Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea

A/HRC/RES/32/24No 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 2016.

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?

12 topics

Accountability Administration of Justice Child Migrants Civil and Political Rights Compulsory Military Service Detention Eritrea Field Offices Human Rights Human Rights Monitoring Human Rights Violations Special Rapporteurs

What does this mandate say?

37 operative paragraphs

Welcomes with appreciation the work of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea,1 stresses the importance of the information it has collected in support of future accountability, and urges the Government of Eritrea to take immediate and concrete steps to implement its recommendations;

Welcomes the oral update of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-first session on the issue of unaccompanied Eritrean children, and recognizes the special protection needs of unaccompanied children fleeing Eritrea and who are subjected to violations and abuses of human rights such as, inter alia, trafficking, abduction for ransom, sexual violence and torture;

Condemns in the strongest terms the reported 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 arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, enslavement, torture, killing, sexual violence, discrimination on the basis of religion and ethnicity and reprisals for the alleged conduct of family members, and the human rights violations in the context of indefinite national service, including those involving forced labour, the forced military conscription of children and sexual violence;

Expresses its deep concern at the severe restrictions on the rights to freedom to hold opinions and expression, freedom to seek, receive and impart 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 persons in Eritrea, 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 the 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 either to release them or to ensure that they are given a fair and transparent trial without undue delay and with full respect for minimum fair-trial guarantees;

To ensure free, fair and equal access to an independent and impartial court to challenge the lawfulness of any detention, 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 the practice of incommunicado detention, allowing regular access to prisoners for relatives, legal advocates and independent monitoring mechanisms, and to permit prompt and regular unhindered access to medical care;

To put an end to the system of indefinite national service by demobilizing 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, and to confirm the end to, the practice of shooting to wound or kill 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, and 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, seek to flee Eritrea or commit any other alleged crimes;

To strengthen cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in accordance with its international human rights obligations, and to consider inviting the Office of the High Commissioner to establish a presence of the Office, with a holistic mandate, in the country;

To allow unhindered access to the country to further missions by the Office of 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 of the Ministry of Information, and the 13 Djiboutian combatants still detained;

To allow the creation of political parties and to guarantee their political participation, and to hold free, fair and transparent democratic elections at all levels,

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;

Encourages States in which witnesses reside to protect those who have cooperated with the commission of inquiry and the Special Rapporteur, and in particular to protect them from reprisals;

Takes note of the commission’s conclusion that a regional mechanism could be created to address accountability in Eritrea, given the commission’s assertion that neither a hybrid tribunal nor a truth commission would be a viable option in the current circumstances;

Urges Eritrea to make available information pertaining to the remaining 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;

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 follow up on the implementation of the recommendations of the commission of inquiry in its report, to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fourth session and to submit a written report on the situation of human rights in Eritrea to the Council at its thirty-fifth session, and to address and engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly at its seventy-first session;

Calls upon the Government of Eritrea to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur, to permit the Special Rapporteur and her 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 her with the information necessary for the fulfilment of her mandate, and underlines the importance for all States to lend their support to the Special Rapporteur for the discharge of her mandate;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to enhance engagement in improving the situation of human rights in Eritrea, and to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-fifth session on progress in the cooperation between Eritrea and the Office, and on its impact on the situation of human rights in Eritrea;

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

Encourages business enterprises to carry out appropriate human rights due diligence in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address their human rights impact, including with respect to allegations of use of conscript labour;

Encourages Member States to increase attention and, if feasible, resources to improve the situation of human rights in Eritrea by strengthening engagement with the Government of Eritrea;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with all information and the resources necessary to fulfil her mandate;

Requests the General Assembly to submit the report and the oral updates of the commission of inquiry to all relevant organs of the United Nations for consideration and appropriate action;

Strongly encourages the African Union to follow up on the report and recommendations of the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea by establishing an investigation, supported by the international community, with a view to examining and bringing to justice those responsible for violations and abuses of human rights identified by the commission of inquiry, including any that may amount to a crime against humanity;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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