RES/32/24 Situation of human rights in Eritrea

GE.16-12187(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-second session

Agenda item 4

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 1 July 2016

32/24. Situation of human rights in Eritrea

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights, the International Covenants on Human Rights and other relevant international

human rights instruments,

Recalling resolution 91 and decisions 250/2002 and 275/2003 of the African

Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights,

Recalling also its resolution 5/1, on institution-building of the Human Rights

Council, and 5/2, on the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures Mandate Holders of the

Council, both of 18 June 2007, and stressing that the mandate holder shall discharge his or

her duties in accordance with those resolutions and the annexes thereto,

Recalling further its resolutions 20/20 of 6 July 2012, 23/21 of 14 June 2013, 26/24

of 27 June 2014 and 29/18 of 2 July 2015,

Noting that Eritrea is a State party to international and regional human rights

instruments, and urging it to comply with its international obligations therefrom,

Noting also the participation of Eritrea in the second cycle of the universal periodic

review and its acceptance of 92 recommendations, and its programme with the United

Nations Development Programme to implement those recommendations, and calling upon

the Government of Eritrea to take immediate concrete measures to implement those

recommendations,

Welcoming the action taken by the Government of Eritrea to protect and promote the

economic and social rights of its people, including through the early achievement of the

Millennium Development Goals and its commitment to the Sustainable Development

Goals,

Welcoming also the commitment of the Government of Eritrea to the promotion of

gender equality, including through its programmes to end female genital mutilation and its

campaign to end child marriage,

United Nations A/HRC/RES/32/24

General Assembly

Welcoming further the meeting held between the Government of Eritrea and the

members of the technical assessment mission undertaken by the Office of the United

Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including the mission from 1 to 5 February

2016, while concerned at their limited access to the country, and encouraging further such

missions,

Commending the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea for completing

its work in a transparent, impartial and consultative manner while regretting the continued

lack of cooperation by the Government of Eritrea with the commission of inquiry and the

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, including the lack of access

to the country,

Welcoming the work of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea, and

taking note of its report and recommendations,1

Emphasizing that everyone has the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs

of his or her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, and expressing

grave concern that national elections in Eritrea have not been held since 1993 and that the

Constitution of 1997 has never been implemented,

Expressing deep concern at the commission’s findings that there are reasonable

grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in Eritrea since 1991,

Expressing deep concern also at the commission’s findings that Eritrean officials

have committed and continue to commit the crimes of enslavement, imprisonment,

enforced disappearance, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder,

Noting with deep concern the commission’s findings regarding crimes involving

human rights violations, committed by government and ruling party officials, military

commanders and members of the National Security Office,

Noting the commission’s identification of individual suspects and careful

maintenance of relevant information that may assist future accountability efforts,

Noting with grave concern the continued use by the Government of Eritrea of

arbitrary arrest and detention, including incommunicado detention in extremely harsh and

life-threatening conditions, of persons suspected of evasion of national service, attempting

to flee the country or having a family member who has fled, inability to produce identity

documents, exercising the right to freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, being perceived

as critical of the Government, and of those who return to the country, and those detained in

the aftermath of the takeover on 21 January 2013 of the building of the Ministry of

Information,

Noting with regret the use of conscripts as forced labour in a wide range of

economic activities,

Welcoming the release by the Government of Eritrea, following the mediation of the

Government of Qatar, of four Djiboutian prisoners of war on 18 March 2016, while

recalling that 13 other Djiboutian prisoners of war are still detained in Eritrea,

