Demonizing Eritrea Helps Contributing to 14 Genocides Now Perpetrated in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia)

In six earlier articles entitled "Shameful and Biased HRW Report to Promote Anti-Eritreanism for Fake Ethiopia’s Amhara Gangsters" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/100961), "Oblivious of the Abyssinian Tyranny and the Amhara Racism, HRW Wastes Resources on Eritrea" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/100966), "Eritrean – Iranian Relations: Reason for A Biased HRW Report and Silence on Genocides in Ethiopia?" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/100967), "Ill-timed HRW Report on Eritrea Helps Forget the Ongoing Genocides in Abyssinia (Fake "Ethiopia")" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101078), "Highly Controversial HRW Report Geared to Shift Focus From Fake Ethiopia, Africa’s Worst Tyranny" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101079), and "HRW Called to Focus not on Eritrea but on Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) and Stop Ongoing Genocides" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101080), I questioned the necessity of an HRW Report on Eritrea, asking possible explanations for the inclusion of references to Eritrea’s foreign policy in a Report that purportedly focuses on repression and Human Rights’ violations in Eritrea.

In the aforementioned articles, I republished several parts of the controversial and highly ill-timed HRW Report on Eritrea, notably the Contents, the Summary, the Methodology, the Recommendations, the Background, the Human Rights Violations, and the Experience of Eritrean Refugees.

In a parallel article, entitled "HRW Report and the Anti-Eritrean Hysteria of the Amhara Gangsters – Supporters of Fake Ethiopia" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/101163), I presented an accurate self-portrait of those among the Amharas who oppose my severe criticism of the racist, colonial fabrication "Ethiopia", a falsely named state geared to effectuate genocides. I published mails sent and comments composed by readers who reject my Call to HRW to deepen their research and exert their focus on the 14 ongoing genocides that are being perpetrated in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia).

In the present article, I republish further parts of the Report, namely Eritrea’s Legal Obligations. In forthcoming articles, I will expand on criticism and investigation of the Report’s purposes. I will also voluntarily publish comments and analyses, denunciations and criticisms by Eritreans and others who find it incredible for the leading humanitarian NGO HRW to waste resources on Eritrea and disregard the aforementioned nations that have been invaded, subjugated and forced to remain within the Amhara Abyssinian (Pseudo-Ethiopian) Hell – until their extinction.

Eritrea’s Legal Obligations
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/82280/section/9

Eritrean Laws and Constitutin

The constitution prepared and approved by the National Assembly after independence—but never implemented—was to be the "supreme law of the country" and "the source of government legitimacy and guarantor for the protection of the rights, freedoms and dignity of citizens and just administration."[343]The document contains a listing of "Fundamental Rights [and] Freedoms" patterned after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The list of fundamental rights included in the Eritrean constitution is standard: no deprivation of life or liberty is permitted without due process of law.[344]

Torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment is prohibited.[345] Arrests and detentions must be according to law; no detentions may extend beyond 48 hours without a court order,[346] and the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus is guaranteed.[347]The presumption of innocence applies and trials must be fair and (normally) public.[348]The constitution recognizes the right to freedom of expression including freedom of the press and other media.[349]Eritreans are given freedom to practice religion and also the right to "manifest such practice,"[350]and they have the right to travel within and outside the country.[351]

The approved constitution allows limitations on most rights to preserve security and public order but laws limiting rights may "not negate the essential content of the right or freedom in question."[352] The rights to religious freedom and practice may not be abridged under any circumstances.[353]

The constitution was ratified in May 1997 by the Constituent Assembly consisting of the interim National Assembly, members of the six regional assemblies, and diaspora representatives. The democratic provisions it envisaged have not been realized; multi-party elections were postponed because of the war against Ethiopia in 1998 and have not been held since. Other Eritrean laws also safeguard human rights but are in practice ignored. The Press Proclamation purportedly guarantees freedom of expression and the freedom of the press,[354]while according to the US State Department the Eritrean penal code limits pre-charge detention to 30 days.[355]

Eritrea’s International Obligations

In addition to violating the Eritrean constitution and other laws, the conduct of the Eritrean government also violates the established norms of international human rights law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several international treaties and conventions signed or ratified by the government of Eritrea, including the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.[356]

Arbitrary arrest, torture, incommunicado detention and the mistreatment of prisoners in Eritrea are violations of the ICCPR and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of All Prisoners.[357] The government, although signing and ratifying some human rights treaties, has generally failed to comply with the obligations that ensue. Eritrea has met few of the reporting requirements arising from its treaty obligations.[358]

Two formal complaints of a range of human rights violations by the government—arbitrary arrest and detention, the right to freedom of expression, and cruel or degrading punishment—have been made to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Eritrea is a state party. In landmark decisions, the African Commission decided that Eritrea was in violation of the African Charter and called for the immediate release of political prisoners.

