Human Rights Watch says Asmara’s move is an effort to divert it from independent reports on the “national miserable rights record.”
The UN Human Rights Council rejected attempts to halt Eritrea’s independent investigation in a move that was welcomed as essential to prevent immunity, and in a move that was welcomed to prevent immunity.
Eritrea’s rare bid to steal the UN Special Rapporteur’s duties to the human rights record was defeated on Friday, with only 25 and 18 votes abstaining.
The Eritrea move surprised some observers, marking one of the few numbers that the provincial investigating provinces tried to end such scrutiny through formal voting.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the results, calling it an “important message that the international community is not fooled by efforts to distract themselves from independent human rights reports on the country’s dire rights records.”
Eritrea’s allegations argued that allegations of infringement were not systematic and condemned the “competence constraints” common to other developing countries. However, European countries responded with a counter-rule, extending their mission for another year, and it was easy.
In its latest report in June, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babikar, an unappointed special rapporteur and Sudan’s human rights lawyer, said Eritrea has shown “meaningful progress” in accountability.
He referenced a 2016 UN investigation that found “systematic, widespread human rights violations… committed in Eritrea under government authority… could constitute a crime against humanity.”
In a 2016 report, the UN Commission on Inquiry in Eritrea (COI) said President Isayas Afelki’s government had committed heinous crimes since independence a quarter century ago, including the “enslavement” of 400,000 people.
Many of these abuses are said to be linked to the strict national service programme of Africa’s Secret Horn.
Investigation allows for “disclaimer”
Defender, a pan-African human rights group, said Babikar’s role remains essential to the victims and the wider Eritrea diaspora.
“Experts play an integral role not only for the victims and survivors of Eritrea’s abuses, but also for the Eritrea diaspora,” the group said in a statement.
The EU warned that ending the mission would allow “immunity and oppression to deepen silence.”
Eritrea’s representative, Habtom Zarai Gilmai, has lashed out at the decision, accusing the EU of exhibiting the “Neocolonial Messiah Mentality Complex.”
He added that “the continuous extension of the Special Rapporteur’s mission is a humiliation against reason and justice.”
Iran, Sudan and Russia all supported Eritrea’s move under their own UN investigation. China also supported the move, claiming that such an order was a misuse of international resources.
