. However, while the General Assembly adopted a resolution endorsing the Commission of Inquiry on North Korea\u2019s conclusions and calling for action by the Security Council to ensure accountability, consideration of the COIE\u2019s report is being obstructed on highly questionable grounds. If this exclusion is allowed to stand, it will send a deeply unfortunate message regarding the international community\u2019s willingness to address crimes against humanity, leaving the impression that Eritrean citizens are of lesser importance, and effectively encouraging the continuation impunity. We therefore urge the Third Committee to include the COIE in its agenda, in the interests of justice and equity and in line with the international responsibility to protect.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes to Editors:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. \u201cThe special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective.\u201d https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/HRBodies\/SP\/Pages\/Welcomepage.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/span>The omission of the COIE comes as the Eritreans commemorate two harrowing events. 19 September marked 15 years since a group of 35 individuals, consisting of senior government officials and Eritrea\u2019s independent journalists were subjected to enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention. On 3 October, Eritreans also remembered the 2013 Lampedusa tragedy, in which almost 400 refugees and asylum seekers drowned in the Mediterranean Sea. Most were Eritreans.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is growing concern that the Commission of Inquiry for Human Rights in Eritrea (COIE) may not be able to present the findings of its final report at the United Nations General Assembly<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42850,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[154,152],"class_list":["post-28709","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-eritrea","regions-sub-saharan-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39295,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28709\/revisions\/39295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28709"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=28709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}