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In a memorandum addressed to heads of 47 delegations of member states to the 38th Session of  the UN Human Rights Council meeting currently meeting in Geneva, the EPDP stated the situation in Eritrea has not changed even a bit in years and urged the UN body to increase efforts towards  implementing the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) for human rights. The Council was also asked to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to Eritrea.

Ms Sheila B. Keetharuth, the UN Special Rapporteur who held the mandate for the last six years, is now ending her term of service and the Council will consider renewal of the mandate and the appointment of her successor. However, the effort to renew the mandate is expected to be challenged by the Eritrean regime and its supporters. Ms Sheila Keetharuth is scheduled to address the 38th Session during the morning hours of Tuesday, 26 June.

Also addressed to Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, EPDP memorandum, dated 21 June 2018, briefly updated the delegations on the unchanged human rights situation in Eritrea and strongly asked the Council not only to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur but also to take concrete actions towards bringing to justice those Eritrean officials who were suspected of having perpetrated crimes against humanity for decades.

The memorandum, which regretted for the Council's failure so far to implement its decisions, on the other hand  expressed gratefulness for the services rendered in the past six years by the outgoing Eritrea Special Rapporteur, Ms Sheila Keetharuth.

Copies of the EPDP memorandum were sent also to foreign ministries of concerned countries and their embassies abroad.

In the meantime, the EPDP attended at UN-Geneva a side-event on Eritrea on Monday, 25 June, that discussed the achievements of the Special Rapporteur and the challenges ahead for human rights activists in regard to Eritrea. Ms Sheila Keetharuth said in her brief intervention at the side-event that human rights activists should continue their efforts to bring Eritrean human rights abusers to justice by establishing fact-finding and activity centers in many countries of the globe.