{"id":28714,"date":"2016-10-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-19T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/eritrea-coi-to-report-back-to-general-assembly-3310\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:42:10","slug":"eritrea-coi-to-report-back-to-general-assembly-3310","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/eritrea-coi-to-report-back-to-general-assembly-3310\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrea COI to report back to General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On 14 October, the Third Committee of the General Assembly approved a decision to invite the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea Sheila B. Keetharuth, to present an oral update on the findings of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (COIE) during the seventy-first session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission had been omitted from the provisional agenda<\/a> of UN human rights experts and bodies due to present oral updates on 27 October, ostensibly because the its mandate ended after its second report was adopted by the Human Rights Council (HRC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 5 October 2016, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) called for<\/a> the COIE to be allowed to update the General Assembly and highlighted the spurious grounds<\/a> on which it was being excluded from the agenda. In a letter to UN officials the organisations underscored the importance to Eritreans of allowing the Commission to report to the General Assembly, stating that the COIE report had raised hope amongst victims of Eritrea\u2019s repressive regime that their plight was finally being recognised and addressed \u201cat the highest international level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its second report on 8 June 2016, the COIE 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 since 1991, and continue to occur, in Eritrea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As controversy surrounding the omission of the COIE grew, the Chair of the Third Committee submitted the matter to the legal affairs department of the UN to decide whether or not the COIE could present its update. The new decision, which was approved without a vote, allows the Special Rapporteur, who was a member of the Commission, to make a presentation on behalf of the COIE before presenting her own report, with additional time allocated if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the decision, the Eritrean representative said that his government had accepted the proposal in the interests of moving forward, but lamented the alleged politicisation of human rights, claiming that human rights could only be promoted through dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsa Chyrum, Director of HRCE, said, \u201cWe welcome the decision by the UN Third Committee to allow the Special Rapporteur to present the oral update on behalf of the COIE. We also hope the General Assembly will submit the report and the oral updates of the COIE without delay to the Security Council for its consideration and appropriate action, to hold those responsible for committing crimes against humanity in Eritrea to account.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, \u201cWe commend the Third Committee for this decision, which ensures the voices of victims can be heard at the highest International level and brings justice one step closer. However, to ensure accountability for the severe human rights violations underway in Eritrea, the oral update must be followed by a General Assembly resolution mandating further action by the Security Council.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 14 October, the Third Committee of the General Assembly approved a decision to invite the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea Sheila B. Keetharuth,<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42855,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[154,152],"class_list":["post-28714","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\/28714","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\/28714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39300,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28714\/revisions\/39300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28714"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=28714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}