HRC46: Oral statement under Agenda Item 2

Item 2:Oral update and interactive dialogue with 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 for his oral update and important work.

Eritrea’s human rights crisis remains acute. We deeply regret the lack of progress towards the five benchmarks identified by the mandate, and the ongoing non-cooperation with the Rapporteur.

CSW shares the Special Rapporteur’s concerns regarding continued violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief, which have been ongoing since May 2002. While welcoming recent releases of close to 100 Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, we note 100s more remain detained arbitrarily on account of their religious beliefs. Moreover, members of four government-sanctioned religious groups also experience repression.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased concerns for the welfare of tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience held in life-threatening, unsanitary conditions, while a lengthy, stringent, pandemic-related lockdown has exacerbated food insecurity.

We urge Eritrea to end the practice of arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention, and indefinite detention without charge or trial, to release all prisoners of conscience without precondition, including the legitimate patriarch of the Orthodox Church, Abune Antonios, and to ease the year-long lockdown.

Finally, the involvement of Eritrean troops in fighting in Tigray, including young conscripts, and credible reports of forced returns of Eritrean refugees, are of grave concern.

We call on Eritrea to withdraw all military personnel immediately, and on this Council to mandate an investigation into alleged atrocity crimes in Tigray as a matter of urgency, establishing judicial mechanisms to hold identified perpetrators to account.

Thank you.