Expressing grave concern at the widespread use of indefinite conscription into

national/military service, a system that constitutes forced labour, and the reported forced

conscription of children under the age of 18 into military service, and regretting that the

fear and experience of a lengthy national service causes large numbers of Eritreans to leave

the country,

1 A/HRC/32/47.

Deeply concerned that the situation of human rights in Eritrea is a primary factor in

the increasing number of Eritreans leaving their country, often facing risks of abduction,

abhorrent physical and mental abuse and other ill-treatment on their migration path,

including abuses by smugglers and human traffickers, while welcoming the participation of

the Government of Eritrea in multilateral forums to discuss trafficking,

Noting with deep concern the commission’s findings regarding persecution on both

religious and ethnic grounds, including its assessment that there are reasonable grounds to

believe that Eritrean officials have intentionally and severely deprived Eritrean Kunama

and Afar persons of the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms and

that, at a minimum, the persecution of members of non-authorized religious denominations

persists,

1. Welcomes with appreciation the work of the commission of inquiry on

human rights in Eritrea,1 stresses the importance of the information it has collected in

support of future accountability, and urges the Government of Eritrea to take immediate

and concrete steps to implement its recommendations;

2. Welcomes the oral update of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of

human rights in Eritrea to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-first session on the issue

of unaccompanied Eritrean children, and recognizes the special protection needs of

unaccompanied children fleeing Eritrea and who are subjected to violations and abuses of

human rights such as, inter alia, trafficking, abduction for ransom, sexual violence and

torture;

3. Condemns in the strongest terms the reported systematic, widespread and

gross human rights violations that have been and are being committed by the Government

of Eritrea in a climate of generalized impunity;

4. Condemns in particular the arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances,

enslavement, torture, killing, sexual violence, discrimination on the basis of religion and

ethnicity and reprisals for the alleged conduct of family members, and the human rights

violations in the context of indefinite national service, including those involving forced

labour, the forced military conscription of children and sexual violence;

5. Expresses its deep concern at the severe restrictions on the rights to freedom

to hold opinions and expression, freedom to seek, receive and impart information, liberty of

movement, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom of peaceful assembly

and association, and at the detention of journalists, human rights defenders, political actors,

religious leaders and practitioners in Eritrea;

6. Reiterates its numerous calls upon the Government of Eritrea, without delay:

(a) To end its use of arbitrary detention of persons in Eritrea, and to end the use

of torture or other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment;

(b) To account for and release all political prisoners, including the members of

the G-15 reform group and journalists;

(c) To account for those detained in the aftermath of the takeover on 21 January

2013 of the building housing the Ministry of Information, and either to release them or to

ensure that they are given a fair and transparent trial without undue delay and with full

respect for minimum fair-trial guarantees;

(d) To ensure free, fair and equal access to an independent and impartial court to

challenge the lawfulness of any detention, and to improve prison conditions, including by

prohibiting the use of underground cells and shipping containers to hold prisoners, ending

the use of secret detention centres and the practice of incommunicado detention, allowing

regular access to prisoners for relatives, legal advocates and independent monitoring

mechanisms, and to permit prompt and regular unhindered access to medical care;

(e) To put an end to the system of indefinite national service by demobilizing

national service conscripts who have completed their mandatory 18 months of service, as

announced by the Government of Eritrea, and by effectively ending the practice of

engaging them in forced labour after such a period, to provide for conscientious objection

to military service, and to end the compulsory practice of all children undertaking the final

year of schooling in a military training camp;

(f) To end the practice of forcing citizens to participate in the militia;

(g) To investigate promptly all allegations of extrajudicial killings, torture and

other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, rape and sexual abuse within

the national service, and to bring perpetrators to justice;

(h) To end, and to confirm the end to, the practice of shooting to wound or kill

citizens attempting to cross the border to flee the country;

(i) To collaborate with human rights and humanitarian organizations and to

allow them to operate in Eritrea without fear or intimidation in order to facilitate the full

implementation of the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework for 2013-2016 signed

by the Government of Eritrea and the United Nations on 28 January 2013, and other human

rights-related projects;

(j) To respect everyone’s right to freedom of expression and to freedom of

thought, conscience and religion or belief, and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly

and of association;

