UN sounds alarm over human rights situation deterioration in Eritrea

United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, has described as “dire” the situation of human rights in Eritrea where the UN official indicates that many youth are facing forced conscription.
Nashif, addressing the Human Rights Council, warned that serious violations of people’s basic freedoms in Eritrea have continued “and show no sign of improvement”.
A previous report by the UN Human Rights office dating from 2021 detailed Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) troops have attacked civilians and carried out extrajudicial killings and executions in impunity and accountability. Authorities rubbished the report.
Several families in the African country were reportedly evicted from their properties and forced to live outside their homes, if they did not hand over or surrender their missing family members or relatives, while many youths are living in hiding, sometimes even living in forests, trying to escape massive conscription.
Nashif called on authorities to align the military service with international obligations regarding human rights. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Eritrea also informed the council that many Eritreans who remain arbitrarily detained, “and some disappeared, in secret prisons, for more than two decades”.
These include 16 journalists, including the Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, last seen over 20 years ago, making them the longest detained journalists in the world, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker told the Council. The Special Rapporteur’s update to the rights forum also noted that there is no information about former members of the Eritrean Government known as the “G-15”, who have been detained since 2001.