Press Release

Israel: Asylum Seekers Blocked at Border and Pushed Back to Egypt

The Israeli military has since June 2012 prevented dozens of asylum seekers, most of them Eritreans, from crossing Israel’s newly constructed fence on its border with Egypt, Human Rights Watch, the Hotline for Migrant Workers, and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel said today. Israel has also unlawfully deported dozens more back to Egypt, the three groups said. Israel should stop rejecting asylum seekers at the fence unless its officials determine in a fair procedure that they do not face threats to their lives or freedom or inhuman and degrading treatment because of that rejection.

Eritrean Refugees and POWs in Djibouti

A lack of compassion from the UNHCR has been observed by HRCE. Leaving detainees who suffer from tuberculosis without medication is beyond imagination and shocking. In some cases, medication was withdrawn before completion of the course (6 months) and, as a result, some have suffered lapses. Leaving TB patients without medication amongst other detainees is like condemning all to be infected, and this is also a serious act of negligence.

Haemorrhoids, ear/nose/throat/chest  and skin infections, heart disease, kidney disease, high  blood pressure, asthma and tonsillitis are just a few of the illnesses that go routinely untreated in the Centre.

(Photo: Elizabeth Chyrum, of Human Rights Concern Eritrea and Mr Hassan Darar Houffaneh, Djibouti’s Minister of the Interior.)

The Free Aster Yohannes Campaign

It is a paradox to see this happens in the 21st century to the very Eritreans who sacrificed every thing to self govern. The video [http://youtu.be/RgKDf7eXxEw]narrates the beautiful, mother, wife & tigress Tegadalit (Freedom Fighter) Aster Yohannes. There are many more high officials & ordinary citizens that are rotting and dying in the notorious Era-Ero prison and other Prison network in Eritrea without any hope of a trial or due process.

10,000 solidarity calls from the family of Dawit Isaac

(Asmara 13-10-2012) Esayas Isaac the brother of Eritrean journalist Dawit Issac made a passionate appeal for the Eritrean public to help him ascertain the welfare and whereabouts of his brother who disappeared after he was taken into custody by security officials.

The calls were coordinated by  a group known as ArbiHarnet or Freedom Friday (جمعة التحرير) , which has made over 43,00 robo calls and one to one calls, to Eritreans inside the country since its inception on 11-11-11 last year.

UK MUST INSIST REFUGEES ARE PROTECTED AS IT ASSISTS EGYPT QUELL SINAI MILITANTS

The UK government must ensure that the ongoing kidnapping, torture and killing of refugees in Sinai is ended once and for all as it supports Egyptian efforts to stabilise the peninsula.

At any given time, hundreds of refugees and asylum-seekers are held for ransom and tortured by local Bedouin tribes in Sinai as they try to reach the border with Israel. When refugees attempt to cross the border, the Egyptian forces use excessive force and shoot-to-kill policies against them.

Letter to Djibouti Government on the Status of Eritrean Refugees and Prisoners of War

As we have done in the past, my organization is ready to assist in any manner. We have transferred refugees from neighboring countries to Ethiopia, whose government has generously set up refugee camps for them. Since the pressure such a large number of refugees bring to the local resources is considerable, we would appreciate it if your Government would consider accepting the request of any Eritrean refugees that may wish to be transferred to Ethiopia with the Government’s permission. In Ethiopia, the Eritrean refugees will be able to find assistance amongst their kin who are already in the camps and as many of the refugees are coming from the highlands of Eritrea, they share cultural and religious ties with the population around the refugee camps set up in Ethiopia.

ICER Action Alert: Yemen to Deport Eritrean Refugees

According Yemeni News Agency, SABA Yemeni and Eritrean officials discussed last Saturday regarding security issue and the  fishermen operating in and around the territorial waters of both countries. It was also learned that the issues of the refugees was high in the agenda, where the Eritrean side insisted that Eritreans illegal residing in Yemen are to be returned home.  We believe that the proposal was accepted by the Yemini officials. The Yemeni Interior Minister Abdul-Qader Qahtan expressed the burdens and difficulties that his government faces as a result of the illegal immigration from the Horn countries and show his readiness to provide mechanism by which the illegal immigrants are expelled to Eritrea. ...

Over 10,000 phone messages of defiance sent to Eritrea

(Asmara 18-09-2012) 11,300 mobile phones, businesses and homes in Eritrea received messages condemning the regime and its heinous acts violating the human rights of countless Eritreans.
The messages that were sent by a diaspora based youth group ArbiHarnet (freedom Friday), were on the occasion of what the Group and many human rights activists call ‘Eritrea’s Black September’.

EMDHR Commemorates 18 September

The Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR) held a comprehensive seminar on 15 September 2011 as part of its commemoration of the 18th September 2001 when Eritrean reformists widely known as G-15 and independent media journalists were kidnapped and disappeared since.

Black Tuesday, ‘justice delayed: justice denied’

Eleven years ago on September 18, 2001, the government of Eritrea decided to shutdown all the once thriving privately owned newspapers in an effort to silence dissent and launched a crackdown on its editorial board members. Within a range of a couple of days more than nine journalists were jailed and never returned back.  Consequently, Eritrea became the only country in Africa without a private media and ranked the worst country in the world to be a journalist by Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Eritrea: Pirate Transmission Silences Sole Independent News Outlet for Three Weeks

Radio Erena (Our Eritrea), a Paris-based radio station that broadcasts to Eritrea, one of the world's most closed countries, and to the Eritrean diaspora, has been the victim of sabotage that prevented it from being carried by the Arabsat radio and TV satellite service for three weeks.

The sabotage took the form of a pirate transmission from within Eritrea that jammed Radio Erena's signal. The station was unable to resume broadcasting until around 6 p.m. yesterday.

Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2009, Radio Erena is the only source of independent news in the local language for Eritreans inside Eritrea and, as such, has been the target of the government's constant hostility. (Watch a presentation video about Radio Erena that was made in March 2010)

Three journalists held since 2001 die in Eiraeiro prison camp

After several weeks of investigating reports from sources in Eritrea and from prison guards who fled the country, Reporters Without Borders has been able to confirm that three more journalists – Dawit Habtemichael, Mattewos Habteab and Wedi Itay – have died in the northeastern prison camp of Eiraeiro. All three had been held since late 2001.

Another journalist arrested in February 2009, whose identity has not been established with certainty, has also reportedly died in detention – in his case, in Adi Abeito military prison near the capital, Asmara.