From Business Insider

 

The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed to set up a year-long inquiry into human rights in Eritrea, similar to previous high-level investigations into Syria, North Korea and Sri Lanka.

It condemned what it said were “widespread and systematic” violations by Eritrea’s government, from arbitrary executions to restrictions on religion, detention of journalists and a shoot-to-kill policy for citizens trying to cross the border.

“The human rights crisis in Eritrea has been forgotten for too long and the scale of the violations is unparalleled, putting the country amongst the worst human rights situations worldwide,” said Ambassador Yusuf Mohamed Ismail of Somalia, which had initiated the call for an inquiry.

The 47-state forum decided to set up the inquiry without a vote, but China, Pakistan, Venezuela and Russia indicated that they had reservations but did not try to block the inquiry.

The three-strong inquiry will include Sheila B. Keetharuth, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, and one expert apiece from Africa and Europe, Mohamed Ismail said.

Keetharuth has said conscription in Eritrea amounts to indefinite forced labor. People who resist can be shot on the spot, she said in a report to the council.

Enforced drafting into the security services is fuelling an exodus from the Horn of Africa country, and Eritreans now make up the single largest nationality among people fleeing to Europe across the Mediterranean, often in unseaworthy boats.

Written by Tom Miles/Read more at Business Insider