To the Permanent Representatives at the UN Security Council:

To the Permanent Representatives at the UN  Security Council:

H.E. Mr. Ivan Barbalic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), H.E. Mrs. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti (Brazil)
H.E. Mr. Li Baodong (China), H.E. Mr. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (Colombia),
H.E. Mr. Gerard Araud (France), H.E. Mr. Denis Dangue Rewaka (Gabon)
H.E. Dr. Peter Wittig (Germany), H.E. Mr. Hardeep Singh (India)
H.E. Mr. Nawaf Salam (Lebanon), H.E. Mrs. U. Joy Ogwu (Nigeria)
H.E. Mr. José Filipe Moraes Cabral (Portugal), H.E. Mr. Vitaly Churkin (Russian Federation)
H. E. Mr. Baso Sangqu (South Africa), H.E. Sir Mark Lyall Grant (United Kingdom)
H.E. Ms. Susan E. Rice (United States of America)

CC: H.E Mr Ban Ki-moon, UN General Secretary, New York


18 July 2011
Your Excellencies,
Re: The atrocities committed by the government of Eritrea against its own people

We, the undersigned Eritrean Civic and Human Rights groups in the diaspora, are writing on behalf of the silent majority of sufferers in Eritrea whose oppression is only indirectly addressed by the current sanctions imposed by the Security Council.
 
As Eritrean human rights activists, we would have liked to see the  Security Council  focuses on the atrocities committed by the government of Eritrea against its own people as much as Eritrea’s external record of provoking instability in the region.

Even the basic human rights of the silent majority Eritreans are routinely violated be it, in prisons and military barracks. The rule of law does not exist in Eritrea and yet so far there have been no sanctions against Eritrea because of its abysmal human rights record. The Eritreans in the diaspora are the lucky ones who have escaped the full brutality of a regime that can only be compared in its authoritarianism to North Korea.

The Eritrean Civic and Human Rights groups are watching with interest the deliberations of the UN Security Council on the issue of implementing sanctions against Eritrean officials and entities. However we would like to underscore our belief here that one of the principle reasons the Eritrean regime is able to subvert the true will of its people and provoke instability throughout the Horn of Africa and beyond, is because it has repressed all human rights and freedom of speech in Eritrea, making it virtually impossible for the voices of reason to prevail within our country.

As such we hope that the UN Security Council’s decision to sanction Eritrea will also be accompanied by greater international efforts to support human rights and the rule of law in Eritrea, and that independently of the UN Security Council’s sanctions mechanisms there will continue to be support to bolster human rights development in Eritrea from your government -- as we have seen applied to the nascent democracies born out of the Arab Spring. If the Eritrean people are freed from oppression then Eritrea will no longer be a country that provokes instability in neighbouring countries.

The atrocities that the Eritrean regime has been conducting against its own people would make a long list. The ratified constitution has never been implemented. All kinds of freedom – assembly, association, press, rule of law, etc. – are totally absent. Religious persecution is rampant; currently, there are around 1,500 Christian prisoners detained for their faith. Political dissent is not tolerated; disappearances of unwanted dissenters are common.

Economically, the private sector has been wiped out; now, every aspect of the nation’s economy is owned by the government. Due to its land and NGO policies, famine has been a fixture in the land. But it is in the militarization of the society that we see the horrors under which the population have been living.

Out of Eritrea’s population of about 5 million, 300,000 are in active military service, with hundreds of thousands more in reserve. There has been no war since 2000, yet the government will not demobilize the army in case it loses control over the trapped youth which make up the bulk of the national service. The official period of military service is one and a half years. In reality, tens of thousands of young people are there for 13 or more years. The horrors of military service best illustrate the pervasiveness of human rights abuses in the nation. We will briefly go over some of these:

The emptying of labour force: Cities, towns and villages have been emptied of their most productive population (18 to 50 years old) under the pretext of national service. And now that the regime has seen how the youth played a pivotal role in the Arab uprising, it is more determined than ever to keep the entire youth cordoned off in the wilderness.

Abuses: The controlled environment, with constant supervision, regimentation, political indoctrination, harsh punishments, routine incarcerations, death sentences and occasional massacres are needed to control this restive young population. Vicious, arbitrary round-ups are also conducted to fill in the ever-dwindling pool of army recruits.

Militarization of education: Education in Eritrea has been completely militarized. Since 2003, all students are required to finish their last high school year in huge military camps (Sawa/WiA), under military authority far from home, after which they get transferred to training grounds. The only university in the nation has been closed to pre-empt any potential dissent from enlightened students.

