Eritreans face ‘systemic’ rights violations: UN expert

Addis Ababa – Eritreans face severe rights violations under the three-decade rule of President Isaias Afwerki, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea has said.

The small country of around 3.5 million people in the Horn of Africa is sometimes nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa”.

It consistently ranks among the worst in the world for rights – in last place for press freedom, according to Reporters Without Borders, and 175th out of 183 for human development in 2022, according to the United Nations.

“Violations are systemic, and the need for accountability is urgent,” said Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, speaking at a summit in Geneva on Monday.

“The rights of the Eritrean people are not a matter of negotiation or political convenience – they are universal, inalienable,” the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in #Eritrea, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, told the @UN Human Rights Council.#HRC59 pic.twitter.com/VgemOhrwFh

— UN Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) June 16, 2025

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The single-party state has been ruled for more than 30 years by Afwerki, who led the country to independence from Ethiopia.

He has violently suppressed dissent, often locking up opponents without trial for decades in horrific conditions.

Civilians are conscripted for life into the army or subjected to forced labour under a national service system the UN has likened to slavery.

“To those detained without charges or trial, who have not been heard from in decades, your names will continue to be spoken,” said Babiker, who was not allowed to enter the country for the report.

Eritrea’s charge d’affaires to the UN in Geneva, Habtom Zerai, criticised the report, claiming it “lacks objectivity, transparency, accountability and balance.”