Eritrea

Written by: Danielle Botti - RMMS Coordinator.

INTRODUCTION

Eritrea acceded to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 14th January 1999 and deposited its instrument of accession on 15th March 1999. Although it is close to two decades late, Amnesty International welcomes Eritrea’s submission of its initial report covering the period 1999-2016 to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). Amnesty International hopes that this submission by Eritrea is the first of many more to come, and encourages the authorities to continue engaging with the ACHPR.

FOOD SECURITY SNAPSHOT

• Poor “kiremti” June-September rains resulted in reduced 2017 cereal harvest
• Major crop production shortfalls occurred in Gash Barka Region, main cereal producing area
• Moisture deficits affect grazing resources in pastoral coastal areas

Reduced 2017 harvest due to poor “kiremti” rains

Eritrea launched the National Health Security Action Plan: 2017- 2021 at Asmara Palace on 27 March 2018. The Honorable Minister of Health, Ms Amina Nurhussien, launched the five year National Action Plan for health security. The function drew dignitaries from government, Honorable Ministers of the Government of State of Eritrea from various sectors, Ambassadors, and UN Agency Representatives.

Cáritas Española destina 209.000 euros a paliar los efectos de una crisis prolongada provocada por la falta de lluvias.

GENEVA (14 March 2018) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation human of rights in Eritrea has deplored the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds people who have challenged the Government’s restrictions at a school, and expressed concerns about continued human rights violations across the country.

AFTERNOON

GENEVA (12 March 2018) - The Human Rights Council this afternoon held an enhanced interactive dialogue on the situation of human rights in Eritrea.

Eritrea is vulnerable to recurrent drought due to its geographic location.

Eritrea remains a one-man dictatorship under President Isaias Afewerki, now in his 26th year in power. It has no legislature, no independent civil society organizations or media outlets, and no independent judiciary. The government restricts religious freedoms, banning all but four groups.

Highlights

• In 2017, UNICEF Eritrea supported the Government of the State of Eritrea (GoSE) to reach 364,616 children aged 6 to 59 months with Vitamin A supplementation, while 41,701 children with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and 15,981 children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were treated.

• The Country Office (CO) supported the provision of supplementary food to 48,470 persons, including 3,908 pregnant women and 3,139 lactating mothers.

• A total of 116,214 children were vaccinated for measles.

Asmara, 11 December 2017 - The time had come for WHO Eritrea Country office functional review exercise to be undertaken, starting from December 11, 2017. The six-day exercise was part of the WHO transformation agenda (2015-2020). The purpose of the functional review is to ensure the Country Office has adequate and appropriate workforce to support Eritrea’s health priorities. Eritrea WHO Country Office is the 15th to be reviewed among the 18 countries scheduled for this year.

Joint EU-African Migration Policy Fundamentally Flawed, New Approach Needed

The joint EU-Africa policy on migration from Eritrea and the Horn of Africa is in urgent need of reform, according to a new report from the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI), The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA), and The Centre for Human Rights Law at SOAS, University of London.

Dearth of Credible Reporting on Government Response Obscures Death Toll

Felix Horne
Senior Researcher, Horn of Africa

In Eritrea, a small country in the Horn of Africa, land rehabilitation combats erosion and desertification, and helps restore agricultural productivity.

The central highlands region of Eritrea, a densely populated agro-ecological zone, is widely considered the “breadbasket” of the country, and is the focus of much of the government’s current and future investments in food security.

GENEVA (27 October 2017) – The people of Eritrea are suffering unending brutal human rights violations, and thousands continue walking for days in a desperate bid to reach the borders with neighbouring countries, the UN General Assembly has heard.

Special Rapporteur Sheila B. Keetharuth listed multiple severe violations of people’s human rights, pleading with the international community to show compassion to those who risked death to cross the border, where shoot-to-kill orders were allegedly carried out by the military.

13 July 2017 – The humanitarian situation in Eritrea – which is quite isolated and off the media radars – is “on a positive trajectory” but international donors need to give malnourishment and food insecurity continued attention, a senior United Nations relief official today said.

Back from a three-day fact finding trip to the east African country, John Ging, Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told journalists in New York that food and security remains a key concern there.

Highlights

• From January to June 2017, UNICEF Eritrea worked closely with the Government and partners to provide children and women with access to nutrition, health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene and child protection services and support, as per UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) appeal.

AFTERNOON

Council Extends Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Eritrea

GENEVA (23 June 2017) - The Human Rights Council this afternoon adopted two resolutions in which it extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea for a period of one year, and in which it urged States to ensure that counter-terrorism measures were not discriminatory. The Council also appointed four Special Procedure mandate holders, and then closed its regular thirty-fifth session.

GENEVA (15 June 2017) – Eritrea must stop delaying action to tackle the severe human rights abuses meted out to its citizens, a United Nations rights expert has warned in a new report to the Human Rights Council.

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, stressed that citizens continue to suffer arbitrary arrest, incommunicadodetention, enforced disappearances, and a national service system that amounts to enslavement.

Human Rights Council

Thirty-fifth session

6-23 June 2017

Agenda item 4

Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth

Summary