http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/refer-eritreas-human-rights-crimes-icc-group-39692269
Refer Eritrea's Human Rights Crimes to ICC, UN Group Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHANNESBURG — Jun 8, 2016, 6:14 AM ET
Eritrea's "systematic, widespread" human rights abuses should be referred to the International Criminal Court as crimes against humanity that include enslavement and torture, a United Nations commission of inquiry said Wednesday.
In a new report, the commission said the tiny Horn of Africa country has made no progress on the most critical rights violations that the group first documented a year ago.
Eritrean refugees are now one of the largest groups trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to seek a better life in Europe. The new report says 47,025 Eritreans applied for asylum in Europe in 2015.
Rights groups say Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, who has been in power in the former Italian colony since 1991, has become increasingly authoritarian and repressive, cracking down on political dissidents, closing independent media and limiting civil liberties.
"Officials at the highest levels of state" bear responsibility for crimes against humanity, according to the new report, and the commission has compiled dossiers of evidence for a number of officials that "will be made available at the appropriate time to relevant institutions, including courts of law." The report does not name the individuals.
The three-member U.N. commission, which said it was not allowed to visit Eritrea, said many rights violations occur behind "the facade of calm and normality that is apparent to the occasional visitor to the country" and in detention centers and military training camps.
It also highlighted the indefinite duration and abusive conditions of Eritrea's military service, saying "there are reasonable grounds to believe that Eritrean officials have committed the crime of enslavement."
Eritrea is also under U.N. sanctions for supporting the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab and other armed groups trying to destabilize countries elsewhere in the region.
Received on Wed Jun 08 2016 - 06:27:13 EDT