Letter to His Excellency Estifanos Habtemariam Ghebreyesus

His Excellency Estifanos Habtemariam Ghebreyesus

Embassy of Eritrea in United Kingdom & Ireland

96 White Lion Street

London N1 9PF

19 May 2022

Dear Ambassador Ghebreyesus

As Eritrea approaches its 31^st independence anniversary, we extend our warmest regards to the people of Eritrea.

We are saddened, however, by the realisation that so many citizens are yet enjoy the full dividends of independence for which so much was sacrificed by so many.

May also marks the 20^th year since most of the nation’s Christian denominations were proscribed. We remain concerned at the continuing unjust, arbitrary, and indefinite detention of tens of thousands of Eritrean citizens in harsh conditions, including hundreds of Christians imprisoned solely on account of their faith.

In addition, we are dismayed by reports of Eritrean lives being lost in the war in neighbouring Ethiopia, including those of conscripts and minors. It is also deeply regrettable that an army previously associated with a heroic liberation struggle is now implicated in the gravest of international crimes, both domestically and in Ethiopia’s Tigray and Oromia regions.

We urge you, therefore, to use your good offices to encourage your government to release every prisoner of conscience unconditionally, to withdraw Eritrean forces from Ethiopia, and to use Eritrea’s current term on the UN Human Rights Council to cooperate with its special procedures to address the nation’s human rights crisis.

Yours sincerely,

• Church in Chains (Ireland)
• CSW
• The Eritrean Orthodox Church in the UK
• Human Rights Concern-Eritrea
• Release Eritrea