Month

ADDIS ABABA – Hundreds of Eritrean refugees demonstrated Friday in front of the African Union headquarters demanding the regional organization push for democratic reforms in their home country. President Isaias Afewerki has been in power for 22 years, Eritrea’s only president since independence, and has been accused of suppressing dissent in the one-party state.

More than 400 protesters shouted and held banners accusing long-time Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki of being a dictator.

Tedros, a 36-year-old refugee, fled Eritrea with his family 6 months ago. He paid $10,000 to cross the border illegally. He is one of the organizers of the protest.

”We demonstrate today to support the report of the UN-mandated commission on human rights in Eritrea. We support the report,” he said. ”We can’t speak. We can’t write. We can’t believe whatever we want in religion.”

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry released a report Wednesday on Eritrea’s human rights situation. Despite U.N. investigators being denied entry to the country, the 500-page report warned that the Eritrean situation can no longer be ignored.

The report highlights widespread and systematic human rights violations under Afewerki, who has been in power since 1993 when Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia.

The refugees here want the African Union to take action.

Henok, 31, has been in Ethiopia for four years. He hopes that one day he can go back to the family he left behind. But he said life is too difficult for him in Eritrea right now.

”Especially guys like me, people like me from 18 years old, we are soldiers, unlimited time. We can do nothing, even if we are a married man,” he noted.

There are more than a 100,000 Eritreans in Ethiopia. It is estimated that 200 people cross the Ethiopian-Eritrean border every single day.

Luam, 24, was caught the first time she tried to leave, and for that she had to spend three years in jail. Undeterred, she tried and succeeded a second time.

Luam said she wants to pursue her singing career. She felt repressed at home so she wanted to leave Eritrea to sing and live her dreams.

About 5,000 Eritreans flee the small country in the Horn of Africa every month trying their luck in neighboring countries such as Ethiopia. But many also try the often deadly crossing of the Mediterranean Sea by boat to make it to Europe.

Eritreans seeking asylum in Europe are the second-largest group after those coming from war-torn Syria.

Daniel Teklehaimanot has won the Eritrean national time trial championships after beating the MTN-Qhubeka Feeder Team rider Meron Teshome by just four seconds over the 38km course.

Natnael Berhane made it an even better day for MTN-Qhubeka by finishing in third place.

It would be an extremely long day of competition at the Eritrean national time trial champs on Friday as the first rider would start as early as 6am.

A total of 108 riders would set off in the race against the clock and after a few delays during the course of the day, the last eight riders finally got under way around 5pm.

Merhawi Kudus was one of the first starters and his early benchmark would stand the test of time right up until the last wave of eight riders set off. Teshome would better the time set by Kudus by just 33 seconds to briefly go into the lead. Teklehaimanot soon followed the MTN-Qhubeka Feeder Team rider home and would post a new best time by four seconds.

Defending champion Berhane was the last rider to finish and he would split Teshome and Kudus to claim third place.

Overall it was a great day of racing for MTN-Qhubeka with the three riders in the top four and the other rider coming from the MTN-Qhubeka Feeder Team.

Teklehaimanot’s victory also means that the national time trial jersey of Eritrea will debut at the Tour de France when stage 1 gets under way on the 4th of July.

”I am very happy to take this victory. It was a long day but to finally end with a win is a great feeling. To wear the flag of Eritrea at the Tour de France will be very special and I will try to do everyone proud. Thank you to everyone for all the support,” Teklehaimanot said.

DEMONSTRATION GENEVA FRIDAY,26 JUNE 2015 and MayAyni Ethio

መጋረጃ ይቀንጠጥ ካብ ኮን ሰዓቱ 6 መዓልቲ ስዉኣትና።

መጋረጃ ይቀንጠጥ ኣኺሉ መዓልቱ ኤርትራውያን ንዛረብ መዓጹ ካብ ተኸፍቱ ክንደይሻዕ ክንሕባእ ኣብ ቀሚሽ ክንኣቱ ይኣክል ናይ ብርዒ፡ ይገለጽ ኣስማቱ።

PDF: ምሉእ ትሕስቶ…

The Commission of Inquiry into the UN Eritrea today asked the international community not to ignore longer repression and systematic violation of human rights to which are subject Eritreans, forcing them to flee en masse from their country.

The commission was established in June 2014 by the Human Rights Council of the UN to prepare a report on the situation in Eritrea, which today appeared before this entity.

”Instead of being based on the law and order country, Eritrea is a defined by repression and fear country,” said the committee chairman, Mike Smith, introducing the study.

”Since independence, power has it remained in the hands of a person and of a governing party with arbitrariness and impunity,” he added.

”The commission has found that massive, widespread and systematic violations of human rights have been and are being committed by the Government of Eritrea and there is no accountability,” the report said.

”The Commission also considers that the violations in the area of ​​extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), conscription and forced labor may constitute crimes against humanity,” he said.

However, the commission could not investigate the evidence of crimes against humanity because they are outside their mandate.

That is why experts today called for the Security Council to refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court, so that these atrocities can be investigated.

Despite repeated requests to the Eritrean Executive, members of the commission could not enter the country, so they had to base their work on more than 160 written testimonies and interviews with 550 Eritreans living in eight countries.

”Fear of reprisals including Eritreans living in third countries was one of the main challenges”, specifies the text.

The commission describes a totalitarian state controls its citizens through a vast security apparatus that has permeated all levels of society, including a network of spies citizens must control their neighbors.

”As a result of this surveillance, Eritreans live in constant fear that their behavior is monitored by security agents and they may be arbitrarily arrested and subjected to torture, disappearance or death,” he said.

Experts agree that ”torture is so common that you can only conclude that it is government policy that exalts as a way to punish people perceived as opponents.”

The text states that the judicial system in Eritrea is totally corrupt and that detainees are treated in a brutal, with many held and others disappear permanently incommunicado.

Moreover, the report claims that the Government undertakes to compulsory military service and conscripts are subjected to slave-like conditions, especially women, many of them forced into sexual exploitation.

In this situation, experts believe that over 400,000 Eritreans decided last year to leave their country and seek to be recognized as refugees in other nations.

”The fact that 5,000 people monthly leave such a small country should raise the alarm about a situation of systematic violation of human rights that can not be ignored,” Smith warned.