{"id":30976,"date":"2026-05-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/reports\/letter-extend-the-special-rapporteurs-mandate-move-the-accountability-6799\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T21:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T20:44:59","slug":"letter-extend-the-special-rapporteurs-mandate-move-the-accountability-6799","status":"publish","type":"reports","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/reports\/letter-extend-the-special-rapporteurs-mandate-move-the-accountability-6799\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter: Extend the Special Rapporteur’s mandate, move the accountability agenda forward"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland)<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excellencies,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council\u2019s 62nd<\/sup> session (15 June-10 July 2026), we, the undersigned non-governmental organisations, write to urge your dele\u00adgation to support the development and adop\u00ad\u00adtion of a strong resolution that ex\u00adtends the mandate of the Special Rap\u00adpor\u00adteur on the situ\u00ada\u00adtion of hu\u00adman rights in Eritrea.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond spelling out and con\u00addemning the ongoing grave hu\u00adman rights viola\u00adtions committed by Eri\u00adtrean authorities in a context of wide\u00adspread impunity, this year\u2019s resolution, which will be considered ten years after the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in Eritrea presented its final re\u00adport to the Council, should among others request the Special Rapporteur to stock\u00ad-take on options and proces\u00adses avai\u00adlable to ad\u00address past and ongoing viola\u00adtions and ensure accountability and justice.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ ~ ~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Human Rights Council\u2019s 62nd<\/sup> regular session will open in a context of increasing regional tensions, in par\u00adticular between Eritrea and Ethiopia,1<\/sup><\/b> while Eritrea\u2019s human rights situation remains of utmost concern. In addition to the grave violations outlined in previous civil society letters,2<\/sup><\/b> which continue with im\u00adpunity, the country\u2019s domestic situation has se\u00advere and far-reaching effects on the Eritrean dia\u00adspora, who often face extraterritorial attacks (which the Special Rapporteur has identified as acts of \u201ctrans\u00adna\u00adtio\u00adnal rep\u00adres\u00adsion\u201d3<\/sup><\/b>) aimed at maintaining con\u00adtrol, silencing peaceful dissent, and discouraging criticism of the au\u00adtho\u00adrities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year after the adoption of resolution 59\/1,4<\/sup><\/b> which extended the Special Rapporteur\u2019s mandate, Erit\u00adrea\u2019s human rights situation has not fundamentally changed. In late 2025, Eritrea released over a dozen detainees who had been in detention for over 18 years, including in solitary confinement. Yet, thousands of prisoners remain in arbitrary detention. In fact, this year will mark 25 years since the arrest of \u201cG11\u201d reformists\u2014eleven government officials who called for democratic reforms and have been held incom\u00admu\u00adnicado since September 2001. Over 10,000 people are estimated to be in arbitrary detention in Eri\u00adtrea, inc\u00adluding politicians, journalists, priests and students. The recent release of 13 long-term detainees, many of whom were held in conditions amounting to torture, does not address the systemic nature of violations.5<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, the Eritrean authorities have refused to imp\u00adlement decisions, concluding observations and calls by the African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights (ACHPR), including to re\u00adlease detainees.6<\/sup><\/b> Eri\u00ad\u00adt\u00adrean authorities also failed to use the country\u2019s membership in the Human Rights Council (2019-2024) to im\u00adp\u00adrove the domestic human rights situation or to engage in a serious dialogue with the inter\u00adnational com\u00adm\u00adu\u00ad\u00adni\u00adty. As the Council is turning 20, Eritrea remains among the very few States that have never re\u00adcei\u00ad\u00adved any official visit by a special procedure mandate-holder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2016, the COI on Eritrea released its final report, in which it found that it had \u201creasonable grounds to believe\u201d that crimes against humanity have been committed in the country since 1991 and that \u201cEri\u00adtrean officials have com\u00admitted and continue to commit the crimes of enslavement, imprisonment, enforced dis\u00adap\u00ad\u00adpea\u00adrance, tor\u00ad\u00adture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape, and mur\u00adder.\u201d It added that crimes against hu\u00adma\u00adnity have been committed \u201cin a widespread and systematic manner in Eritrean detention facilities, mili\u00adtary training camps and other locations across the country\u201d as part of \u201ca campaign to instil fear in, deter op\u00adposition from and ultimately to control the Eritrean civilian population.\u201d7<\/sup><\/b> No adequate follow-up has been mandated by the Council to date. Despite the COI\u2019s work and reports by successive Special Rap\u00adpor\u00adteurs and the Office of the UN High Com\u00ad\u00admissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on ongoing violations, no Eritrean offi\u00adcial has been held accoun\u00adtable for these crimes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eritrea remains ranked 180th<\/sup> (out of 180 countries) in Reporters Without Borders\u2019 World Press Index and is currently rated as \u201cClosed\u201d in the CIVICUS Civic Space Monitor, with a score of 4\/100<\/span>\u2014the worst in Africa.8<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At the Council\u2019s 59th<\/sup> session, in June 2025, the Eritrean Government did not only oppose the annual reso\u00adlution aiming to extend the Special Rapporteur\u2019s mandate. In an unprecedented move, it tried to capitalise on the UN\u2019s financial crisis and the backdrop of attacks on multilateralism to pre\u00adsen\u00adt its own draft re\u00adsolution aimed at ending international scrutiny of Eritrea. Entitled \u201cDiscontinuation of the Man\u00addate of the Special Rap\u00adporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea,\u201d L.1\/Rev.1, if it had been adopted, could have created a precedent used by other States to discontinue Council mechanisms such as special pro\u00adce\u00addure mandates and inde\u00adpen\u00addent investigations.9<\/sup><\/b> It was roundly defeated by a recorded vote (four votes in favour, 25 against, with 18 ab\u00adst\u00adentions) and, after the rejection of a last-minute oral amendment presented by Sudan, resolution 59\/1 was adopted by a broad margin (23 votes in favour, four against, with 20 abs\u00adtentions). Rewarding the Eritrean Govern\u00adment\u2019s use of these tactics to undermine scrutiny should not be an option as it will only weaken the Council institutionally and abandon victims of human rights vio\u00adla\u00adtions in the country. Rather, the Eritrean Government\u2019s actions and tactics strengthen the case for more sub\u00ad\u00adstantive resolutions on Eritrea, going beyond technical rollovers (mandate extensions).10<\/sup><\/b>They are a clear sign of the positive impact that the Special Rapporteur\u2019s work has had, including documenting vio\u00adlations and keeping a spotlight on the country. Continued scrutiny from the international community is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a context in which Eritrea refuses to meaningfully cooperate with the Council and its mechanisms, and considering that the cause of serious violations in the country is political in nature, rather than merely due to a lack of capacity or resources, the provision of technical assistance and capacity-building would at this time be neither efficient nor adequate to address the country\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, it is critical for the Human Rights Council to produce a substantive assess\u00adment of Eritrea\u2019s hu\u00adman rights situa\u00adtion. In addition to all the violations outlined in pre-2019 resolutions, COI and Special Rap\u00adpor\u00adteur re\u00adports, and successive civil society letters, the upcoming Council resolution should address, among others:<\/p>\n\n\n\n