Trends and Perspectives on the Eritrean Refugees and Human Rights Crisis

This paper discusses trends and perspectives on the Eritrean refugee and human rights crisis
from the viewpoint of the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights (EMDHR). It
complements the objectives of the Eritrean Diaspora Working Group (London Meeting). As
discussed over teleconference of the prospective participants of the London Meeting, on 10
January 2008, the paraphrased objectives of the meeting are:2
· To introduce a selected group of Eritrean human rights defenders from
different regions of the world, including their advocacy work on human
rights and refugee protection, specifically in Africa and Europe;
· To define concrete strategies with regard to the attainment of the above
objectives, especially in relation to advocacy towards the European Union
(EU) – because the EU is seen as a very important actor, both in relation to
the refugee problem and in relation to human rights and the general political
situation in the region.
According to the same document, the participants3 of the London Meeting were consciously
chosen by the organiser (EEPA), taking into consideration the variety of political views
amongst the Eritrean diaspora. At a later stage, however, a broader platform of Eritrean
diaspora will be considered.4 The Working Group is expected to explore possibilities on the
optimisation of effective information sharing and dissemination of Eritrean news to key EU
officials, European NGO’s and other relevant stakeholders.
As a preparation for the London Meeting, members of the Working Group were given specific
tasks to be accomplished before the meeting. The EMDHR representative was asked to prepare
a briefing on the Eritrean human rights and refugee crisis and the response towards such crisis
in Africa and Europe. The briefing is based on past, current and future advocacy programmes
of the EMDHR in the area of human rights and refugee protection, including some discussion
on the political stand of major European players. To provide context, this document presents a
brief contextual background of Eritrea, focusing mainly on the increasing tendencies of
authoritarianism of the government that finally led to the post-2001 agonising political crisis
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