Talk about Eritrea is to be heard at every corner of the UN headquarters in Geneva these days. Wednesday, 22 June, was another long days for Eritreans attending the various sessions concerning their problems. Following informal meetings of the non-state actors with delegations of UN member states, Eritrean activists Wednesday organized a well-attended side event at which victims and witnesses of the wrong-doings of the Eritrean regime well told in great detail.

First to speak was young Hanna Petros Solomon, whose story shocked the audience and many had to follow Hanna in breaking to tears and lasting sobs. Hanna was a child when her father, a most senior member of the Eritrean government, was incarcerated on 18 September 2001 and her mother, Aster Yohannes arrested on 11 December 2001, leaving Hanna and her siblings at parentless home. Every word Hanna uttered was painful.

Exiled founder-editor of Setit, Aron Berhane, explained how the tyrannical regime suffocated freedom of expression from its very start. He reported that five journalists are presumed out of 30 journalists who were imprisoned during the last 16 years, while 50 Eritrean journalists had to flee the country.

Prisoner of conscience Helen Berhane was also at hand to tell how the regime fights all Eritrean religious denominations, with emphasis on the so-called unregistered churches like the Pentecostalists and Jehova's Witnesses.

A former judge, Abdalla Karar, witnessed that rule of law died in Eritrea not after the border war but from the start of Eritrea's independent existence. He said Eritrea is using for 25 years now an old Ethiopian constitution which was adapted to the new situation in 1991.

Former diplomat, Fathi Osman, congratulated the UN Commission of Inquiry for ignoring the 45,000 "protest messages" it received from Eritreans because the regime is used to forging such signatures from unwilling signatories. He said he was a personal witness (as regime diplomat in Saudi Arabia) in the signing of government petitions against UN sanctions by 500 school children below the age of 12 in Jeddah .

Head of the Djibouti Commission for Human Rights was also provided an opportunity to tell the suffering of his compatriots as prisoners of war in Eritrea, some 13 of whom are still not accounted for.

Ms Elsa Chyrum, one of the organizers of the interesting event, concluded with meeting by summarizing the process undergone and the prospects ahead of Eritrean activists and their friends. A similar Eritrean side-event is expected to be held on Friday, 24 June.

Eritrean Activists Discuss Way Forward with Amnesty International

Later in the afternoon on 22 June, fifteen Eritrean human rights and democracy activists were invited to the office of Amnesty International in Geneva and discussed the implications of the UN COI report, the ongoing discussions on the Eritrean case and how the final resolution on Eritrea by the UN Human Rights Council , which is expected to be adopted soon, could be promoted and implemented in the best way possible.

Frankfurt, Germany, and New York, USA

June 22, 2016

In an interview with Radio France International (RFI), on June 20^th, 2016, the Foreign Minister of Eritrea, Mr. Osman Saleh, announced that all prisoners, and particularly those high-ranking government officials and veterans of Eritrea’s liberation struggle (aka G15) and journalists of the private press, who were arrested on September 18, 2001 and in its immediate aftermath, “are all alive” and “in good hands”.

We have been gravely concerned about the fate of our fellow veterans, and for almost 15 years, we have not stopped seeking information about them, and based on our sources, we have come to believe that at least half of them are no longer alive. All attempts by family members to visit them have been denied.

Political prisoners in Eritrea are held incommunicado, and their family members don’t have the right of visitation; and it is virtually impossible to confirm their well-being and whereabouts. We are concerned this announcement might give false hope to family members, who have already heard the deaths of their loved ones from various sources. It would be a cruel act further aggravating their suffering.

We call upon the International Community to use this opportunity and encourage the regime in Eritrea to allow the ICRC to visit the prisoners and confirm their well-being and ensure that they are no longer denied their right of due-process of law. The Foreign Minister’s announcement will only have credence if the ICRC can corroborate it. In view of the Eritrean government’s proven record of denial of the facts, not to have the ICRC visit the prisoners to check if the Foreign Minister’s statement is true would amount to an acceptance of a patent lie, and the Asmara regime’s shameless attempts to deceive the international community, at a time when its image is irreparably damaged.

