መበል 32 ኣኼባ ባይቶ ሰብኣዊ መሰል ሕቡራት ሃገራት ብ21 ሰ 2016ነ ኣብ ሰዓታት ድሕሪ ቀትሪ፡ ኣብቲ ብመርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰል ኤርትራ ዝቐረበሉ ጸብጻብ ሓያል ክትዕ ኣካይዱ። ኣብ መኽፈቲ እቲ ክትዕ ናይታ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ኣቦ መንበር ኣቶ ማይክ ስሚዝ፡ ኣብ ኤርትራ ኣብ ዝሓለፈ 25 ዓመታት ቀጻሊ ገበን ኣብ ልዕሊ ሰብኣዊ መሰል ክፍጸም ከም ዝጸነሐ ጠቒሶም፡ በዚ መሰረት ኣብ ልዕሊ ተሓተቲ ዝውሰድ ስጉምቲ ነቶም ከምኡ ዓይነት ገበን ዝፍጽሙ ካለኦት’ውን ትምህርቲ ዝኸውን እዩ ኢሎም።

ኣብዚ ኣኼባ ንነፍሲ ወከፍ እቶም 47 ልኡኽ ናይቲ ኮሚሽን ሰብእዊ መሰላ ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ኣብቲ ጸብጻብ ርኢቶኡ ክህብ ወይ ሕቶ ከቕርብ ናይ 3 ደቓይቕ ዕድል ተዋሂብዎ። ንካለኦት ናይዚ ኮሚሽን ኣባላት ዘይኮና፡ ኣባል ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ልኡኻት ድማ ናይ 2 ደቓይቕ ዕድል ተዋሂብወን። ኣብዚ ኣጋጣሚ ካብቶም 47 ልኡኻት ናይ 26 ሃገራት ርኢቶ ብምሃብን ሕቶ ብምሕታትን ተሳትፎም። ካብዚኣቶም 6 ልኡኻት ንጉጅለ ህግደፍ ዝድግፍ ርኢቶ ሂቦም። ንሳቶም ልኡኽት ናይ ቤላሩስ፡ ቺና፡ ኩባ፡ ኒካራጉዋ፡ ሱዳንን ቨንዙዋላን እዮም

ሂዩማን ራኡትስ ዎች ዝርከበን 8 በርገሳዊ ማሕበራት ነቲ ኣብ ኤርትራ ዝፍጸም ዘሎ ተግባራት ብትሪ ዝኹንን እቶም 47 ልኡኻት ሰብኣዊ መሰል ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ነቲ ብመርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰል ኤርትራ ዝቐረበ ውሳነታትን ለበዋታታን ከጽድቑን ናይታ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ዕድመ ከናውሑን ዝጽውዕ መገለጽታት ኣቕሪበን።

ናይ ጅቡትን ሶማልያን ልኡኻት ኣብ ዝሃብዎ ርኢቶ፡ ነቲ ኣብ ዝመጽእ ዘሎ 1 ሓምለ 2016 በዚ ኮሚሽ ዝመሓላለፍ ዝምልከት ንድፊ ውሳነ ከም ዘለዎም ሓቢሮም።

እዚ ከምዚሉ እንከሎ ኣቲ ኣኼባ ይካየደሉ ኣብ ዝነበረ ግዜ ኣብ ከባቢ ቤት ጽሕፈት ውድብ ሕቡራት ሃገራት ካብቲ ናይ ዝሓለፈ ዓመት ዝወሓደ ቁጽሪ ዝነበሮም ደገፍቲ ስርዓት ህግደፍ ሰላማዊ ሰልፊ የካይዱ ነይሮም። ምስዚ ብዝተዛመደ ጀነቫ ኣብ 23 ሰነ 2016 ነቲ ብገበ ኣብ ልዕሊ ሰብኣዊ መሰላት ዝሕተቱ ላዕለዎት ሓለፍቲ መንግስቲ ኤርትራ ዘቃልዕ ጸብጻብ መርማሪት ኮሚሽን ሰብኣዊ መሰላት ኤርትራ ዝድግፍ፡ ኣዝዩ ሰፊሕ ሰልፊ ደለይቲ ፍትሒ ኤርትራውያን ትጽበ ኣላ።

