Eritrea - Country of Concern: latest update, 30 September 2014

Eritrea took some steps to improve its engagement with the international community on human rights during the period July to September 2014. Most notably, it ratified the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. However, it continues to fall short of its international commitments on human rights in important areas.

On 4 September, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and other responsible officials spoke to representatives of the international community, including all Ambassadors and Heads of international organisations in Asmara, on the government of Eritrea's determination to address international concerns. They said that the government of Eritrea had established a cross-government committee to follow up the recommendations of Eritrea's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in February 2014, which would consider the implementation of all the recommendations, including those which the government of Eritrea had not accepted at the time. They said that the committee would meet regularly, and that the government would arrange periodic meetings with representatives of the international community to inform them of progress. They also said the government of Eritrea would take steps to ensure that consideration of human rights was mainstreamed into the work of ministries that dealt with the international community.

The UK Ambassador and EU representative welcomed these commitments, and urged the Ministry to continue to engage with international representatives on human rights and take concrete steps to improve its record.

On 25 September, Eritrea ratified the UN Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The EU Delegation and EU Ambassadors in Asmara welcomed this commitment in a statement issued locally on 3 October.

The UNHRC announced on 27 September that it had appointed the three members of the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea, which had been established by the Council on 27 June 2014. They are: Mike Smith (Chair), formerly Executive Director of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate; Victor Dankwa, currently serving as a professor at the University of Ghana and chair of the Constitutional Review Implementation Committee of Ghana; and Sheila B. Keetharuth, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, appointed by the UNHRC in 2012.

The UK and EU continued to use all opportunities to engage with the Eritrean government on human rights, both locally and in multilateral organisations. On 26 September, Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Special Representative on Human Rights, met Yemane Gebreab, Political Adviser to the President of Eritrea, in New York in the margins of the UN General Assembly. Special Representative Lambrinidis urged Eritrea to work constructively with the Commission of Inquiry.

There was less evidence in this period of practical improvement in human rights observance by the government of Eritrea at home, where significant concerns remain on areas such as arbitrary and inhumane detention, religious freedom, freedom of expression and assembly, freedom of movement, and progress in the implementation of a constitution which would provide for fully participative politics. Eritrea has not yet permitted the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea to visit the country.