"But the UK issued new guidance on Eritrea, citing the Danish report,
and since then the refusal rate for asylum applications from Eritreans
has risen from 13% in 2014 to 23% so far this year"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/13/un-fears-eu-secret-eritrea-deals-close-border
EU states in ‘deals to shut Eritrean borders’
Tracy McVeigh
Saturday 13 June 2015 17.57 EDT Last modified on Saturday 13 June 2015 19.06 EDT
UN officials and human rights organisations are increasingly concerned
at what they believe are secret deals being drawn up between Eritrea
and European Union nations, which may involve the regime being given
money or having sanctions lifted in return for imposing tougher border
controls.
Norwegian state secretary Jøran Kellmyr is under fire for travelling
to Eritrea – often called “Africa’s North Korea” because of the
repressive and murderous regime of President Isaias Afwerki – to forge
a “return” agreement enabling Norway to send back Eritrean refugees.
It is believed Italian and British officials have been to the Eritrean
capital Asmara on similar errands. The Home Office said it would not
comment.
Eritreans are the second largest group, behind the Syrians, of those
migrating to Europe. About 200 leave each day and the money sent home
by the diaspora is almost exclusively responsible for supporting those
who remain.
A UN report last week issued a damning picture of a “culture of fear”
within Eritrea, citing random arrests, torture and systematic rape,
military service that equated to slave labour, political persecution
and executions.
But Kallmyr stressed it had been written without access to the
country, relying on accounts of Eritreans who have fled. Norway and
the UK toughened their stance on asylum requests from Eritrea earlier
this year, controversially citing a Danish report, Eritrea – Drivers
and Root Causes of Emigration, which suggested many Eritreans were
fleeing for economic reasons. The report caused outrage and was widely
discredited; two of its authors resigned. Leslie Lefkow of Human
Rights Watch attacked it as “a political effort to stem migration”.
But the UK issued new guidance on Eritrea, citing the Danish report,
and since then the refusal rate for asylum applications from Eritreans
has risen from 13% in 2014 to 23% so far this year.
“Key European figures have been heading to Asmara and it’s clear there
is a real political will to solve the migrant crisis by getting the
borders shut from the Eritrean side – it’s a very dangerous tactic,”
said one UN insider. There are fears the Eritreans could re-impose a
shoot-to-kill border operation. At present, there is a UN and EU arms
embargo on Eritrea, a travel ban and an asset freeze on listed
individuals.
A Home Office spokesperson said there were no immediate plans to
change policy towards Eritrea but added: “We will carefully consider
the findings of the United Nations report.”
Received on Thu Jun 18 2015 - 12:53:04 EDT