Date: Monday, 12 March 2018
March 12, 2018
Introduction
This Dutch COI report describes the current situation in Eritrea insofar as it is relevant to the assessment of asylum applications from persons originating from Eritrea and to decisions on the repatriation of rejected Eritrean asylum-seekers. It is an update of previous COI reports on the situation in Eritrea (most recently from July 2015), and covers the period from August 2015 to November 2016.
The report is based on information from public and confidential sources. Use has been made of information from various UN agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Eritrean government, specialist literature and media reporting, among other sources.
The report is also based on observations and confidential reports of the Dutch diplomatic mission in Khartoum (Sudan), which also represents the Netherlands in Eritrea; in addition, a fact-finding mission to Eritrea took place in September 2016. The mission took place in Asmara and villages in the surrounding area, in Mendefera and Keren. The Eritrean government was informed of the mission, which was accompanied by a government representative to Keren and Mendefera, but operated without government guidance in Asmara and the surrounding area. In the course of the mission, discussions took place with representatives of the Eritrean government, international diplomatic missions, local and international organisations and – in the absence of government officials – with a large number of Eritrean citizens. In addition, the mission visited Endebaguna in Ethiopia, Khartoum and East Sudan in order to gather information on the situation in Eritrea and the reception of Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia and Sudan.
Objective first-hand information about the human rights situation in Eritrea is hard to obtain. There is no independent civil society in Eritrea and no free press. Information will continue to be incomplete while no independent observers are allowed into the country. Sources do not always have the latest information, and sometimes have an interest in adding their own bias to the facts. In this report contradictory sources are therefore regularly presented in order to offer as complete a picture as possible of the situation in Eritrea…………………..
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Berhane Habtemariam