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* Mesfin Hagos served the government of Eritrea as Chief of Staff of the Defense Forces, Defense Minister of the GOE and Governor of the Southern Region, and Adhanom Ghebremariam, as Attorney General of the GOE, Governor of Seraye province and its Ambassador to Sweden and Nigeria. They are both members of the G15, the group of prominent veterans and government officials who advocated change and demanded the implementation of the ratified 1997 Constitution. Both escaped their imprisonment because they were outside the country on September 18, 2001, when their fellow members were arrested.

 መበል 32 ኣኼባ ባይቶ ሰብኣዊ መሰል ሕቡራት ሃገራት ብ21 ሰ 2016ነ ኣብ ሰዓታት ድሕሪ ቀትሪ፡ ኣብቲ ብመርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰል ኤርትራ ዝቐረበሉ ጸብጻብ ሓያል ክትዕ ኣካይዱ። ኣብ መኽፈቲ እቲ ክትዕ ናይታ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ኣቦ መንበር ኣቶ ማይክ ስሚዝ፡ ኣብ ኤርትራ ኣብ ዝሓለፈ 25 ዓመታት ቀጻሊ ገበን ኣብ ልዕሊ ሰብኣዊ መሰል ክፍጸም ከም ዝጸነሐ ጠቒሶም፡ በዚ መሰረት ኣብ ልዕሊ ተሓተቲ ዝውሰድ ስጉምቲ ነቶም ከምኡ ዓይነት ገበን ዝፍጽሙ ካለኦት’ውን ትምህርቲ ዝኸውን እዩ ኢሎም።

ኣብዚ ኣኼባ ንነፍሲ ወከፍ እቶም 47 ልኡኽ ናይቲ ኮሚሽን ሰብእዊ መሰላ ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ኣብቲ ጸብጻብ ርኢቶኡ ክህብ ወይ ሕቶ ከቕርብ ናይ 3 ደቓይቕ ዕድል ተዋሂብዎ። ንካለኦት ናይዚ ኮሚሽን ኣባላት ዘይኮና፡ ኣባል ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ልኡኻት ድማ ናይ 2 ደቓይቕ ዕድል ተዋሂብወን። ኣብዚ ኣጋጣሚ ካብቶም 47 ልኡኻት ናይ 26 ሃገራት ርኢቶ ብምሃብን ሕቶ ብምሕታትን ተሳትፎም። ካብዚኣቶም 6 ልኡኻት ንጉጅለ ህግደፍ ዝድግፍ ርኢቶ ሂቦም። ንሳቶም ልኡኽት ናይ ቤላሩስ፡ ቺና፡ ኩባ፡ ኒካራጉዋ፡ ሱዳንን ቨንዙዋላን እዮም

ሂዩማን ራኡትስ ዎች ዝርከበን 8 በርገሳዊ ማሕበራት ነቲ ኣብ ኤርትራ ዝፍጸም ዘሎ ተግባራት ብትሪ ዝኹንን እቶም 47 ልኡኻት ሰብኣዊ መሰል ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ነቲ ብመርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰል ኤርትራ ዝቐረበ ውሳነታትን ለበዋታታን ከጽድቑን ናይታ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ዕድመ ከናውሑን ዝጽውዕ መገለጽታት ኣቕሪበን።

ናይ ጅቡትን ሶማልያን ልኡኻት ኣብ ዝሃብዎ ርኢቶ፡ ነቲ ኣብ ዝመጽእ ዘሎ 1 ሓምለ 2016 በዚ ኮሚሽ ዝመሓላለፍ ዝምልከት ንድፊ ውሳነ ከም ዘለዎም ሓቢሮም።

እዚ ከምዚሉ እንከሎ ኣቲ ኣኼባ ይካየደሉ ኣብ ዝነበረ ግዜ ኣብ ከባቢ ቤት ጽሕፈት ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ካብቲ ናይ ዝሓለፈ ዓመት ዝወሓደ ቁጽሪ ዝነበሮም ደገፍቲ ስርዓት ህግደፍ ሰላማዊ ሰልፊ የካይዱ ነይሮም። ምስዚ ብዝተዛመደ ጀነቫ ኣብ 23 ሰነ 2016 ነቲ ብገበ ኣብ ልዕሊ ሰብኣዊ መሰላት ዝሕተቱ ላዕለዎት ሓለፍቲ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ዘቃልዕ ጸብጻብ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰላት ኤርትራ ዝድግፍ፡ ኣዝዩ ሰፊሕ ሰልፊ ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ኤርትራውያን ትጽበ ኣላ።

