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Universal Periodic Review – MEDIA BRIEF

Monday, 3 February 2014 (Afternoon)

(Disclaimer: The following brief is not an official record, provides a brief factual summary of the UPR Working Group meeting with the State under review, and does not cover all points addressed)

State under review

Eritrea
Represented by six-member delegation headed by Mr. Tesfamichael GERAHTU, Ambassador of Eritrea to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Documents

To access national report, compilation of UN information, and summary of stakeholders’ information, visit the Eritrea page on the UPR website.

Troika *

Austria, Indonesia and Sierra Leone.

Opening statement by State under review

Few points raised in the  opening statement of State under review:
(See full statement on the Eritrea page on the UPR Extranet).

Participants

In total  70 States participated in the dialogue: 27 HRC members and  43 observers  (Statements available on the Eritrea page on the UPR Extranet)

  • In preparation of the second UPR report the Government established a Steering Committee composed of government representatives and civil society organizations which also received input from the UN Country Team in Eritrea;
  • During the reporting period, work began on transferring national legislation to bring in line with Eritrea’s international obligations and the recommendations posed during the first UPR;
  •  As a country emanating from the struggle for social justice, national development efforts have focussed on the consolidation of all aspects of social justice so that the ability of every Eritrean citizen led to a life of dignity with development within society;
  • Efforts to raise the effect of the economic empowerment mechanisms were also stepped up despite prevailing constraints. Micro credit schemes for rural farmers, women cooperative farms, disadvantaged women, disabled citizens and other vulnerable persons have expanded significantly;
  • Eritrea was achieving three MDG goals, pertaining to reducing child mortality, improving maternal health and combatting HIV/AIDS, and was on track to achieving another four;
  • Acts of torture have been criminalized in the domestic legal system and close monitoring of such acts have been carried out in the last four years.  Any evidence obtained through acts of torture were inadmissible in the courts of law;
  • The Government has also continued its strict policy of zero-tolerance for all forms of sexual violence and awareness campaigns on this issue have been stepped up. Under-age marriage was prohibited by law and spouses and witnesses to such marriages faced punishment under the Penal Code;
  • The Government has outlawed the practice of female genital mutilation with heavy penalties being imposed on those performing such acts along with their collaborators;
  • Protecting and promoting the rights of the child has also been at the centre of policies and strategies of the Government. Integrated Early Childhood programmes have expanded in the last four years reaching rural areas. Promoting free education has also been successfully expanded. Some 5,000 street children were also given support to continue their education;
  • Much effort has been made to bridge the gender gap in education and enhance the quality of girls’ education in the Eritrean school system with a particular emphasis made to combat adult illiteracy;
  • Eritrea has continued to encourage voluntary repatriation of those who may have left the country illegally and in violation of immigration laws and several rehabilitation and reintegration programmes have been implemented for those who have returned on their own volition;
  • No one has been detained for expressing his/her views or ideas, including for criticizing the government. The media, in particular, has extended and consolidated its programmes where citizens share responsibility to express opinions on state of affairs at various levels.

Positive achievements

Positive achievements noted by delegations included, among others:

  • The outlawing of female genital mutilation in 2007, which has resulted in a decrease in the practice;
  • The progresses made in the health sector;
  • The progress made towards gender equality;
  • The programmes for economic empowerment of women, including the micro-credit schemes;
  • Achievements made in education, especially initiatives for free school education up to the tertiary level;
  • The accelerated effort made with regards to hunger, and the strengthening of food security protection;

Issues and Questions

Issues and questions raised by the Working Group included, among others:

  • Compulsory military service;
  • The lack of progress in key human rights issues, since the last review in 2009;
  • The high rate of female genital mutilation;
  • The lack of cooperation with the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea;
  • The situation in places of detention;
  • The situation of political and civil rights in the country;

Recommendations

States participating in the dialogue posed a series of recommendations to Eritrea.  These pertained to the following issues, among others: 

  • To modify regulations on conscription in order to end conscription for indefinite periods, to cease the practice of obliging citizens to serve in civilian militia, to end the practice of children undertaking their final year of schooling in a military training camp, and to recognize the right to conscientious objection;
  • To abolish all types of discriminatory practices against women, especially female genital mutilation;
  • To allow the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea to visit the country, to positively respond to requests for information and visits to other Special Procedures and to issue them with a standing invitation;
  • To ensure freedom of expression, opinion and assembly all throughout the country;
  • To comply in law and in practice with Eritrea’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
  • To fully implement the 1997 constitutionand the rights it enshrines, especially relating to the right to life,  liberty and security, the administration of justice and rule of law;
  • To establish an independent human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principle;
  • To unconditionally release all prisoners held for their political or religious beliefs and to authorize the ICRC and other independent monitors to access all known and secret places of detention;
  • To put an end to the systematic use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments, as well as arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings;
  • To take concrete measures to protect journalists and media workers from violence and arbitrary detention;
  • To abolish the death penalty;
  • To reform Eritrea’s electoral system and to hold free and fair elections;
  • Ratification of human rights instruments: the Conventions against Torture and its Optional Protocol; on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; for the Protection of All Persons form Enforced Disappearances;  on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol; on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers; the Rome Statute; the ILO Convention on Worst Forms of Child Labour; the second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Adoption of report of Working Group

The adoption of the report of the UPR Working Group on Eritrea is scheduled to take place onThursday, 6February 2014.

*The troikas are a group of three States selected through a drawing of lots who serve as rapporteurs and who are charged with preparing the report of the Working Group on the country review with the involvement of the State under review and assistance from the OHCHR.

** For access to the UPR Extranet, please fill out the following form to receive a username and password

Media contacts:
Rolando Gómez, Public Information Officer, OHCHR, + 41(0)22 917 9711, rgomez@ohchr.org
Cédric Sapey, Public Information Officer, OHCHR, + 41(0)22 917 9695, csapey@ohchr.org