We were highly impressed by the hard work of the Commission of Inquiry in digging for the truth about the human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity, committed by the ruling party and government of Eritrea and the realization of the commission that every word said from the regime’s mouth or written by its propaganda machines and supporters has been a lie, a misrepresentation of the true fact, or simply a manipulation tactic. The contents of the report of the commission on issues of crimes against humanity, including torture, murder, rape, sexual abuse, mysterious disappearances, indefinite detentions, modern slavery, and systematic physical liquation (to name a few), are not shocking for us anymore because, unfortunately, we know that these crimes constituted the norm in the Eritrean regime since its inception. It is both heart-breaking and devastating when lives so full of promise are taken away from us every day in the Mediterranean waters, or Libyan and Sinai deserts, or shot by the army at the borders with Ethiopia and the Sudan, in addition to the lives of countless   others dying in prisons and detention centres, whose number exceeds that of schools, and other terrible events such as torture and rape that sometimes end in deaths.

In a nutshell, we are by no means exaggerating when we say that going too far to harass anyone who disagrees with the regime, even on marginal issues, and retaliation, constitute the driving motive behind all human rights violations. We could imagine that some people are still struggling to comprehend the situation in Eritrea or really fail to understand our side and acknowledge our fears, as people, confused by the canned speeches, lies and propaganda of the senior officials of the regime and its supporters, though their lies have grown old, and fall short of being witty or creative, but prove to be unfailingly redundant, unoriginal and boring. If the report of the commission does not tell the international community that there is a skunk in the barn and opens their eyes to the dangers hovering over the country, then it is likely that nothing ever will. What a heartless thing to doubt this report we know stands on a solid ground?

By all means, we can say, so far so good. However, it should be clear to the international community that such governments make their own citizens feel helpless and cover up things, and by doing so, are facilitating the rise of extremism. We are not saying that the Eritrean situation is a case of that, right at this stage, but certainly the possibility cannot offhandedly be dismissed or ruled out. If the international community, represented by the Security Council, does not sit down and take some serious consideration of the immediate and long-term damages this regime is causing and take the recommendations of the commission seriously, we are going to pay dearly, as a people and country. The tasks are urgent and should not be delayed. Of course, a punishment for the criminals would not turn the clock back or undo the effects of the crimes committed on the victims or erase the pain they have caused to their loved ones, who have been waiting for years to see the day of the reckoning, but it could bring a measure of closure to the case and be a harsh lesson that would be taught beyond the cases this report had focused on and beyond our borders too.

We hope criminal Isias and his collaborators will meet tough judges like Sylvia Steiner of Hague, who condemned the former Congo Vice president, Jean Pierre Bemba, to 18 years in jail on five charges of rape, murder and pillage this month,   or the judge of the court of the African Union, who condemned Husain Habre of Chad, this month too, to life imprisonment. It is good news and moral boast for justice seekers that rape is for the first time recognized as a weapon used by dictators to demoralize the people and ensure that they do not constitute any challenge or threat to their rule. At the same time, these two most recent African cases of trial that held  criminals accountable for their crimes and ended in serving justice, have confirmed, to both foes and friends alike, that the criminals in the Eritrean regime cannot go unpunished, no matter they think they are smart enough to do so. Nevertheless, as they know their final fate clearly and are up-to-date on current affairs, we see acute frustration and hopelessness leading them to more violence on their people and the neighbouring countries, falsification of facts, unprecedented smear campaigns, scandal, blackmail, inconsistency, and other last ditch measures of suicide and self-destruction. In few words, the Arabic expression, “Ya Rayeh Kater Al Fadayeh”, describes their recent adventurous behaviours the most.

