Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea

A/HRC/RES/29/18No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 4Human rights situations that require the Council's attention, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

14 versions · 2012–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/59/1

2025A/HRC/RES/59/1Situation of human rights in EritreaLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/HRC/RES/56/17Situation of human rights in EritreaCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/53/2Situation of human rights in EritreaCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/50/2Situation of human rights in EritreaCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/2Situation of human rights in EritreaCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Civil and Political Rights Commissions of Inquiry Compulsory Military Service Detention Eritrea Extralegal Executions Human Rights Human Rights Violations Special Rapporteurs

What does this mandate say?

35 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the report of the commission of inquiry on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, and notes the importance of the work of the commission of inquiry and the information it has collected in support of future accountability efforts;

Also welcomes the third report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea;

Strongly condemns the systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations that have been and are being committed by the Government of Eritrea in a climate of generalized impunity;

Condemns in particular the extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary and incommunicado detentions, and human rights violations in the context of indefinite national service, including those involving forced labour, forced military conscription of children and sexual violence;

Expresses its deep concern at the severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of information, liberty of movement, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom of peaceful assembly and association, and at the detention of journalists, human rights defenders, political actors, religious leaders and practitioners in Eritrea;

Reiterates its numerous calls upon the Government of Eritrea, without delay:

To end its use of arbitrary detention of its citizens, and to end the use of torture or other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment;

To account for and release all political prisoners, including members of the G-15 reform group and journalists;

To account for those detained in the aftermath of the takeover on 21 January 2013 of the building housing the Ministry of Information, and to release them or to ensure that they are given a free and fair trial, with full respect for due process;

To ensure free and fair access to an independent judicial system for those detained, and to improve prison conditions, including by prohibiting the use of underground cells and shipping containers to hold prisoners, ending the use of secret detention centres and secret courts and the practice of incommunicado detention, allowing regular access to prisoners for relatives, legal advocates and other competent and legally authorized authorities and institutions, and to grant unhindered access to medical care;

To put an end to the system of indefinite national service by demobilizing the national service conscripts who have completed their mandatory 18 months of service, as announced by the Government of Eritrea, and by effectively ending the practice of engaging them in forced labour after such a period, to provide for conscientious objection to military service, and to end the compulsory practice of all children undertaking the final year of schooling in a military training camp;

To end the practice of forcing citizens to participate in the militia;

To investigate promptly all allegations of extrajudicial killings, torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment rape and sexual abuse within the national service, and to bring perpetrators to justice;

To end the practice of shooting at Eritrean citizens attempting to cross the border to flee the country;

To collaborate with human rights and humanitarian organizations and to allow them to operate in Eritrea without fear or intimidation in order to facilitate the full implementation of the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework for 2013-2016 signed by the Government of Eritrea and the United Nations on 28 January 2013, as well as other human rights-related projects;

To respect everyone’s right to freedom of expression and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief, and the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association;

To enhance further the promotion and protection of women’s rights, including by taking additional measures to combat harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation;

To implement the recommendations made during its second universal periodic review, to report on progress made and to cooperate fully with the Human Rights Council and the universal periodic review during its third cycle;

To end “guilt-by-association” policies that target family members of those who evade national service or seek to flee Eritrea;

To cooperate fully with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in accordance with its international human rights obligations by, inter alia, allowing unhindered access to a further mission by the Office as requested by the High Commissioner, the human rights treaty bodies and all mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, and to cooperate with all international and regional human rights mechanisms;

To provide the Office of the High Commissioner with all relevant information on the identity, safety, well-being and whereabouts of all detained persons and persons missing in action, including members of the G-15, journalists, those detained in the aftermath of the takeover on 21 January 2013 of the building housing the Ministry of Information, and the 19 Djiboutian combatants;

To allow the creation of political parties and to hold free, fair and transparent democratic elections at all levels, in accordance with international democratic standards;

To account for the modalities and the progress of the expert group appointed to work on a constitution for Eritrea, while implementing the Constitution of 1997 in the meantime, and to govern in accordance with the principles of the rule of law;

Urges Eritrea to make available information pertaining to the Djiboutian combatants missing in action since the clashes of 10 to 12 June 2008 so that those concerned may ascertain the presence and condition of Djiboutian prisoners of war;

Calls upon the Government of Eritrea to take immediate and concrete steps to implement recommendations made by the commission of inquiry in its report in order to address the dire situation of human rights in the country;

Decides to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea for a period of one year, and requests the mandate holder to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-first session and to address and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly at its seventieth session;

Also decides to extend, for a period of one year, the mandate of the commission of inquiry to investigate systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights in Eritrea with a view to ensuring full accountability, including where these violations may amount to crimes against humanity;

Requests the commission of inquiry to present an oral update to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session, and a written report to the Council at its thirty-second session;

Calls upon the Government of Eritrea to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry, to permit them and their staff members unrestricted access to visit the country, to give due consideration to the recommendations contained in the reports of the Special Rapporteur, and to provide them with the information necessary for the fulfilment of their mandates, and underlines the importance for all States to lend their support to the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry for the discharge of their mandates;

Urges the international community to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry;

Also urges the international community to strengthen efforts and collaboration to ensure the protection of those fleeing from Eritrea, in particular the increasing number of unaccompanied children;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry with all information and the resources necessary to fulfil their mandates;

Decides to transmit all reports and oral updates of the commission of inquiry to all relevant bodies of the United Nations, including the General Assembly and the Secretary-General, for appropriate action;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to enhance engagement in improving the situation of human rights in Eritrea, and to report on progress in the cooperation between Eritrea and the Office to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-first session;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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