BREAKING NEWS: Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans Summons EU to Stop Supporting Use of Forced Labour in Eritrean Project

Brussels, 1 April 2019 – The Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans, a Netherlands-based organization of exiled Eritreans, is taking legal action against the European Union. The EU is financing activities in Eritrea for which forced labour is used, as is stated in the EU’s project description: a project of 20 million euros. This is a clear violation of human rights and the EU’s adherence to international legal obligations, states the Foundation. On 1 April, today, the lawyer supporting the Foundation sent letters to the EU institutions in charge of the project. The letters call upon the EU to immediately stop financing these actions, or legal action will follow. 

News Highlights: Deaths in Libyan detention centres, “peace did not change Eritrea”, NGOs criticise returns to Libya

In this week’s news highlights: conditions deteriorate in the Zintan detention centre in Libya; MSF reports the degrading conditions for refugees in Tripoli centre; Refugees in Tunisian UNHCR shelter driven to suicide attempts; Political and economical instabilly and protest continue in Sudan; UN Human Rights Council discusses lack of progress on human rights in Eritrea; EU’s continued engagement in Eritrea criticised; Ethnic violence and humanitarian crisis threaten to escalate in Southern Ethiopia; Head of mission Libya of MSF criticises Europe’s and France’s migration policy; NGO Alarmphone alarmed by European policy to deter refugees and migrants; and asylum applications in the EU in 2018 decline to pre-2014 levels.

News Highlights: Ethiopia’s navy plans, Eritrea takes chair of Khartoum Process, report accuses EU of complicity in refugee abuse

In this week’s news highlights: Eritrea chairs the Khartoum process; France to help Ethiopia in building its navy; the Ethiopian Airlines disaster; Eritrean civil society launches social media campaign against the regime; the UN Human rights Council discusses human rights in Eritrea; Sudanese President reshuffles cabinet; Libya asks support in rescue activity in the desert; Panel on Libya crimes in Geneva; German Government responds to voluntary returns in the context of the EU-Turkey deal, and Amnesty International condemns EU for accountability in abuses along Balkan Route and the EU responsibility in Libya humans rights violations.