(k) To enhance further the promotion and protection of women’s rights,

including by taking additional measures to combat harmful practices, such as child, early

and forced marriage and female genital mutilation;

(l) To implement the recommendations made during its second universal

periodic review, to report on progress made and to cooperate fully with the Human Rights

Council and the universal periodic review during its third cycle;

(m) To end “guilt-by-association” policies that target family members of those

who evade national service, seek to flee Eritrea or commit any other alleged crimes;

(n) To strengthen cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights in accordance with its international human rights

obligations, and to consider inviting the Office of the High Commissioner to establish a

presence of the Office, with a holistic mandate, in the country;

(o) To allow unhindered access to the country to further missions by the Office

of the High Commissioner, the human rights treaty bodies and all mechanisms of the

Human Rights Council, and to cooperate with all international and regional human rights

mechanisms;

(p) To provide the Office of the High Commissioner with all relevant

information on the identity, safety, well-being and whereabouts of all detained persons and

persons missing in action, including members of the G-15, journalists, those detained in the

aftermath of the takeover on 21 January 2013 of the building of the Ministry of

Information, and the 13 Djiboutian combatants still detained;

(q) To allow the creation of political parties and to guarantee their political

participation, and to hold free, fair and transparent democratic elections at all levels,

(r) To account for the modalities and the progress of the expert group appointed

to work on a constitution for Eritrea, while implementing the Constitution of 1997 in the

meantime, and to govern in accordance with the principles of the rule of law;

7. Encourages States in which witnesses reside to protect those who have

cooperated with the commission of inquiry and the Special Rapporteur, and in particular to

protect them from reprisals;

8. Takes note of the commission’s conclusion that a regional mechanism could

be created to address accountability in Eritrea, given the commission’s assertion that neither

a hybrid tribunal nor a truth commission would be a viable option in the current

circumstances;

9. Urges Eritrea to make available information pertaining to the remaining

Djiboutian combatants missing in action since the clashes of 10 to 12 June 2008 so that

those concerned may ascertain the presence and condition of Djiboutian prisoners of war;

10. Decides to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of

human rights in Eritrea for a period of one year, and requests the mandate holder to follow

up on the implementation of the recommendations of the commission of inquiry in its

report, to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fourth session

and to submit a written report on the situation of human rights in Eritrea to the Council at

its thirty-fifth session, and to address and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General

Assembly at its seventy-first session;

11. Calls upon the Government of Eritrea to cooperate fully with the Special

Rapporteur, to permit the Special Rapporteur and her staff members unrestricted access to

visit the country, to give due consideration to the recommendations contained in the reports

of the Special Rapporteur, and to provide her with the information necessary for the

fulfilment of her mandate, and underlines the importance for all States to lend their support

to the Special Rapporteur for the discharge of her mandate;

12. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to enhance

engagement in improving the situation of human rights in Eritrea, and to present an oral

update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fifth session on progress in the cooperation

between Eritrea and the Office, and on its impact on the situation of human rights in

Eritrea;

13. Urges the international community to strengthen efforts and collaboration to

ensure the protection of those fleeing from Eritrea, in particular unaccompanied children;

14. Encourages business enterprises to carry out appropriate human rights due

diligence in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their

human rights impact, including with respect to allegations of use of conscript labour;

15. Encourages Member States to increase attention and, if feasible, resources to

improve the situation of human rights in Eritrea by strengthening engagement with the

Government of Eritrea;

16. Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with all

information and the resources necessary to fulfil her mandate;

17. Requests the General Assembly to submit the report and the oral updates of

the commission of inquiry to all relevant organs of the United Nations for consideration and

appropriate action;

18. Strongly encourages the African Union to follow up on the report and

recommendations of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea by establishing

an investigation, supported by the international community, with a view to examining and

bringing to justice those responsible for violations and abuses of human rights identified by

the commission of inquiry, including any that may amount to a crime against humanity;

19. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

45th meeting

1 July 2016

[Adopted without a vote.]