Eritrea: Adopt a Strong Resolution Extending the Special Rapporteur’s Mandate

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland)

Excellencies,

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council’s 59th session (16 June-11 July 2025), we, the undersigned non-governmental organisations, are writing to urge your dele­gation to support the development and adoption of a strong resolution that ex­tends the mandate of the Special Rap­por­teur on the situ­a­tion of hu­man rights in Eritrea.  

This year’s resolution should decisively move away from a “procedural” approach. In addition to extending the Rapporteur’s mandate, it should clearly spell out and con­demn the ongoing grave hu­man rights viola­tions committed by Eri­trean authorities in a context of wide­spread impunity.

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Since 2019, when Djibouti and Somalia, the traditional co-sponsors of Eritrea-focused resolutions, discon­ti­nued their leadership and a group of states (and later the European Union) took over the initiative, Council resolutions on Eritrea have been short and procedural. Resolutions adopted from 2019 to 2024 focu­sed mostly on extending the Special Rappor­teur’s mandate. They failed to adequately reflect the grave hu­man rights violations committed by Eri­trean au­tho­rities.

We draw your attention to the violations mentioned in civil society letters issued in 2023 and 2024, ahead of the Council’s 53rd and 56th sessions, respectively.[1] These violations, which are ongoing, include among others arbi­trary arrests and detentions, including in­com­mu­ni­cado de­ten­­tion of journalists, dis­senting voi­ces and religious adherents; vio­lations of the rights to a fair trial, access to jus­tice, and due process; torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; enforced disappearances; cons­crip­tion into the country’s abusive na­tional ser­vi­ce system and associated violations; violations of economic, social and cultural rights; and severe restrictions on fun­damental freedoms, leading to a total closure of civic space in the country.

We further draw your attention to the 2016 findings of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in Eritrea[2] that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that crimes against humanity have been committed in the country since 1991 and that Eri­trean officials have com­mitted and continue to commit the crimes of enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disap­pea­rance, tor­­ture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape, and mur­der. No adequate follow-up has been mandated by the Council to date. In the meantime, Eritrea’s human rights situation has not fundamentally changed since the com­ple­tion of the COI’s work and despite reports by successive Special Rapporteurs and the Office of the UN High Com­­missioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on ongoing violations, no Eritrean offi­cial has been held accoun­table for these crimes. Impunity for past and on­going human rights vio­la­tions re­mains widespread.

Eritrean authorities did not seize the opportunity of the country’s membership in the Council (2019-2024) to improve the domestic human rights situation. Rather, they refused to engage in a serious dialogue with the inter­national com­mu­­ni­ty and to cooperate with the Council’s mechanisms. Similarly, calls on Eritrea by the African Commission on Hu­man and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to, among others, release detainees (including 18 journalists detai­ned since 2001), guarantee the right to a fair trial, initiate legal reform, gua­rantee the right to participate in public affairs, uphold freedoms of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association, and protect economic, social and cultural rights and the rights of women, remain un­hee­ded.[3]

It is critical for the Human Rights Council to produce a substantive assess­ment of Eritrea’s hu­man rights situa­tion. In addition to all the domestic issues addressed in pre-2019 resolutions, COI and Special Rap­por­teur reports, and successive civil society letters, the next Council resolution should address:

1. The impact of Eritrea’s domestic situation abroad, including severe and far-reaching effects on the dias­pora, who often face extra­territorial attacks aimed at maintaining control, silencing dis­sent and discouraging criticism of the authorities.

   The Special Rapporteur has addressed such attacks as “transnational repression”[4] and it is important that this aspect is included in Coun­cil resolutions. Eritrean embassies and consulates continue to require the payment of the so-called “2% (diaspora) tax” and the signature of a “regret” or “repentance” form to access consular services.

   As the Special Rapporteur highlighted, violent incidents and clashes between government supporters and detractors, including around so-called cultural “festivals” (with movements of young Eritreans seeking to disrupt these events), “must be understood in the context of a complete lack of civic space and any ave­nues for Eritreans to participate in decision-making in their own country, [as] a large percentage of [Eritreans in the diaspora] are victims of human rights violations, [and in the face of] increased pressure from the Eritrean diplomatic and consular services.”[5]

2. The need to ensure adequate follow-up to the Council’s action on Eritrea so far.

   In addition to the need to continue monitoring and reporting, the Special Rapporteur should be mandated, as part of his next report, to present an assessment of the evolution of Eritrea’s human rights situation in the context of the ten-year anniversary of the first report of the COI on Eritrea and include a stock­taking of accountability options and processes available to address past and ongoing violations. This may include updating the COI’s work through documentation and evidence collection.

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As regional tensions are mounting, raising concerns about another round of armed conflict in the Horn of Africa,[6] the Council should operationalise its prevention mandate through further action on Eritrea that provides some measure of deterrence through adequate scrutiny of the country’s hu­man rights situ­ation.

At its 59th session, the Council should adopt a resolution that:

1. Extends the mandate of the Spe­cial Rap­porteur on Eritrea;
2. Urges Eritrea to cooperate fully with the Spe­cial Rap­por­teur, including by granting him access to the coun­try;
3. Condemns the ongoing grave human rights viola­tions committed by Eri­trean authorities in a context of widespread impunity, including in the context of extraterritorial attacks; and
4. Requests:

• The High Commissioner and the Special Rappor­teur to present updates on human rights in Eritrea at the Coun­cil’s 61st session in an enhanced interactive dia­lo­gue that includes the participation of civil so­ciety;
• The Special Rap­porteur to present a comprehensive written report at the Council’s 62nd ses­sion and to the General Assembly at its 80th session; and
• The Special Rapporteur to incorporate in his next report an assessment of the evolution of Eri­trea’s human rights situation in the context of the ten-year anniversary of the first re­port of the COI on Eritrea and include a stock­taking of accountability options and proces­ses available to address past and ongoing viola­tions and update of the COI’s work through follow-up docu­men­tation and evidence collection.

We thank you for your attention to these pressing issues and stand ready to provide your delegation with further information.

Sincerely,

1. AfricanDefenders (Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network)
2. The America Team for Displaced Eritreans
3. Amnesty International
4. Burkinabè Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CBDDH)
5. Burundian Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CBDDH)
6. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
7. CIVICUS
8. Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Benin (CDDH-Bénin)
9. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
10. CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)
11. DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project)
12. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
13. Eritrea Focus
14. Eritrean Movement For Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR)
15. Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans
16. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
17. Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
18. Human Rights Foundation
19. Human Rights Watch
20. Institut des Médias pour la Démocratie et les Droits de l’Homme (IM2DH) – Togo
21. International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
22. International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
23. Ivorian Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CIDDH)
24. Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
25. Mouvement Y en a marre – Senegal
26. Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC)
27. Nigerien Human Rights Defenders Network (RNDDH)
28. Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
29. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
30. Togolese Human Rights Defenders Coalition (CTDDH)
31. West African Human Rights Defenders Network (ROADDH/WAHRDN) 

32. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)