Month: December 2017

Eritrea: Professor wins Court appeal on statement about Eritrean youth organisation YPFDJ in radio programme

In 2015, Dutch Professor Mirjam van Reisen (Tilburg University, Leiden University) was interviewed by Dutch radio station BNR nieuwsradio about the news that people with ties to the Eritrean regime were employed as interpreters at the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). In response to her statements in this interview, the (by now former) chair of the YPFDJ in the Netherlands, the youth department of the Eritrean regime in the Netherlands, started a court case (interim injunction proceedings) against Van Reisen. She won the proceedings, upon which an appeal was started. The court has decided this week to dismiss the case and has ruled that the judge of the interim injuction proceedings had correctly dismissed all claims against Van Reisen.  

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News Highlights: EU engagement Eritrea failing, leaked document EU-Ethiopia repatriation, EP resolution Sudan

In this week’s news highlights: EU attempts at engagement with Eritrea “producing little[…] in terms of tangible results”; concern over 700 people that may soon be deported from the United States to Eritrea; Ethiopia and EU may soon sign a deal on repatriation, according to leaked draft document; EU-AU summit ends without agreement on forced returns statement; European Commission sets out key points for combatting human trafficking; EU Parliament adopted a resolution on freedom of expression in Sudan; Amnesty International press release on Libya; and some German pilots refuse to repatriate Afghan people.

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Eritrean organisations concerned over Eritrea repatriation policy developments

A statement published on The America Team for Displaced Eritreans’ web page foresees the ‘imminent’ deportation of 700 Eritrean refugees from the United States to Eritrea and furthermore it warns of the concrete possibility of torture and executions awaiting the refugees once deported. Under US pressure, the Eritrean regime has agreed to issue travel documents that make deportation possible. The first case is currently being processed, and the outcome of this process might have wider implications if other countries take example, including in Europe.

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