http://ascenteq.com/project/epdp

By EPDP Information Office

The external affairs committee of the Swiss Social Democratic Party has organized an important meeting in the Swiss capital of Bern on 2 March 2015 at which Eritreans made strong presentations on the political and human rights problems encountering Eritreans at home and in their heartbreaking displacement in diaspora.

Chaired by MP Carlo Sommaruga, who is the president of both his party’s foreign committee as well as being the president of  Swiss National Assembly’s Commission for External Affairs,  the meeting was attended by over 30 senior federal government officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, justice and police, representatives of parties and non-governmental organizations that were interested to question and discuss Switzerland’s policy towards Eritrea on human rights, refugees and related  external policy matters.

MP Carlo Sommaruga           Swiss Federal Palace/Parliament               Amb. Anne Lugon-Moulin

Keynote presentations were made by Mr. Woldeyesus Ammar, foreign relations head of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), followed by Ambassador Anne Lugon-Moulin, director of the Sub-Saharan and Francophone Division in the Swiss Foreign Ministry, and Mr. Daniel Zollinger, senior official at the state secretariat for migration in the Ministry of Justice and Police which is headed by the current Swiss President, Ms Simonneta Sommaruga of the Social Democratic Party. Other speakers who were invited by the chair to give their inputs were Mr. Tesfagaber Ghebre and Mr. Tseghazeab G/Michael who represented at the meeting the newly formed umbrella to  coordinate  various Eritrean refugee and politico-civil society groupings in Switzerland.

The Eritrean speakers regretted that Switzerland, and the Swiss parliament in particular, did not so far strongly formally condemn the human rights abuses in Eritrea, including the use of forced labour, and hoped that such important actions will be taken in the future. They also highlighted the situation of Eritrean refugees in Switzerland and called for attention by federal and cantonal authorities as well as by the fraternal political and civil society organizations in the country. In particular, Mr. Tsegazeab G/Michael, chairman of the umbrella, and Mr. Tesfagaber Ghebre committee member (and also chairman of the Swiss branch of EPFP) emphasized the importance of protecting asylum seekers from agents of the Eritrean regime in Switzerland, like Toni Locher of Zurich, who are creating problems to refugees opposed to the dictatorship in Eritrea. 

Ambassador Lugon-Moulin briefed the meeting on measures taken by the federal foreign office in the Horn of Africa and areas of Swiss support tuned to refugees in the region. Mr. Zollinger of the Ministry of Justice and Police and his two colleagues closely working with Eritrean asylum seekers briefed the meeting on the real hardships Eritrean refugees face in their risky journeys to reach Europe. They said every care is taken to support them adjust to life in this country.

Mr. Carlo Sommaruga, a jurist-trade unionist who built huge renown in his anti-apartheid and related campaigns in the past, thanked all meeting participants and reassured that their inputs will be taken care at many levels of action in Switzerland.

After briefing the meeting on the internal political and human rights situation in Eritrea and the suffering of its refugees, the EPDP head of foreign office made the following summary regarding what Switzerland can do to help avert a much worse situation from occurring in highly militarized Eritrea that can further complicate matters in the region and outside it, as did the state failure and breakdown of society in Somalia.

What Switzerland Can Do to Help Eritrean Refugees in this Country

Most of the recent caseload of over 20,000 Eritrean refugees in Switzerland are young, almost all with poor educational background. They are also extremely traumatized by the difficult situation they experienced in Eritrea and the problems they faced on their hazardous journey to Europe. Therefore, to help them to eventually become useful citizens anywhere, they would primarily need immediate support/assistance like:

• Special attention to their emotional/mental status;
• Basic education, including technical skills; and assist them obtain jobs through a special agency catering this support;
• Periodical seminars/conferences in their language on basics of human rights, anti-militarism/anti-violence etc
• Grant them appropriate legal/political protection with the condition that those who misuse this right by collaborating with the Eritrean Consulate General in Switzerland will be sent back to Eritrea.

Action on the Government in Eritrea

The repressive regime in Asmara has not been receptive to outside pressure in the past. However, continued efforts can yield fruit. For example,

• Strictly implement the targeted UN sanctions, especially regarding the 2% tax and the denial of entry visas to Eritrean government officials;
• Switzerland can work with some known organizations like the ICRC to pressurize the regime to allow at least visitations to known prisoners such as the members of G15 (senior government officials) and journalists imprisoned since 2001;
• Pose to the regime serious questions about the status of the national service and the use of forced labour in Eritrea. In addition, it would be greatly helpful if the Swiss Government (preferably by the Swiss Federal Assembly) could issue a statement condemning (a) Eritrea’s use of forced labour, (b), misuse of national service beyond humanly acceptable limits in the past two decades, and (c) the incarceration without any charge and a day at court of the 11 members of the Eritrean “National Assembly” since 18 September 2001.  

At the Horn of Africa Level

• Put more pressure on both Eritrea and Ethiopia to normalize relations;
• Ethiopia can help by accepting the final and binding arbitration decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission;
• Initiate a solid support for Eritrean refugees in the Horn of Africa region. This will require a special package project for academic and vocational education in East Sudan and North Ethiopia partly using technical development resources that several countries suspended from Eritrea due to the human rights condition there.

Capacity Building for Democracy and Human Rights

• Empowering the mainstream non-state actors (civil society and political movements in diaspora) through capacity building can help in bringing about a positive change in Eritrea (eg. Help radio broadcasts to Eritrea);
• In particular, some Swiss political parties have a stake in working closely with the Eritrean community in this country to influence positive developments in Eritrea today and in constitutional governance in post-dictatorship Eritrea.