REDRESS and Eritrea Focus have made a submission to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office seeking the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions on senior Eritrean officials and State-owned entities in response to human rights violations in Eritrea and the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Magnitsky sanctions, first introduced by the UK Government in 2020, enable States to target individuals and entities which are involved in serious violations of human rights by imposing asset freezes and travel bans, to hold them accountable and deter the abusive conduct.

The individuals and entities named in the organisations’ dossier represent actors across the different branches of the Eritrean State that are complicit in the regime’s widespread human rights abuses, including mass murder, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, forced labour and torture. REDRESS and Eritrea Focus have submitted the dossier as a first step in seeking accountability for the catastrophic human rights situation in Eritrea.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea has found that the Eritrean Government “tightly controls all aspects of public life” (statement at the 56th session of the Human Rights Council). Those who have been able to visit the country have described it as a “hot, dusty prison camp”, the “North Korea of Africa”, and a “human rights house of horrors”. In 2023, Eritrea ranked 161 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, depicting a dire picture of the country’s social, political, and economic conditions.

For decades, the Eritrean Government has subjected its population to widespread repression and violence, including forced labour and conscription as part of its uniquely abusive national and military service. Unlawful arrests occur frequently, with Eritrean authorities alleged to target journalists, human rights defenders, religious minorities, and those seeking to evade the national service. In many cases, those arrested are detained incommunicado, sometimes for over 20 years in underground shipping containers, which double as torture chambers. Outside Eritrea, Eritrean forces, allied with Ethiopia’s Government, are reported to have massacred civilians and perpetrated widespread rape and sexual violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region since the outbreak of the war in 2021. According to one estimate, over 100,000 women in Tigray are thought to have experienced conflict-related sexual violence during the war.

The impacts of the abuses are devastating for victims and their families and have led to Eritrea becoming “the world’s fastest-emptying nation”. Even those who have sought refuge abroad cannot escape the long arm of the Eritrean State: Eritrean diplomatic missions around the world and government agents in the diaspora are reported to continue to harass, intimidate, and extort money from those who have fled the regime, including in the UK. In 2019 Amnesty International identified the UK as one of the countries where Eritrean human rights defenders are most at risk.

Reflecting on Eritrea’s abysmal human rights record, in May 2024, the UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea reiterated that the “situation of human rights in Eritrea should remain a matter of serious concern” and called on States to use tools of collective pressure, including targeted sanctions, to respond to the situation.

REDRESS and Eritrea Focus call on the UK Government to swiftly impose the recommended sanctions and lead the way in challenging impunity for Eritrea’s systemic human rights abuses.

Habte Hagos, Chairperson of Eritrea Focus, said:

“If compiling this sanctions dossier has been traumatic for its authors, spare a thought for those tens of thousands of Eritrean citizens who have suffered for decades and those who have perished in President Isaias’ many gulags. We also need to remember the destructive wars he instigated across the region in his 33-year rule in which countless Eritreans, Ethiopians, Somalis and others have lost their lives. Now, as the region teeters once again on the brink of another horrific conflict, the UK Government has a moral obligation to act by imposing sanctions”.

Natalia Kubesch, REDRESS Legal Officer, said:

“Eritrea’s history has repeatedly shown that a culture of impunity encourages the perpetration of serious human rights violations, including torture and sexual and gender-based violence. Yet, those responsible continue to evade justice. Imposing sanctions on individuals and entities implicated in grave human rights violations would send an important message that the UK is willing to seek accountability for the catastrophic human rights situation in Eritrea.”

For more information or to request an interview, please contact: Eva Sanchis, REDRESS’ Head of Communication, at eva@redress.org or +44 (0) 7857110076.

Photo by: Clay Gilliland CC 2.0