The first decision involved the G-15 prisoners. The government of Eritrea participated only to the extent of challenging the Commission’s jurisdiction on the grounds that the G-15 group had not exhausted Eritrean remedies. The Commission rejected that argument (as it did in the second decision, below) on the ground that Eritrea’s remedies were not "accessible, effective, or possible."[359]

On the merits, the Commission held that prolonged incommunicado detention is "a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment."[360] Courts must determine whether there is a basis for holding someone in custody, not the executive, and that holding the G-15 members in secret detention without access to family, lawyers, or courts is a "blatant violation of their rights to liberty and recourse to fair trial."[361]

Although the Eritrean government said that it would bring them before a court as soon as possible, the Commission said it had received no substantiation that they were being held in "appropriate detention facilities."[362]Finally, the Commission seemed to accept the complainants’ contention that the 11 had been arrested only because they criticized the government’s policies, their arrest and detention therefore interfered with "the 11 persons’ right to free expression."[363]The Commission found Eritrea to be violating Charter Articles 2, 6, 7(1) & 9(2). It urged immediate release and compensation.

The second African Commission decision was brought by Article 19, an international nongovernmental organization monitoring and promoting freedom of expression, on behalf of 18 of the jailed journalists. In a decision adopted in May 2007,[364] the Commission held that the detentions constituted numerous violations of the African Charter on Peoples and Human Rights, namely arbitrary arrest and detention (Article 6), incommunicado detention (Article 7), cruel and degrading punishment (Article 5), and the freedom of the press (Articles 9).

The Commission called for release or trial of the prisoners, access to them by families and legal representatives, compensation for violation of their rights, and for the lifting of the ban on the private press.[365]

To date the Eritrean government has refused to implement either judgment.[366]
Eritrea acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict on February 16, 2005 and has declared that 18 is the national minimum age for recruitment into the military.[367]

Forced Labor

National service, as discussed above, is practiced in many countries. However, the indefinite extension of national service for all adults, the lack of adequate remuneration, and the threat of penalty mean that the way national service is currently practiced by the Eritrean government is a violation of international law.
Eritrea ratified the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) on 22 February 2000.[368]Prohibitions on forced and compulsory labor are now a norm in customary international human rights law,[369] as well as in the ICCPR (art 5). The 1930 Convention on Forced Labour defines forced or compulsory labor as:

...all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. The involuntary nature of labour and the threat of penalty are the two crucial elements in the definition of forced labour. The 1930 Convention limits the conditions under which forced labour may be exacted from individuals, and commits state parties to abolish its practice within their territories; states should "undertake[s] to suppress the use of forced or compulsory labour in all its forms within the shortest possible period.[370]

More recent international law in this area has been concerned with outlawing forced labor altogether. The Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) requires state parties to "suppress and not to make use of any form of forced or compulsory labour: (a) as a means of political coercion or education... (b) as a method of mobilizing and using labour for purposes of economic development; as a means of labour discipline...."[371]

The ICCPR, in art 8(c) allows limited exceptions to the prohibition on forced or compulsory labor, but restricts these to hard labor as part of a punishment for a crime, and:

(i) Any work or service ... normally required of a person who is under detention in consequence of a lawful order of a court, or of a person during conditional release from such detention;

(ii) Any service of a military character and, in countries where conscientious objection is recognized, any national service required by law of conscientious objectors;

(iii) Any service exacted in cases of emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the community;

(iv) Any work or service which forms part of normal civil obligations.

According to the International Labour Organization, the exception for military service is based on the necessity for national defense; it is not intended for public works projects. The exception for emergencies is intended to apply to genuine emergencies and not to public works projects and further, the nature and duration of the compulsory labor must have a direct correlation to the nature of the event and be limited to what is strictly required by the situation and that minor communal services...must be of direct interest to the community and not relate to the execution of works intended to benefit a specific group.[372]

The United States State Department Human Rights Report for 2007 on Eritrea, in its section concerning prohibitions on forced labor, describes the implementation of national service in this way:

The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children; however, there were unconfirmed reports that it occurred during the year. The government required all men between the ages of 18 and 54 and women between the ages of 18 and 47 to participate in the national service program, which included military training and civilian work programs. Some citizens were reportedly enlisted in the national service for many years with no prospective end date. The government justifies its open-ended draft on the basis of the undemarcated border with Ethiopia. Some national service members were assigned to return to their civilian jobs while nominally kept in the military because their skills were deemed critical to the functioning of the government or the economy. These individuals continued to receive only their national service salary. The government required them to forfeit to the government any money they earned above and beyond that salary. Government employees generally were unable to leave their jobs or take new employment. Draft evaders often were used as laborers on government development projects.[373]

The scale of forced labor in Eritrea has contributed to the rising number of refugees fleeing Eritrea. Therefore the national service policy in Eritrea has direct consequences for the countries hosting asylum seekers from that country.

Notes

[343] Constitution, art. 2, available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/cafrad/unpan004654.pdf (accessed December 15, 2008).

[344] Ibid., art. 15.

[345] Ibid., art. 16

[346] Ibid., art. 17.4.

[347] Ibid., art. 17.5.

[348] Ibid., art. 17.7, 17.6.

[349] Ibid., art. 19. 1, 19.2.

[350] Ibid., art. 19.4.

[351] Ibid., art. 19.7, 19.8.

[352] Ibid., art. 26.2(b).

[353] Ibid.,art. 26.3, 19.4.

[354] Government of Eritrea, ‘Proclamation No.90/1996 – the Press Proclamation’, Gazette of Eritrean Laws, Vol.6/1996 Asmara, June 10, 1996.

[355] US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Eritrea, February 25, 2004, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27726.htm (accessed March 26, 2009).

[356] Eritrea ratified the ICCPR in 2002. Other international and regional human rights instruments to which Eritrea is a party are as follows: Geneva Conventions and the two additional protocols relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts and Non-International Armed Conflicts (2000), UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1994), UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (1995), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (2001), International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (2002), African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1999), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1999).

[357] Resolution 45/111 on basic principles for the treatment of prisoners, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 14, 1990.

[358] Eritrea submitted reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2008 under the country review mechanism. See http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/CRC.C.ERI.3.pdf (accessed March 27, 2009).

[359] Zegveld v. Eritrea, communication 250/2002 (Nov. 2003), Para 39-40, attached to Seventeenth Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 2003 – 2004, available at www.achpr.org/english/activity_reports/17th%20REPORT%20-FINAL,%20Rev2,15dec2004,%20EN.doc. (accessed December 24, 2008) As part of its procedural argument, Eritrea also said the G15 members had been detained for conspiring to overthrow the legal government . . . colluding with hostile powers [and]. . .undermining Eritrean National Security and endangering Eritrean society and the general welfare of its people." Para. 47.

[360] Ibid, Para 35.

[361] Ibid, Para 56-58.

[362] Zegveld v. Eritrea, Para 54.

[363] Ibid, Para 62.

[364] Article 19 v. State of Eritrea, communication 275/2003, adopted at the 41st Ordinary Session in May 2007 and issued as Annex II to the Report of the Executive Council, Ex. Cl/364 (XI) in June 2007. http://www.achpr.org/english/activity_reports/activty22_eng.pdf (accessed December 24, 2008).

[365] Article 19 v. Eritrea. Note: in this case, Eritrea presented its arguments on both procedure and the merits. The Commission rejected most procedural arguments and all arguments on the merits.

[366] An opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in November 2007 concluded that the incarceration of the G15 members since September 2001, "at a secret location, during which they have had no access to legal counsel or contact with their families, have not been presented before a judicial authority, and have not been formally charged, seriously contravenes article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion 23/2007 (Eritrea), Nov. 27, 2007, 26. The Working Group rejected Eritrea’s contention that the prisoners were being held because of grave crimes rather than because of their criticism of Isayas’s governance. It noted that the government had never brought specific charges against them and therefore concluded that their incarceration for exercising their rights to opinion and expression is also a "clear violation" of article 19 of the Covenant. Ibid., 27. The Working Group demanded their immediate release. Ibid., 30.

[367] See status of treaty ratification http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&id=135&chapter=4〈=en#EndDec (accessed March 27, 2009).

[368] See List of Ratifications of International Labour Conventions, Eritrea. Available in http://webfusion.ilo.org/public/db/standards/normes/appl/appl-byCtry.cfm?lang=EN&CTYCHOICE=2100 (accessed January 2, 2009).

[369] See ILO, ‘Forced labour in Myanmar (Burma): Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the observance by Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),’ Geneva, 1998, Part IV, Examination of the case by the Commission.

[370] Forced Labour Convention discussed in Gaim Kibreab, "Forced Labour in Eritrea,"Journal of Modern African Studies, 47, 1 (2009), pp. 41-72.

[371] Convention Concerning the Abolition of Forced Labour (1957), Art 1 (a-c).

[372] International Labour Organization, General Survey of 1979 on the abolition of forced labour by the Committee of Experts, Paras 36 and 37. The ILO has requested information from Eritrea to clarify its compliance with its treaty obligations several times, see: http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/pqconv.pl?host=status01&textbase=iloeng&querytype=bool&hitdirection=1&hitstart=0&hitsrange=2000&sortmacro=sortyear&query=Eritrea@ref&chspec=9& (accessed April 1, 2009).

[373] US State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2007: Eritrea," March 11, 2008, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100480.htm (accessed January 29, 2009).

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Picture: Massawa, Eritrea’s main harbour