Eritrea Becoming ‘A Giant Prison’
The Eritrean government is turning its country into a giant prison, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Horn of Africa nation is widely using military conscription without end, as well as arbitrary detention of its citizens, says HRW.
Hundreds of Eritrean refugees forcibly repatriated from countries like Libya, Egypt and Malta face arrest and torture upon their return, says the group.
Religious persecution and forced labour are also rife in Eritrea, says HRW.
The report urges countries not to send back Eritrean asylum-seekers and calls on the international community and donors to exert pressure on the government in Asmara over its rights record. HRW says every year thousands of Eritreans flee their country, where statutory national service, which used to last 18 months, has been made indefinite.
The advocacy group says most of Eritrea’s adult population is currently conscripted. Sixteen years after it won independence from Ethiopia following a three-decade war, Eritrea is one of the most closed and repressive states in the world, says the report.
