International Affairs Forum: The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council set up the Commission of Inquiry on the situation of Human Rights in Eritrea (COIE) in June 2014 and then renewed its mandate in 2015. What kind of conditions and concerns prompted the 2014 formation of the COIE, its investigations, and its subsequent renewal?

Sheila B. Keetharuth: The Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (COIE) was established on June 27, 2014 by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) by means of Resolution 26/24,1 that is, the same resolution renewing the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. The setting up of the COIE was the HRC’s response to the Eritrean authorities’ denial that the human rights violations were committed in the country as reported in the two previous reports of the Special Rapporteur; [and] the non-cooperation of Eritrea in terms of implementation of human rights–related recommendations and civil society advocacy calls for improvements in human rights, release of political prisoners, and an end to the egregious human rights violations in the context of the indefinite national service. Abiding by its mandate, in June 2015, when the COIE presented its findings, it did not specifically investigate whether international crimes occurred in Eritrea. However, the information collected suggested that human rights violations are perpetrated on such a wide scale, with the possibility that crimes against humanity may have been committed in Eritrea. Its mandate was renewed to specifically further investigate this aspect.

IA-Forum: What are the COIE's investigative findings, to date?

Ms. Keetharuth: The COIE collected more than 550 testimonies and 160 submissions, allowing victims and witnesses the opportunity to give full accounts of the abuse they endured. The COIE was able to corroborate the findings of the Special Rapporteur in much detail. On the basis of this body of evidence, the COIE found that systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations have been and are still being committed in Eritrea under the authority of the government and that some of these violations may constitute crimes against humanity. In the COIE’s June 2015 report,2 there is sufficient detail about how the government has created and sustains repressive systems to control, silence, and isolate individuals in the country, depriving them of their fundamental freedoms. It shows how information collected on peoples’ activities, their supposed intentions, and even conjectured thoughts is used to rule by fear in a country where individuals are routinely arbitrarily arrested and detained in the vast network of prisons and detention centers; tortured; or disappeared. It shows how under the pretext of defending the integrity of the state and ensuring its self-sufficiency, Eritreans are subject to a system of national service, which in effect is forced labor, [and] how they are effectively abused and exploited for indefinite periods of time under the guise of reconstruction of the country.\

IA-Forum: Eritreans are third only to Syrians and Afghans in the current wave of mixed migrants entering Europe. The COIE's report points to the country's "gross human rights violations" as a primary factor instigating people to leave the country. Can you please give further clarifications?

Ms. Keetharuth: In its report, the COIE showed how the initial promises of democracy and rule of law, incarnated in the never-implemented 1997 Constitution, were progressively suppressed and then extinguished by the government. The government maintains an extensive spying and surveillance system targeting individuals within the country and in the diaspora. It employs all means, including harassment, intimidation, and the abusive use of a coupon system originally created to allow access to subsidized goods in government shops, to collect information about Eritreans. Pervasive spying and surveillance in Eritrea go beyond the needs of national security or crime prevention and are arbitrary.

The COIE was able to document how the Eritrean authorities intentionally use the conditions and regime of detention as means of torture or in support of other methods to increase the pain and suffering of inmates to achieve a specific objective. In fact, [the] harshest conditions and the strictest regimes of detention are deliberately employed in a number of situations, including to punish those suspected of being a threat to national security, traitors, [or] suspects of “cross-border” crimes; or during the investigative phase of detention, with the intention of pushing the person to self-incriminate himself or herself, extract a confession or information, or force believers of specific religious faiths to recant their faith.

With regards to forced labor, the COIE was able to document that its use goes far beyond the national service. The use of forced labor is so prevalent in Eritrea that all sectors of the economy rely on it and all Eritreans are likely to be subjected to it at one point in their lives. Many Eritreans, including under-age students, are subjected to forced labor outside the national service.

The [government] control of the population, [exercised via] restrictions on freedom of movement, freedom of expression, [and] freedom of religious belief, also affects the population negatively. Many young people who have themselves experienced violations of their human rights and have also witnessed the rights of others being violated say that because of all the aforementioned detailed violations and the personal experiences of their parents and siblings, they feel they do not have a future in Eritrea and are therefore ready to cross the desert and the sea to find a safe haven where their rights will be respected. Older people leave because they have been subjected to detention or have been asked to pay fines because family members have fled the country. The reasons inciting people to leave are numerous, but most are linked to violations of human rights.

IA-Forum: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that approximately 5,000 Eritrean citizens leave the country each month via what has been termed "the world's deadliest migrant trail."3 What kinds of perils do Eritrean migrants face in their attempts to cross the Sahara and the Mediterranean in order to reach Europe?

Ms. Keetharuth: According to Resolution 26/24, the first mandate of the COIE was limited to the violations committed in Eritrea, and it is still the case with its second mandate. Therefore, the COIE did not focus its investigations on violations committed against Eritreans after they have crossed the border. Yet, in several interviews, especially those conducted with Eritrean refugees having passed through neighboring countries, we heard accounts of serious human rights violations that occurred in the context of human trafficking. The violations include abductions; extortion of the abductees’ families to obtain their release; ill-treatment of abductees amounting, in several cases, to torture; and sexual and gender-based violence. In our view, these serious violations, which fall outside the COIE’s mandate, require close scrutiny by the governments concerned and the wider international community. In our recommendations, we called for the HRC to organize a high-level panel discussion on strategies to investigate the issue of human trafficking in North Africa and the Mediterranean, with the involvement of all relevant actors and using both security and human rights frameworks.

