Day: June 14, 2022

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UN Report: Human Rights Situation in Eritrea Dips to New Low

GENEVA — A U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea has issued a report critical of the deteriorating situation there, noting forced military conscription, arbitrary arrests, disappearances and torture among the violations recorded.

In a report submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker said Eritrea’s involvement in the armed conflict in neighboring Ethiopia shines a light on the impact of the Eritrean government’s system of indefinite national military service. He described the rights situation as dire.

Those who attempt to evade the draft, he said, are imprisoned in inhuman and degrading conditions for indefinite periods of time.

“The authorities also punish draft evaders by proxy, for example by imprisoning a parent or a spouse in order to force them to surrender themselves,” he said. “I also received reports about the conscripts who were killed as they tried to escape from Tigray or from military training centers in Eritrea.”

Ethiopia’s military offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front began November 4, 2020. Since then, thousands of Eritrean conscripts have been forced to participate in the conflict.

Investigator Babiker said children as young as 14 have been rounded up and recruited, and that Eritrean refugees in Ethiopian camps have been kidnapped and forced to fight. He said the human rights situation in Eritrea continues to push thousands to flee to other countries for asylum.

“I remain gravely concerned by the situation of hundreds of Eritreans who have been disappeared and arbitrarily detained in secret prisons in violation of human rights standards,” he said. “I continue to hear testimonies from witnesses and victims who were held and tortured in places known as ‘villas.’ These are actually secret places of detention that cannot be readily identified.”

Tesfamicael Gerahtu, an ambassador in Eritrea’s foreign ministry, said he would not respond to the allegations in the report, saying they were based on information from select and irresponsible sources. He added that there was no human rights crisis in Eritrea and that the harassment and sanctions imposed on his country had to stop.

Eritrea was reelected to serve as a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council in October 2021. Rapporteur Babiker said the country’s failure to promote and protect human rights puts the credibility and integrity of the council in jeopardy.

Source: Voice of America

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Eritrea scales up IDSR for prompt detection and effective response to monkeypox outbreak and other public health emergencies

3 June 2022 – WHO in collaboration with MOH conducted a 2 days’ workshop to scale up IDSR for prompt detection and effective response to monkeypox outbreak and other public health emergencies. A total of 45 participants from the Zobas and the National level participated in the workshop. Each zoba was represented by 5 participants namely: IDSR focal person, physician, health promotion officer, laboratory technician and EPI focal person.

This workshop was timely since it happened one week after Eritrea completed the adaptation of the 3rd edition of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) technical guidelines. The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to have a practical experience on utilization of the IDSR guidelines to promptly detect and respond to a potential monkeypox outbreak and other public health emergencies. Participants were taken through an overview of the 3rd Edition IDSR technical guidelines and application of the guidelines in monkeypox surveillance and response.

To enhance readiness for response to monkeypox outbreak and other public health threats, each zoba assessed their preparedness capacities at zoba and sub-zoba levels using a preparedness checklist. The National teams also assessed the preparedness capacities at the National level. Components assessed included capacities for coordination, risk communication and community engagement, epidemiological surveillance, rapid response teams, contact tracing, laboratory diagnosis, infection prevention and control, case management, points of entry, logistics and vaccination. The assessment revealed that the COVID-19 preparedness and response had contributed to enhancing the country preparedness for other public health threats. The monkeypox preparedness therefore leveraged on the COVID-19 preparedness and response capacities.

Following the assessment, each Zoba developed action plans to address the identified gaps. Implementation of these workplans will enhance the National and sub-National levels readiness to respond to monkeypox outbreaks and other public health threats.

“A coordination team has already been established at the National level and is closely following on the preparedness at all levels. The trained teams are expected to orient all health workers and staff in their respective zobas on monkey pox prevention and control as well as on the preparedness efforts” Said Dr Araia Berhane, Director of the Communicable Disease Control, MOH.

Source: Dehai Eritrea Online