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GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A UN human rights expert calls for an urgent investigation into allegations that Eritrean forces have forcibly repatriated Eritrean refugees living in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray province. His report has been presented to the UN Human Rights Council.
The special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, began his mandate on 1 November. An Ethiopian military offensive began in Tigray on November 4 after months of mounting tensions between Addis Ababa and the forces of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). . When the conflict broke out, he said that more than 96,000 Eritrean refugees were in four camps.
Addressing the Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Babiker said he has received information from credible sources about the precarious situation of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in the province.
I am also concerned about reports of the possible involvement of Eritrean troops in cases of serious human rights violations, including acts of kidnapping, forced or involuntary return of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers, and their incarceration in different prisons within Eritrea. Such allegations must be promptly and thoroughly investigated by independent mechanisms, ”said Babiker.
There was no response from the governments of Ethiopia or Eritrea.
Babiker said he is particularly concerned about two refugee camps in Tigray that housed more than 25,000 Eritreans. These, he said, were allegedly destroyed in attacks by Eritrean and Ethiopian troops, acts that would constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
“On January 28, 2021, in my letter to the Ethiopian government, I called on the Ethiopian authorities to protect the human rights of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in the Tigray region and to ensure respect for their rights under human rights law. international humanitarian law and international refugee law, ”he said.
Babiker said he wants the Eritrean authorities to give him full access to refugees and asylum seekers allegedly in Eritrean prisons. Babiker also said that he has not received a response to previous requests from the Eritrean authorities to visit Eritrea to assess the human rights situation on the ground.
Eritrea’s ambassador at large, Tesfamichael Gerahtu, dismissed the special rapporteur’s report as full of senseless accusations and as presenting a bleak and unjustified image of his country.
He said that his government has succeeded in creating sustainable and meaningful development based on social justice. He added that it was time for the Council to end its harassment of Eritrea and end its mandate on the human rights situation in the country, which has been going on for eight years.
