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(Adds the EU response in paragraphs 5-6)
By Kieran Guilbert and Emeline Wuilbercq
LONDON / ADDIS ABABA, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – European activists sued the European Union (EU) on Wednesday and asked it to stop € 80 million in aid to the East African nation, saying the money financed a plan built on forced labor.
The Netherlands-based Human Rights Foundation for Eritrea (FHRE) filed a lawsuit in the Amsterdam district court, accusing the EU of funding a major road renovation project that relies on forced labor and not carry out due diligence.
Some of the workers belong to Eritrea’s national service, convicted of forced labor and slavery by the United Nations and the European Parliament, according to lawyers supporting the lawsuit.
The Netherlands welcomes large numbers of Eritrean migrants and pays for the project as a member of the EU.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said in response that it reserved the right to establish its legal and factual arguments before the Amsterdam court, in accordance with applicable law.
A spokeswoman said it was guided by EU principles such as democracy and the rule of law, as well as international law.
Eritrea’s information minister, Yemane Ghebremeskel, questioned the credibility of the FHRE, saying the demand was typical of its “demonization campaigns.”
“The allegations come from a very small but vocal group, mostly foreigners who have a ‘regime change’ agenda against Eritrea,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.
Eritrea signed a peace agreement with Ethiopia in 2018, raising expectations that a long-standing universal recruitment system would be lowered. However, Human Rights Watch last year said no changes had been made to a “system of repression.”
ILLEGAL
The Dutch law firm supporting the lawsuit, Kennedy Van der Laan (KVDL), said it was seeking court rulings that the road project was illegal and that the EU should stop supporting it.
“The EU has normalized and given an acceptable face to a practice that has been universally condemned by the international community and is a clear violation of the most fundamental human rights standards,” the firm said in a statement.
Emiel Jurjens, a KVDL lawyer, said the FHRE raised the issue in April 2019 with the EU, which rejected their criticism before announcing more funding for the project in December.
He said the European Parliament was to vote on Thursday on a motion to freeze EU development spending in Eritrea.
The 80 million euros ($ 87 million) funds a project to reconnect Ethiopia and Eritrea following the peace agreement and was dispersed into two tranches last year from the EU’s Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
However, despite acknowledging that the work would be carried out by members of Eritrea’s national service, the EU refuses to perform due diligence, does not supervise the project and depends on information provided by the government, according to KVDL.
Western human rights groups and governments have said the recruitment system amounts to indefinite military service that forces thousands of Eritreans to flee the country each year.
Many are heading to Europe, which hopes that by financing work at home they can stem the flow of African migrants to their shores.
$ 1 = 0.9245 euros
Report by Kieran Guilbert, Lyndsay Griffiths Edition.
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