As it is said, the last hour before dawn is the darkest. We take comfort in knowing that we have reached that stage, though the sacrifices are greater than any time before. This means that the report is terribly biting, and the prayers of our God-fearing and believing people seem to have been heard by God/Allah.

JUSTICE SEEKERS’ COORDINATING COMMITTEE

TORONTO, June 21, 2016

June 21, 2016

We, Eritrean Peoples Movement for Justice in North America, are deeply grateful and supportive of the exceptional work done by the Commission of Inquiry Eritrea to determine the extent of human rights violations perpetrated against the Eritrean people by the totalitarian regime in Eritrea. We are particularly encouraged by the conclusion and recommendations made by the commission to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) involved in bringing the perpetrators of those heinous crimes to justice.

It must be recalled that the Eritrean people have never had their plight investigated and the perpetrators of those crimes brought to justice in a century of colonial occupation. None of those abusers have been investigated and tried in a court of law. We are now dealing with a quarter of century of brutal dictatorship by a totalitarian regime that is committing even more egregious violations of basic human right of the Eritrean people. It is long overdue to have the plight of the Eritrean people be brought to a court of law that is well equipped to render justice to the people.

We appeal to the UNCHR, the UN General Assembly, and the UN Security Council to heed the call of the COI-Eritrea to allow the ICC determine the extent and magnitude of the crimes against humanity being committed against the Eritrean people. The United Nations owes it to the Eritrean people to have their suffering heard in a court of law for the first time in their history and to put a stop to their ordeal under the most oppressive regime in the world today.

We thank the Commission of Inquiry for the diligent and objective documentation of the crimes that have been committed in the last quarter of century and are being committed today against the Eritrean people.

1. San Francisco (Bay area) California.
2. San Diego (California)
3. Seattle (Washington)
4. Chicago (Illinois)
5. Indianapolis (Indiana)
6. Denver (Colorado)
7. Cincinnati (Ohio)
8. Columbus (Ohio)
9. Raleigh (North Carolina)
10. Charlotte (North Carolina)
11. Atlanta (Georgia)
12. Boston (Massachusettes)
13. Washington D.C.
14. Buffalo (New York)
15. Harrisburg (Pennsylvania)
16. Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)

Coordinating Committee

Eritrean Peoples Movement for Justice in North America

In the afternoon hours of Tuesday, 21 June, the 32nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council passionately debated the report submitted for its consideration by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea. At opening the debate on the report, Mr. Mike Smith, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, reminded delegations that crimes against humanity were being continually committed in Eritrea for the past 25 years and that a decision on accountability for those crimes in Eritrea will be a lesson for all "perpetrators of such crimes" all over the globe.

Delegations of the 47 members of the UN HR Council were allowed 3 minutes to make comments and questions, if they so wished, and other UN member countries (not members of the Council) and NGO representatives had 2 minutes for their interventions. Delegates of 26 countries made comments/questions, only 6 of them talking strongly on the side of the tyranny in Eritrea. These were delegates from Belarus, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Sudan and Venezuela.

Eight civil society organizations, including the Human Rights Watch, also presented statements which strongly denounced what is going in Eritrea and appealed to all the 47 delegations of the UN Human Rights Council to fully adopted the conclusions and recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea and extend the mandate of the UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Eritrea.

During their interventions, the delegates of Djibouti and Somalia announced that they have a draft resolution for consideration and adoption by the UN Human Rights Council on 1 July 2016.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Eritrean regime were holding a demonstration outside the UN offices with numbers much reduced from their similar event of last year.

Meanwhile, Geneva is expecting a massive demonstration on Thursday, 23 June, by Eritreans voicing their support to the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry that recommends accountability for crimes against humanity perpetrated by Eritrean authorities in the past quarter of a century. nal Court in the Haque all the regime opposed to tyranny at home.