Eritreans Flee Repressive Country by Thousands

Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian

Eritrea, which gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a decades-long insurgency led by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), has become one of the most repressive countries on earth.

Situated on the Horn of Africa, with an area of 117,600 square kilometres, its 6.3 million people include nine recognized ethnic groups, the largest being the Tigrinya, at 55 per cent, and the Tigre at 30 per cent.

Christianity arrived in the fourth century and today Eastern Rite Coptic Orthodox Christians make up almost 60 per cent of the population. The remainder are mainly Sunni Muslims. The highland region is mostly Christian while Muslims predominate in the east and west lowlands.

Although the struggle against Ethiopia was initially led by the Muslim-dominated Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), it was eventually supplanted by the predominantly Christian EPLF.

Eritrea fought a border war against its former rulers between1998 and 2000; the two countries suffered tens of thousands of casualties. According to a ruling by an international commission in The Hague, Eritrea broke international law and triggered the war by invading Ethiopia.

Since that conflict, the nation has become a highly militarized, one party state with severe restrictions over the press, speech, and even movement. Its human rights record has come under criticism, due to the government’s oppression of its own people, who suffer from malnourishment and economic destitution. 

On June 8, a 500 page United Nations report accused Eritrea’s government of extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, indefinitely prolonged national service, and forced labour. It also indicated that sexual harassment, rape and sexual servitude by state officials are widespread.

Eritrea is dominated by President Isaias Afwerki, a Tigrinyan who is leader of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, successor to the EPLF. He has ruled the east African country since its independence.

The report charged him with operating a system of “ruthless repression” and “pervasive state control” on “a scope and scale seldom witnessed elsewhere.”

Amnesty International believes that at least 10,000 political prisoners have been imprisoned by the government. Reporters Without Borders has ranked Eritrea last in their Press Freedom Index, below even North Korea.

The country’s legislature has not met in a decade, and there is no published national budget. A constitution was ratified in 1997 but has never been implemented.

Given this reality, Eritreans are second only to Syrians in risking the dangerous crossings of the Mediterranean in search of a better life. Thousands flee their country every month; 22 per cent of the people arriving by boat to Europe are Eritreans. 

Last November, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported that the number of Eritreans seeking asylum in Europe had nearly tripled over the first 10 months of the year, rising from 13,000 over the same period in 2013 to nearly 37,000 in 2014.

It won’t stop until conditions improve dramatically back home.Srebrnik is a professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island.