Mr. President,
We thank the Special Rapporteur for his latest update and report.
His work is all the more important in a context where civic space remains completely closed: no independent media, independent civil society organizations, or political opposition parties are able to operate within the country, resulting in little to no checks on the executive. Impunity remains the norm and due process rights are systematically flouted.
Eritrea remains one of the only countries in the world to have never accepted a visit by a UN independent human rights expert, and the government has consistently ignored recommendations made by UN experts, including the Special Rapporteur.
It has also ignored repeated calls by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights over the last two decades, including to release detainees and to guarantee the rights to a fair trial, freedom of opinion and expression, religious freedoms, and peaceful assembly.
Despite consistent appeals from the UN, the African Commission and civil society, the Government has maintained a policy of indefinite national service, including compulsory military conscription, and has failed to stop abuses against conscripts, including children.
In the face of Eritrea’s flagrant and persistent violations, total disregard for human rights mechanisms, and erasure of domestic civic space, the work of the Special Rapporteur shines a much-needed spotlight on the situation in Eritrea, and much-needed support to beleaguered Eritrean civil society.
We appeal to all members of this Council to support the renewal of this important mandate.
Thank you.
