Eritrea: Launch of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea

Launch of All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea

New group gives key outlet in UK Parliament for debate and inquiry into human rights abuses in Eritrea

 
Press release
For immediate release
Wednesday 9 March 2016

A cross-party group of Parliamentarians today formed the new APPG on Eritrea. Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, was elected Chair at an inaugural meeting and AGM. Four Parliamentarians were elected Vice Chairs, specifically Ann Clwyd MP, Patrick Grady MP, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, and Jeremy Lefroy MP. Lord Alton of Liverpool and Fiona Bruce, MP for Congleton, were also present.

An estimated 5,000 people leave Eritrea every month and almost as many men, women and children left that blighted country last year as fled from Syria. It is a human exodus that is all the more staggering when one considers that it is from a country of just 6 million people and one that is not presently at war.

No elections since 1993, no independent press since a government clampdown in 2001, pervasive and ongoing restrictions of all freedoms, movement, expression and association, arbitrary arrest with no fair trials or no trails at all, indefinite compulsory military conscription, forced labour, and torture including widespread sexual violence against women and girls. That is Eritrea today.

It is a far cry from what so many Eritreans fought for, heroically, for decades, and from the hopes of those who supported the struggle for liberation. Instead of democracy and the rule of law, Eritreans are ruled by a culture of fear and absolute obedience.

The new APPG has been created to raise awareness of the human rights abuses which are taking place in Eritrea today, to examine and debate how the situation in the country could be improved and to raise matters of concern with, and make representations to, government and other policy makers.

Commenting on the establishment of the new APPG, Matthew Pennycook MP said:

“Eritrea is a central battleground in the global struggle for human rights. Our own national interest, as well as our credentials as a bastion of human rights, demand that we give the victims of the Afwerki regime not only our solidarity but also clear and unequivocal support to alleviate the very real suffering they face. The new APPG will provide a valuable forum for raising awareness about the human rights abuses taking place in Eritrea and for debate about how the situation in the country can be improved”.

The APPG's newly elected officers are:

• Chair: Matthew Pennycook MP (Labour, Greenwich and Woolwich)
  
  
• Vice Chair: Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour)
  
  
• Vice Chair: Jeremy Lefroy MP(Conservative, Stafford)
  
  
• Vice Chair: Ann Clwyd MP (Labour, Cynon Valley)
  
  
• Vice Chair: Patrick Grady MP (SNP, Glasgow North)