IA-Forum: What kind of reprisals do family members of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers who remain behind in the country face at the hands of the Eritrean authorities?

Ms. Keetharuth: We have documented cases of family members of people having fled Eritrea who, in retaliation, were arbitrarily arrested. For their release, they were forced to pay a fine amounting to 50,000 Nakfa, which is approximately US$4,700. Others have fled, because they could not find the money to pay the fine and did not want to spend time in jail. Some have had their properties confiscated, while others have had their coupons allowing them to have access to subsidized goods withdrawn.

IA-Forum: Although Eritreans' asylum claims have generally been treated as legitimate by the European Union (EU), some countries—including Norway, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, among others—are currently considering returning Eritrean citizens home, based on the expectation that the Eritrean government will increasingly comply with human rights standards. What awaits Eritreans who either are sent home from Europe or choose to return?

Ms. Keetharuth: Based on the human rights violations that the COIE has been able to identify—corroborating the findings of other human rights mechanisms, such as CEDAW, the CRC, and other organizations—we consider that returning Eritreans to their country of origin would put them in danger of being arbitrarily arrested and detained, tortured and ill-treated during detention, and submitted to forced labor, either during detention or outside of it.

IA-Forum: Conscription into the military with indefinite national service is cited as one of the principal motivating factors pushing Eritreans to seek asylum in Europe, as well as crucial grounds for Eritrean asylum-seekers being granted asylum within the EU. Yet, the Eritrean Foreign Minister has apparently announced that national service would be reduced to 18 months, thereby potentially affecting the asylum claims of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in Europe. Has there been any evidence that the Eritrean government has either achieved, or is in progress to achieve, reduction of national military service to 18 months?

Ms. Keetharuth: Limiting the national service to 18 months would be a welcome development, as it would decrease the period of time during which conscripts would be exposed to possible violations of their rights and would allow Eritrean youth a life outside national service. However, we have found no evidence that the length of national service has indeed been reduced to 18 months. In any case, it would be necessary to address, in parallel, the conditions during national service, irrespective of the length of time. If, indeed, the Eritrean government is committed to addressing the current indefinite nature of its national service, we hold it should allow international human rights mechanisms to support and monitor such reforms. Information would be needed about what the intentions of the government are with regards to the thousands of Eritreans currently serving in the context of the national service and who have already served lengthy periods of time. We hope that the limitation of the duration of national service is only a starting point. Much broader reforms are required to bring the system in line with Eritrea’s obligations under international human rights law.

IA-Forum: Speaking at a recent meeting of more than 60 leaders from both Africa and the European Union, French President François Hollande stated that, in the case of Eritrea, "maximum pressure" has to be applied to the country's leaders.4 What measures do you view international organizations can have in positively affecting Eritrean internal policies associated with both the current migration crisis and ongoing human rights violations?

Ms. Keetharuth: The majority of Eritreans we have interviewed told us they have fled Eritrea to escape arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as other human rights violations and the lack of prospects caused by indefinite national service, including the impossibility to support themselves and their families while in national service. Therefore, the high number of Eritreans leaving the country has as its main cause the human rights situation in Eritrea. This is what the international community needs to deal with—how to ensure that Eritreans are able to enjoy their human rights in Eritrea.

We urge the international community to act as follows:

Continue to provide protection to all those who have fled and continue to flee Eritrea owing to severe violations of their rights or fear thereof, pending tangible progress in the situation of human rights, in particular the adoption of reforms that seriously address the problems identified in COIE’s report;

Respect the principles of non-refoulement5 (non-return) and an end to bilateral and other arrangements that jeopardize the lives of those who seek asylum;

In engaging with the Eritrean authorities on solutions to stem the flow of asylum seekers from Eritrea, place human rights considerations at the forefront of any package of proposed abatement measures;

On negotiating development assistance and investment projects in Eritrea, governments, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private sector companies should ensure that decent wages for locally engaged staff are an integral part of the agreement;

While negotiating access to the country and proposing programs and projects, organizations should ensure that a positive impact on the enjoyment of rights and freedoms of the people of Eritrea as recognized under international law is a key priority;

Finally, keep Eritrea under close scrutiny until tangible progress in the situation of human rights is evident, and ensure the centrality of human rights in all engagements with the country.

Sheila B. Keetharuth was appointed in October 2012 as the first Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. She is also one of the three Commissioners on the Commission of Inquiry on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. She is a human rights defender from Mauritius who has worked and traveled in mainland Africa for three decades. Ms. Keetharuth is a committed human rights advocate with extensive experience in research, advocacy, litigation, and training in Africa.

1 United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC). (2014). Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council: 26/24—Situation of human rights in Eritrea. Geneva, Switzerland: UN HRC. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/RES/26/24.

2 UN HRC. (2015). Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea. Geneva, Switzerland: UN HRC. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/29/42.

3 Stevis, M., & Parkinson, J. (2015, October 20). African dictatorship fuels migrant crisis: Thousands flee isolated Eritrea to escape life of conscription and poverty. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/eritreans-flee-conscription-and-poverty-adding-to-the-migrant-crisis-in-europe-1445391364.

4 VOA News. (2015, November 11). France's Hollande: Eritrea “becoming empty” as residents leave. Voice of America. Retrieved January 13, 2016, from http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-offers-african-nations-1-8-billion-but-some-question-response/3052919.html.

5 http://www.unhcr.org/print/3ae68ccd10.html.