Political Prisoners

There is no tolerance for dissent in Eritrea, evidenced by frequent arrests of suspected government critics, the absence of any authorized forums for assembly and association, and government violations of telephone and internet privacy. Since authorities have taken reprisals against detainees’ families if they made inquiries or communicated with international human rights organizations, it is very difficult to obtain information on their cases.

In addition to religious detainees (mostly evangelical Christians), eleven former government ministers, and Eritrean liberation veterans, who called for democratic reform and were charged with treason, remain in secret detention since 2001. They have not been seen by their families since their arrest in 2001. Ten journalists, determined to be prisoners of conscience, have been held in incommunicado detention since 2001 for supporting the detained government ministers. Journalist and educator Fessahaye “Joshua” Yohannes is reported to have died in detention, as have certain of the former government leaders. Aster Yohannes, arrested in 2003 when she returned from the United States to see her children, also remains in incommunicado detention, as does her husband, who was detained in 2001. Thousands of other political detainees have been held incommunicado for years.

Prison conditions are extremely harsh and constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Many prisoners are held in overcrowded shipping containers, with no protection against extremes of heat and cold. Torture by means of painful tying, known as “helicopter,” is routinely employed as punishment and a method of interrogation for religious and political prisoners. Evangelicals have been tortured to make them abandon their faith.

Freedom of Religion

Some 2,000 members of minority religions arrested since their faiths were banned in 2002, including women and children, have been held in incommunicado detention without charge or trial. Some members of authorized religions (including the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and Islam) were also detained. Government officials closed churches and seized church property. In one notable example, Patriarch Antonios, head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, aged 79 and in poor health due to diabetes, was placed in secret detention and deposed in May 2007 after having been under house arrest since January 2006, for protesting the detention of three priests and the government’s intervention in church affairs.

Conscription

National military service has been compulsory for all citizens aged 18-40, with women over 27 informally exempted. Relatives of young people who eluded conscription, by hiding in Eritrea or leaving the country, are detained and forced to pay heavy fines. They remain in indefinite detention if they can’t pay the fine. Legal challenges to this system are not allowed. Thousands of young people facing conscription and conscripts have fled the country seeking asylum. Conscientious objection is not recognized, and three Jehovah’s Witnesses have been detained by the military since 1994.

Forced Returns

Despite guidelines from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, that rejected Eritrean asylum-seekers should not be returned to Eritrea on account of its serious human rights situation, several recognized refugees were returned by Sudan and detained by Eritrea in late 2007. One asylum-seeker from the United Kingdom was also forcibly returned and detained. Hundreds of detained Eritrean asylum seekers in Libya remain at risk of forced return.

Asylum-seekers forcibly returned from Malta in 2002 and from Libya in 2003 remain in incommunicado detention. Recent threats to add Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) groups to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations will only serve to harm refugees seeking asylum based on serious human rights concerns, where previously affiliations with these groups constituted reason for consideration of asylum.

Conclusion and Recommendations: A human rights-based approach to U.S. policy on the Horn There has been a dearth of consideration for serious human rights and humanitarian concerns throughout the Horn of Africa by U.S. policy makers, with dire consequences. As described in this testimony, trends indicate that violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea are worsening, not improving. It is now time for a shift in approach–to make the immediate protection of vulnerable civilians central to an effective U.S. foreign policy on the Horn. This means holding individual governments accountable for protecting the rights of civilians and controlling the conduct of their armed forces. It also means taking a step back to gain a regional perspective on interlocking crises on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border, in southern and Central Somalia, and in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Toward these ends, Amnesty International is grateful for the opportunity to offer the following recommendations on how to re-center human rights in U.S. foreign policy on the Horn of Africa.

Foreign Policy Recommendations on Ethiopia

The U.S. government must make human rights central to U.S. relations with the Government of Ethiopia and Ethiopian civil society. The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and other U.S. officials should press the Government of Ethiopia to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally. The U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and other U.S. officials should actively monitor all political trials and visit political detainees in Addis Ababa and other places in Ethiopia, insist that trials and prison conditions adhere to international standards, and actively monitor the treatment of all prisoners of conscience and political detainees. U.S. government officials, including the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, must ensure that steps are taken by the government of Ethiopia to fully remove all remaining obstacles to unhindered humanitarian assistance and commercial trade in the Somali Region of Ethiopia.