Forced/Slave labour: Forced labour of students (many of them underage), military conscripts and prisoners has been widely used under the pretext of development programmes. They are forced to work in government-owned projects such as farming and housing construction. And now, with numerous mining projects emerging, there is evidence that most manual labour on these projects is being provided by military conscripts, with little pay ($10 per month).

Mass exodus of youth: Forced conscription and endless military service have caused a mass exodus of the youth from the nation. Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have so far escaped the nation. Many die as they cross the border (where shoot-on-sight policy is enforced), the deserts and the seas. The recent tragedy where more than 400 Eritreans drowned in the Mediterranean is a case in point.

Prison and prison conditions: Currently, there are tens of thousands of prisoners in the more than 300 prison sites throughout the country, most of whom are from the National Service. Conditions inside prison are harsh and horrifying. Many have died due to these appalling conditions. Extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions are also very common.

Human trafficking and arms smuggling: One of the consequences of mass exodus has been the profitable business of human trafficking, in which government officials have been heavily involved. Interestingly enough, the human traffickers the government depends on are also the same networks involved in the trafficking of arms from Eritrea, through Sudan and onto Egypt and beyond.

All the atrocities mentioned above, and more, have been well documented by international humanitarian organizations. There is no other nation that even comes close to terrorizing its people the way Eritrea does.

As you deliberate on Eritrea, we would like you to weigh your considerations not only by what the totalitarian regime is doing in destabilizing neighboring nations and aiding terrorist groups, but also by what it is doing to its own population. In fact, we believe it has done much more harm to its people than any other regional or international body. And the two parties that are enabling the regime to continue in its terrorist activities – both to the region and its people – are the mining companies and its diaspora supporters. And, consequently, any sanction that fails to target these two main sources of income will remain toothless.
We are aware that you have been inundated by requests to lift the sanctions by Eritreans in the diaspora who claim to be acting voluntarily. Such Eritreans have been coerced and blackmailed by Embassy officials and ambassadors into writing their petitions that represent Eritrea as a free country whose citizens have human rights.

The truth is that the Eritreans living in democratic countries are being taxed by Eritrea at the same time as being taxed by the host country. No sum is too large or too small to escape Isaias Afewerki’s grasp: even those in diaspora who are living on state benefits are forced to contribute a percentage of their income; even children are not exempted. The proceeds of such taxes goes to sustaining the regime in power, and its ability to destabilise the region.
As such, we would like to underline that any attempts to persuade you to lift sanctions on Eritrea are likely to be pushed wholesale by diaspora communities that are controlled by President Afewerki and his agents in the diaspora.

The Eritrean people are already suffering from their government’s many sanctions. It is the government itself, the perpetrators of so many crimes against human rights, who need to be sanctioned and stopped from persecuting its own people en masse.
Yours Respectfully,
 
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea
London, U.K.
 
Assena Foundation
London, U.K.
Release Eritrea
London, U.K.
 
Victims Eritrea
London, U.K.
 
Eritreans for Human and Democratic Rights in the United Kingdom
London, U.K.
 
Agenzia Habeshia per lo Sviluppo e la Cooperazione
Rome, Italy
 
Association for the Protection of Human Rights of the Eritrean People (ASPER)
Napoli, Italy
 
Eritreans for Peace and Democracy
Geneva, Switzerland
 
Eritrean Advocacy for Human Rights
Germany
 
Eritreans for Peace
Germany
 
Eritreans for Justice and Democracy
Benelux
 
Snit Selam
Germany
 
Mekaleh Eritrea
Germany
 
Eritrean Unity Movement
Norway
 
Popular Movement for Democracy in Eritrea
Sweden
 
Eritrean American Public Forum of Greater New York.
New York, USA
 
Citizens for Democratic Rights in Eritrea
New York, USA
 
Eritrean Global Solidarity
USA
 
Citizens United for Human Rights in Eritrea- San Diego.
California , USA
 
Tesfa Delina Foundation, Inc
California, USA
 
Eritrean-American Public Forum of Dallas/Fort-Worth
U.S.A.
 
Eritrean Community for Human Rights and Refugee Protection
Washington, DC
U.S.A.
 
Eritrean Democratic Public Forum-Boston.
Boston, USA
 
Eritrean Public Forum Minnesota
U.S.A
 
Eritrean Youth Global Movement.
Washington, DC
U.S.A
 
Qalna - Eritrean Human Rights Group
Toronto, Canada
 
Eritrean Public Forum,
Chicago Illinois, USA
 
Eritrean citizen’s Forum
Atlanta GA, USA
 
Eritrean community in Seattle and Vicinity
USA

Eritrean American Public Forum
Las Vegas, USA