You Are In: USINFO > Topics > Human Rights
 
 

Congressman Criticizes Eritrea's Human-Rights Record

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- An influential congressman and champion of human rights worldwide for more than two decades has criticized the government of Eritrea for acting slowly in the release of one of its citizens imprisoned without charges since 2003.

Chairman of the House Africa Subcommittee Christopher Smith (Republican of New Jersey) chided both Eritrea and Ethiopia during a hearing May 5 for having poor records on human rights as well as for failing to settle a smoldering border dispute that threatens to destabilize the whole Horn of Africa region.

The lawmaker singled out Eritrea, however, for its failure to release Aster Yohannes, who was detained in December 2003 after attempting to visit her husband, Petros Soloman, a former Eritrean official who was jailed for political reasons.

Smith was frustrated because he and other lawmakers personally intervened after the former foreign student at the University of Arizona failed to return to America despite assurances from the Eritrean government to Congress that she would be allowed to see her husband unhindered.

Since then, the lawmaker said, "Congress has been particularly interested" in Yohannes' case because "she has been held incommunicado without due process [of law]."

Smith explained: "A number of my colleagues and I sent a letter to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki on January 6, 2004, concerning this matter," urging him "to release Aster Yohannes immediately and allow her to return to her family.  We will regard this as a first step toward restoring human rights in Eritrea.  We look forward to resolving this and other important issues in the very near future."

But nothing happened, Smith reported.  "I personally met with Eritrean officials at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva and here in the United States specifically on this issue last year [2004] and again only a few weeks ago.  Yet, more than a year later, Mrs. Yohannes is still imprisoned with no trial in sight, as are two U.S. Embassy personnel held without trial since 2001."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto told the subcommittee, "While our relationship with Eritrea extends less than 15 years to that country's founding in 1991, our bilateral relationship has been a challenging one."

Over the past two years, he said, "we have had a frank dialogue with Eritrea's leadership about U.S. expectations in the areas of human rights, democracy, religious freedom, and economic liberalization, particularly as it pertains to our detained Foreign Service National staff members and other Eritreans held without charge for political reasons.

"Eritrea's leaders know where the United States stands on these issues, and in some areas our exchange on these issues can be quite energetic," Yamamoto said.  Eritrea also knows where the United States stands on another critical issue: religious freedom, he added.

"There are two portraits of Eritrea," he explained.  "The first is of a society where two great religions, Islam and Christianity, have long peacefully interacted with mutual understanding.  Members of the four registered religious traditions -- Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Catholics, and members of the Evangelical Church -- are by and large allowed to practice their faith.

"However, the second portrait is a disturbing one," the diplomat added.  "Since May 2002, unapproved religious communities have been shut down and have been unable to practice their faith.  Some of their members have been detained.  Several groups have completed the government's requirements to be officially registered but they have been rebuffed by the government.  Groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, in particular, have been subject to severe restrictions."

Yamamoto told the panel it was because of those "severe violations of religious freedom," that the State Department designated Eritrea a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) in September 2004 following a recommendation by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

In October, commission staff made a tour of Eritrea and discussed the issue with government officials, diplomats, and others, according to a statement submitted to the subcommittee.  After the six-day visit, the commission "confirmed the existence of the systematic and egregious violations that led to the CPC designation."

The commission recommended that the U.S. government "engage in vigorous advocacy on religious freedom and other universal human rights at all levels of involvement with the government of Eritrea and draw international attention to religious freedom abuses in Eritrea, including in multilateral fora such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights."