Eritrea: Anti Slavery Campaign Calls for an Immediate End to the Indefinite National Service

Eritrea: Anti Slavery Campaign Calls for an Immediate End to the Indefinite National Service  

(Geneva 26th June 2018) Stop Slavery in Eritrea Campaign welcomes the initiative for peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia. We are particularly overjoyed that nearly all member states of the UN Human Rights Council also welcomed the dialogues while calling for an end to the indefinite national service in response to the emergent situation in the region, at the on-going 38th session of the UN Council.  

The Campaign recognizes the opportunities presented with the official ending of hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea and calls for an end to the indefinite enslavement of Eritreans under the pretext of the no-war-no-peace stalemate.  

Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have been subjected to many years of enslavement and many of these have fled their country becoming victims of human trafficking and fatal accidents in search of protection. Many families have been broken and have suffered unimaginable loss, Eritrea has lost out on opportunities and development, and we thus call for an immediate end to this illegal practice that has become like a cancer to an entire generation of Eritreans.