http://ascenteq.com/project/epdp

“Dire Eritrea situation should no longer be Ignored” - Mike Smith

At the start of its Eritrea meeting Tuesday afternoon, 23 June, the UN Commission of Human Rights was shocked by the revelations on the situation in Eritrea as well as by harassment reportedly directed against the UN fact-finders on Eritrea by “unknown” assailants in Geneva.

It was before inviting the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea to introduce the report that the meeting chairman informed the delegations of nearly 200 countries in the hall that UN Commission of Inquiry members Mr. Mike Smith, Ms Sheila Keetharuth and Mr. Victor Dankwa have received threats to their lives in their hotel as well as in the streets of Geneva in the last two days and that the Swiss authorities are taking appropriate measures to protect their safety. The head of the Eritrean delegation, Mr. Tesfamichale Gherhatu, said he had no previous knowledge of the report, “but if true, it is sad” that it happened.

When invited to the podium, the chairman of the Eritrea inquiry commission, Mr. Smith, made a strong introductory statement to the 483-page report by listing some of the harrowing crimes against one’s own people and unreservedly condemning the perpetrators of those unbelievably excessive abuses not seen being employed anywhere in the world”. He hoped their actors would one day be accounted for their acts. Mr. Smith added that the country under report is ruled by “the most repressive” regime in the world today and that the “dire situation in Eritrea should no longer be ignored”.

Mr. Smith also warned that “human rights conditions must be at the forefront” of any future relation with the regime in Eritrea, adding that “little is changing in the country” to this day.

In his rebuttal, the Eritrean delegate tried to “falsify” the scathing UN report by claiming a concerted conspiracy of “big enemies” of Eritrea and the so-called state of “no-war-no-peace” that his country is forced to live under. The meeting chairman stopped and warned Mr. Gerhatu not to use unacceptable language like “travesty of justice” in his accusations against the UN Commissioners who prepared the report after consulting 550 witnesses and receiving 160 written submissions from victims and eyewitnesses.

When the flour was open for discussion on the report, a large number of the 47 members of the UN Commission of Human Rights listed their country names to make interventions.. So far, only 8 of those in the list could get time to make statements. Out of these only China expressed sympathies with the regime in Asmara.

Others made uncompromising condemnations of what is going in Eritrea. The speakers were delegates of the European Union, the United States, Australia, Ghana, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Djibouti. The seven delegations fully supported the report of the Inquiry Commission on Eritrea and speaker after speaker called for “brining to justice” all the alleged perpetrators by any means possible. The Djibouti delegation revealed that Cameroon and Djibouti are drafting a motion to the UN Commission of Human Rights so that the alleged crimes against humanity in Eritrea can be further investigated.

The meeting on Eritrea will continue as of 9am Wednesday, 24 June 2015