Summary

The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 50/2, in which the Council extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea for one year and requested the mandate holder to present a report on the implementation of the mandate to the Council at its fifty-third session.

In the report, the Special Rapporteur describes the human rights situation in Eritrea, with a focus on the indefinite national/military service and its impact on the economic, social and cultural rights of Eritreans, on the state of the rule of law and the administration of justice, and violations of civil and political rights, including prolonged and arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances. In his report, the Special Rapporteur highlights the situation of the Eritrean Afar Indigenous communities who continue to be subjected to discrimination, persecution and interference in their traditional means of livelihood. He also outlines persisting challenges in the protection of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in the region and beyond. The report concludes with recommendations to the Government of Eritrea and to the international community.