We were highly impressed by the hard work of the Commission of Inquiry in digging for the truth about the human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity, committed by the ruling party and government of Eritrea and the realization of the commission that every word said from the regime’s mouth or written by its propaganda machines and supporters has been a lie, a misrepresentation of the true fact, or simply a manipulation tactic. The contents of the report of the commission on issues of crimes against humanity, including torture, murder, rape, sexual abuse, mysterious disappearances, indefinite detentions, modern slavery, and systematic physical liquation (to name a few), are not shocking for us anymore because, unfortunately, we know that these crimes constituted the norm in the Eritrean regime since its inception. It is both heart-breaking and devastating when lives so full of promise are taken away from us every day in the Mediterranean waters, or Libyan and Sinai deserts, or shot by the army at the borders with Ethiopia and the Sudan, in addition to the lives of countless   others dying in prisons and detention centres, whose number exceeds that of schools, and other terrible events such as torture and rape that sometimes end in deaths.

In a nutshell, we are by no means exaggerating when we say that going too far to harass anyone who disagrees with the regime, even on marginal issues, and retaliation, constitute the driving motive behind all human rights violations. We could imagine that some people are still struggling to comprehend the situation in Eritrea or really fail to understand our side and acknowledge our fears, as people, confused by the canned speeches, lies and propaganda of the senior officials of the regime and its supporters, though their lies have grown old, and fall short of being witty or creative, but prove to be unfailingly redundant, unoriginal and boring. If the report of the commission does not tell the international community that there is a skunk in the barn and opens their eyes to the dangers hovering over the country, then it is likely that nothing ever will. What a heartless thing to doubt this report we know stands on a solid ground?

By all means, we can say, so far so good. However, it should be clear to the international community that such governments make their own citizens feel helpless and cover up things, and by doing so, are facilitating the rise of extremism. We are not saying that the Eritrean situation is a case of that, right at this stage, but certainly the possibility cannot offhandedly be dismissed or ruled out. If the international community, represented by the Security Council, does not sit down and take some serious consideration of the immediate and long-term damages this regime is causing and take the recommendations of the commission seriously, we are going to pay dearly, as a people and country. The tasks are urgent and should not be delayed. Of course, a punishment for the criminals would not turn the clock back or undo the effects of the crimes committed on the victims or erase the pain they have caused to their loved ones, who have been waiting for years to see the day of the reckoning, but it could bring a measure of closure to the case and be a harsh lesson that would be taught beyond the cases this report had focused on and beyond our borders too.

We hope criminal Isias and his collaborators will meet tough judges like Sylvia Steiner of Hague, who condemned the former Congo Vice president, Jean Pierre Bemba, to 18 years in jail on five charges of rape, murder and pillage this month,   or the judge of the court of the African Union, who condemned Husain Habre of Chad, this month too, to life imprisonment. It is good news and moral boast for justice seekers that rape is for the first time recognized as a weapon used by dictators to demoralize the people and ensure that they do not constitute any challenge or threat to their rule. At the same time, these two most recent African cases of trial that held  criminals accountable for their crimes and ended in serving justice, have confirmed, to both foes and friends alike, that the criminals in the Eritrean regime cannot go unpunished, no matter they think they are smart enough to do so. Nevertheless, as they know their final fate clearly and are up-to-date on current affairs, we see acute frustration and hopelessness leading them to more violence on their people and the neighbouring countries, falsification of facts, unprecedented smear campaigns, scandal, blackmail, inconsistency, and other last ditch measures of suicide and self-destruction. In few words, the Arabic expression, “Ya Rayeh Kater Al Fadayeh”, describes their recent adventurous behaviours the most.

As it is said, the last hour before dawn is the darkest. We take comfort in knowing that we have reached that stage, though the sacrifices are greater than any time before. This means that the report is terribly biting, and the prayers of our God-fearing and believing people seem to have been heard by God/Allah.

JUSTICE SEEKERS’ COORDINATING COMMITTEE

TORONTO, June 21, 2016