Eritrea

A report from the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea to the UN General Assembly, found that the country’s involvement in the war in Tigray, Ethiopia, has negatively impacted its human rights situation. It noted in particular that the increased militarization of the country has prompted a rise in forced conscriptions. Amongst the forced recruits are growing numbers of children and Eritrean refugees kidnapped from Ethiopia. The Special Rapporteur also reported that the arrest of at least 47 Christians has reversed a positive trend in freedom of religion. Civic and democratic space remains tightly closed, with Eritreans unable to express dissent or participate in decision-making and hundreds subject to prolonged and arbitrary detention. According to the report, no attempts had been made by the government to tackle impunity and victims of human rights abuses continue to be denied access to justice. 

Personal Integrity and Security Freedom of Religion Freedom of Association and Assembly UN Special Rapporteur

The International Commission of Human Rights Experts in Ethiopia believes the parties to Ethiopia’s ongoing conflict have committed serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and that the Ethiopian government and its allies have committed (and continue to commit) crimes against humanity. In its September report, it found that rape and sexual violence has been perpetrated on “a staggering scale” since the conflict began and, that while all parties had committed these acts, Tigrayan women and girls had been targeted with particular violence and brutality by the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and by allied regional militia. It also found that the Ethiopian federal government has been using starvation as a weapon of war by denying humanitarian access to the Tigray Region where, it reports, 90 per cent of its 5.3 million inhabitants are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Also reported were large-scale killings of civilians by all parties.