Open Letter to Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary-General of the United Nations

28 October 2014

Mr. Ban Ki-moon                      
Secretary-General of the United Nations
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C.C:
Mr. Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs,  
Mr. Zerihoun Taye-Brook, Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs,
Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights

Dear Mr Ban Ki-moon,

We are writing to urge you to provide all possible assistance to the UN Commission of Inquiry into the human rights situation in Eritrea.

The Commission of Inquiry was created by the Human Rights Council in June 2014, through a consensus decision in which the Council condemned the "continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms committed by the Eritrean authorities, including cases of arbitrary and extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, the use of torture, arbitrary and incommunicado detention without recourse to justice, and detention in inhumane and degrading conditions".

Since the creation of the COI mechanism in June, the government of Eritrea has continued its policies of systematic human rights violations against its own people with total impunity, and has also continued its policy of non-cooperation with the UN’s human rights mechanisms, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea.

Documentation has been compiled by NGOs over many years attesting to the horrendous human rights situation in Eritrea. We believe that there are indications of crimes against humanity being committed in the country, providing further importance in the Commission of Inquiry’s being adequately assisted and resourced in its work by all stakeholders, particularly by the United Nations.

We believe that the Commission of Inquiry will significantly increase the international exposure and understanding of the situation in Eritrea, giving a voice to the vast numbers of suffering Eritreans, and ensuring that those complicit in these terrible yet hidden crimes are exposed and called to account.

In Eritrea:

• There is no independent judicial process, unions cannot be formed, and political parties cannot be created.

• There is no press freedom and all independent media organizations were closed in 2001 and journalists imprisoned.

• Thousands of Eritreans are detained arbitrarily in inhumane conditions and on the flimsiest of pretexts, suffering routine deprivation, torture and extrajudicial execution.

• There are no universities and young people face compulsory conscription into the military.

• Army conscripts, including the under-aged, endure indefinite terms of service and suffer forced labour in development projects, farms, or the mining sector while receiving a negligible wage.

• Female conscripts endure sexual abuse and harassment from senior army officers, and family members of national service absconders are targeted, extorted or imprisoned.

• There is no religious freedom.

• There are an estimated two to three thousand Christians detained indefinitely in Eritrea without charge or trial, and all are held pending a denial of faith.

• In addition, Eritreans living abroad are obliged to pay 2% tax (extortion) on all earnings to the authorities.

Thousands of Eritreans continue to flee the country each month, with unknown numbers falling victim to traffickers or suffering privations in detention centers in the Middle East and North Africa.  Hundreds more continue to risk their lives crossing deserts and seas in pursuit of sanctuary from an all-encompassing repression.

The need for a special rapporteur is a given forward move in UN’s genuine effort to judiciously address this massive human rights abuse by the Eritrean government. The effort by the Eritrean government to wage a charter assignation campaign and defame the integrity of the duly appointed expert is nothing but a last ditch effort to deflect the focus from the failure of the government to fully cooperate with the commission. The Eritrean government cannot have it both ways: deny access to the commission to visit Eritrea and challenge the legal process by bringing tangential issues that have no relevance with the mandate of the special commission.

The platform and the protocol to deal with Border issue and the UN Security Council’s sanctions are different. The deliberate attempt to mix apples and pears in the middle of an extraordinarily serious deliberation is intentional. The loud but meaningless chatter cannot be used as a tactic to derail the noble and legal work of the Special Rapporteur and the Commission. 

The number of refugees abandoning their homeland has increased by 50% due to the massive accelerated repression and abuse by the Eritrean government. Accusing external states and the appointed special commissioner Ms.Sheila Keetharuth and her team with anti-Eritrean sentiment for the ills caused by the Eritrean leadership is nothing but all smoke and mirror game. This is the Eritrean government’s way of avoiding responsibility, transparency and accountability. The effort to deflect accountability is at the center of this theatrics. 

We appeal to the UN to stay the course and stand on the side of the Eritrean people and reinforce the mandate of the special commission and fully empower it to continue in its mission of collect facts and true stories of the plight of the Eritrean refugees and the abuse they have faced in the hands of the their government. 

The data already collected demonstrate the gravity of the human right abuse perpetrated by the Eritrean government. The last minute orchestrated campaign to derail the true narrative and abort the commission’s work must be challenged and exposed for what it is. The Eritrean government is running a closed country where UN appointed investigators are not allowed to directly deal with the Eritrean people. 

We feel the commission will execute its duty as prescribed by the rule book. To accuse of the commission of resorting to “selective persecution” is a desperate attempt to hide behind irresponsible posturing. Those who suffocate truth cannot hide behind the curtain of repression and stop the world organization form bringing the truth to the foreground.  The very source of the suffering and abuse cannot and must not be allowed to manipulate and dictate the agenda.   

In light of this situation, we strongly urge you to do your utmost to actively support the work of the COI, and ensure that it can conduct its work in a transparent and timely fashion.

Yours respectfully

Elizabeth Chyrum
Director
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea - HRCE
London, United Kingdom
www.hrc-eritrea.org

Seyoum Tesfaye
Executive Director
Eritrean Global Solidarity – EGS
USA
eritereanglobalsolidarity.org