Eritrean regime pressurised by international legal processes more than ever

Today, the 20th November 2014 has seen two landmark developments regarding the dire state of human rights violations in Eritrea.

In the morning hours, the UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry (COI) formally announced the commencement of its investigations on human rights violations in Eritrea. This is a historic development in the fight to end impunity in Eritrea. Depending on the information that should be submitted by Eritrean victims of human rights violations, the COI is expected to publish a thorough report describing the dire state of human rights in Eritrea and adopt concrete recommendations to solve the problem.

In similar developments, in the evening hours of the day, two Canadian law firms, CFM and Siskinds, that represent three Eritrean victims of gross human rights violations have filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of British Colombia, in Vancouver, Canada. The lawsuit is about some gross human rights violations committed against the three victims in Eritrea by the government-owned Segen Construction Company. The violations include slavery and crimes against humanity. The lawsuit alleges that the Canadian corporation Nevsun is complicit in these violations. This comes a landmark development not only as regards accountability measures for grave human rights violations in Eritrea but also in terms of challenging the alleged complicity of the Canadian corporation in human rights violations committed in Eritrea. The lawyers of the victims are established professionals from leading Canadian law firms. Their proven track record means the lawsuit a high probability of success.

On a related development, credible sources from Eritrea have lately informed Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) about a big loss the Eritrean government had sustained in June 2012 in the District Court of Zurich in Switzerland. The loss involves the freezing of 85 million US dollars from an account belonging to the Eritrean government that was kept at the UBS Bank in Zurich, with account number 230-80110-05D (in the name of Commercial Bank of Eritrea).

HRCE sources also disclosed that the money was owed by the Eritrean government to the Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait. After a long legal battle that started in London, the District Court of Zurich finally handed over the money to the Kuwait Company based on a proper court proceeding that was conducted under relevant Swiss law and international law.

What is interesting about this process is that the money in the UBS Bank was taken in a surprise move that has baffled the Eritrean state President, whose legal advisers are not well versed with the lexicon of international law. This development, coupled with the fresh lawsuit initiated in Canada and other important developments that have been taking place at the UN Human Rights Council since July 2012 are exposing the vulnerability of the Eritrean regime more than ever.

While the Eritrean government and its senior officials can remain invincible (just for the time being) in the national territory of Eritrea, their invincibility is crumbling at an alarmingly exponential speed in the terrains of international rule of law. Indeed, it won’t be too long before we see the tyrant Eritrean regime decimating in our own eyes.

Meanwhile, Eritrean activists need to remain vigilant as ever before in their effort to maintain the momentum towards ending impunity in Eritrea and safeguarding a rule of law-abiding post-PFDJ nation.

Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE), London, United Kingdom

20 November 2014