{"id":28497,"date":"2015-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/eritrea-report-finds-possible-crimes-against-humanity-2615\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:37:01","slug":"eritrea-report-finds-possible-crimes-against-humanity-2615","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/press\/eritrea-report-finds-possible-crimes-against-humanity-2615\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrea report finds possible crimes against humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CSW welcomes the report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) welcomes the report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea, released today, and commends its finding that some of the \u201csystematic, widespread and gross human rights violations\u201d<\/i><\/b> underway in Eritrea \u201cmay constitute crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three-person Commission of Inquiry, established in June 2014, is chaired by Mike Smith (Australia), and includes Mr. Victor Dankwa (Ghana), and Ms. Sheila B. Keetharuth (Mauritius), the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. In its report the Commission identified \u201cspecific patterns of systematic human rights violations\u201d, including \u201cubiquitous\u201d arbitrary detention, pervasive torture, the \u201cprevalent\u201d use of \u201cconscripts and other members of the population\u201d including the elderly, as forced labourers; rape and other forms of sexual violence against female conscripts, particularly those from the Afar tribe; and an arbitrary and \u201cpervasive control system\u201d that keeps the population in \u201ca state of permanent state of anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 500-page report also draws attention to comprehensive and continuing violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief: \u201cadherents were arrested, ill-treated or subjected to torture during their detention; prisoners were coerced to recant their faith; many religious followers disappeared and were killed.\u201d While highlighting that violations \u201cin the areas of extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), national service and forced labour may constitute crimes against humanity\u201d, the Commission also emphasises its current findings \u201cshould not be interpreted as a conclusion that international crimes have not been committed in other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report concludes with comprehensive recommendations to the Eritrean authorities, including \u201cthat the Government immediately acknowledge and halt all of these human rights violations and ensure accountability for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission also found that \u201cthe situation of human rights incites ever increasing number of Eritreans to flee their country\u201d, with an estimated 5,000 leaving each month. Commenting on the unprecedented exodus in a statement to the media Ms Keetharuth emphasised the fact that Eritrean refugees \u201care fleeing a country ruled not by law, but by fear. They deserve international protection.\u201d Consequently, one of the report\u2019s key recommendations urges the international community \u201cto continue to provide protection to all those fleeing Eritrea; to respect the principle of non-refoulement; and to end bilateral and other arrangements that jeopardize the lives of those who seek asylum. To ascribe their decision to flee solely to economic reasons is to ignore the dire human rights situation in Eritrea and the very real suffering of its people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CSW\u2019s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said, \u201cCSW pays tribute to the extraordinarywork of the Commissioners, who have produced a comprehensive, detailed and authoritative documentation of Eritrea\u2019s appalling human rights violations, ensuring that the suffering of Eritreans at the hands of their government can no longer be sidelined or forgotten. It is deeply regrettable that 24 years after a heroic independence struggle, the nation still awaits the dividends of a hard-won freedom, and our fervent hope is that this report will mark the beginning of the end of the suffering of the Eritrean people. We urge all UN member states to support this report and ensure that Eritrea acts on its recommendations and ends impunity by holding all those responsible for perpetrating crimes against humanity to account.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

1. The report is based on 550 confidential interviews conducted with Eritreans in eight countries, and 160 written submissions. The Government of Eritrea ignored all requests for a country visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The Commission will be presenting its report formally to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 23 June.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CSW welcomes the report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42638,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[154,152],"class_list":["post-28497","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-eritrea","regions-sub-saharan-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39083,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28497\/revisions\/39083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28497"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=28497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}