United Nations Human Rights Council

58^th session

Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Eritrea

27 February 2025

EU Statement

Mr President, 

The EU thanks the Special Rapporteur and reaffirms its support to his mandate.

We welcome progress made in the sphere of social rights in Eritrea, notably in the areas of health and education, bringing potential for poverty reduction. The EU notes that there has been some progress under the Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework and strongly encourages Eritrea to continue strengthening its partnership with the United Nations. We welcome Eritrea’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in January 2025, and stand ready to support its swift implementation. We further call on Eritrea to ratify all international human rights conventions. We continue to call on Eritrea to engage constructively with the Special Rapporteur and grant him full and unhindered access.

Nevertheless, we remain highly concerned by the human rights situation in the country. We call on Eritrea to end arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances and torture, to end transnational repression, ensure humane prison conditions, to open up civic space, set up independent rule of law institutions and ensure transparent judicial mechanisms, in order to combat widespread impunity. The whereabouts of those disappeared in the past decades must be revealed and those held arbitrarily must be released immediately. The EU reiterates its call for Eritrea to end the continued practise of obligatory and indefinite national service, including the reported conscription of children, and hold the right to the right to conscientious objection.

We call on the Government of Eritrea to guarantee the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and opinion and freedom of peaceful assembly and association, in line with its international human rights obligations, and in respect of the Habeas Corpus. 

In December 2024, the Council of the EU prolonged the restrictive measures against Eritrea’s National Security Agency for serious human rights violations.

In line with OHCHR recommendations, we call on the Government of Eritrea to complete the full withdrawal of any remaining troops from Ethiopian territory, and to carry out credible, independent investigations into alleged violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law committed during the war in Tigray region of Ethiopia in order to provide justice to all victims, including Eritreans who had found refuge in Ethiopia. 

We welcome the reduction in the prevalence of female genital mutilation and early and forced marriages. We encourage Eritrea to further address the findings of the UN Child Rights Committee issued in February 2025, and to take action on the recommendations to ban child marriages, and raise public awareness of the harmful effects of female genital mutilation.

The EU stands ready to continue its engagement with Eritrea and its people on the basis of a comprehensive, constructive and long-term approach, including dialogue on the recommendations in the UPR.

Mr Special Rapporteur, could you elaborate on the situation of the implementation of the UPR recommendations Eritrea has accepted?

Thank you.