Human Rights Watch says Asmara’s move was an effort to distract from independent reporting on the ‘country’s dire rights record’.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has rejected Eritrea’s attempt to shut down an independent investigation into alleged rights abuses, in a move hailed as vital to preventing impunity.
Eritrea’s rare bid to scrap the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on its human rights record was defeated on Friday, with only four votes in favour, 25 against, and 18 abstentions.
The move by Eritrea surprised some observers and marked one of the few times a state under active investigation tried to end such scrutiny through a formal vote.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the outcome, calling it “an important message that the international community is not fooled by Eritrea’s efforts to distract from, and discredit, independent human rights reporting on the country’s dire rights record.”
Eritrea’s motion argued that alleged rights violations were not systemic and blamed “capacity constraints” common to other developing nations. But European states responded with a counter-resolution to extend the mandate for another year, which passed with ease.
In his latest report in June, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN-appointed special rapporteur and a Sudanese human rights lawyer, said Eritrea had shown “no meaningful progress” on accountability.
He referenced the 2016 UN inquiry that found “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations … committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government … may constitute crimes against humanity.”
In the 2016 report, the UN’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) for Eritrea said the government of President Isaias Afwerki had committed heinous crimes since independence a quarter-century ago, including the “enslavement” of 400,000 people.
Many of those abuses are allegedly linked to a harsh national service programme in the secretive Horn of Africa state, which for many is almost impossible to escape and which the COI compared to lifetime enslavement.
Ending investigation would enable ‘impunity’
DefendDefenders, a pan-African human rights organisation, said Babiker’s role remained vital for victims and the wider Eritrean diaspora.
“The expert plays an indispensable role, not only for the victims and survivors of Eritrea’s abuses, but also for the Eritrean diaspora,” the group said in a statement.
The EU warned that terminating the mandate would enable “impunity and repression to deepen in silence.”
Eritrea’s representative, Habtom Zerai Ghirmai, lashed out at the decision, accusing the EU of displaying a “neo-colonial saviour mentality complex”.
He added, “The continued extension of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate is an affront to reason and justice.”
Iran, Sudan and Russia – all under their own UN investigations – supported Eritrea’s motion. China also backed the move, arguing that such mandates were a misuse of international resources.
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