Geneva – at the 35th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea held an interactive dialogue on the most recent report about the human rights situation in Eritrea. The Special Rapporteur, Sheila Keetharuth, confirmed that human rights abuses constituting crimes against humanity continue to be committed and that the Eritrean regime shows no signs of cooperation or improvement. Eritrea will still not allow access or cooperate in any way with the Special Rapporteur.
The full dialogue can be viewed here
The new report continues to document human rights abuses in Eritrea, such as enforced disappearance, detention without trial and communication and enslavement in the indefinite national service. Furthermore, the report recommends steps to ensure accountability for the crimes against humanity that were committed by Eritrean officials. As the judicial system in Eritrea is not equipped for this and the Eritrean government shows no signs of improving this, the Special Rapporteur highlighted several other ways for justice to be served. Firstly, she recommends a referral to the International Criminal Court by the UN Security Council. She also called on UN member states to exercise jurisdiction against the suspects of crimes against humanity when they are present in their territory. A third possibility for justice is an accountability mechanism under the African Union.
The Special Rapporteur asks civil society to support the accountability processes by establishing networks and capacity to document the evidence of crimes against humanity.
In response to the dialogue by the Special Rapporteur, the delegation of Israel notified her that she was invited in the final year of her mandate to visit Israel in order to execute her mandate. Many of the delegations called for the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to be extended for the sixth and final year. The Greek delegation made use of its time to accuse the Eritrean government of seizing Greek property in Asmara.
The Eritrean delegation personally attacked the Special Rapporteur, calling her intentions and report “malicious”. The Special Rapporteur chose to respond to the allegations only by quoting a native saying, which translated to “if a mango tree does not bear fruit, one does not throw stones at it.”