EU-initiative for Eritrea will not help to end despotism

According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the EU’s policy on refugees from Eritrea is to be seen as “short-sighted” and “unrealistic”. On Monday, the STP’s Africa-consultant, Ulrich Delius, stated in Göttingen: “If the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, denotes the asylum seekers from Eritrea as economic refugees, this contradicts the fact that Germany tends to accept almost all their applications for asylum. […] Is it possible that the Commissioner has no idea that North Korea is the only state the UN Human Rights Council has to worry about even more than the small country in the Horn of Africa?”

The recently promised aid initiative will not help to reduce the wave of refugees from Eritrea. Delius emphasized that there are thousands of young men trying to escape the state arbitrariness that impedes their life planning. Thus, they must fear an involuntary and life-long service in the army of dictator Isaias Afewerki, enforced throughout the nation with brutal measures – including torture, ill-treatment and forced labor. In addition, Eritrea’s population is suffering from ethnic and religious persecution, limited freedom of the press, forced labor and crimes against humanity, as stated in a 500-page report – published by the United Nations in June 2015 – which focuses on the dramatic human rights situation in Eritrea.

“If one claims to be fighting the causes of flight in Eritrea, the country’s difficult relationship to Ethiopia cannot be ignored,” said Delius. Eritrea’s leaders are justifying the forced recruitment with being threatened by the neighboring country. The two countries have been involved in murderous proxy wars in the region for years. Until now, the EU has always taken sides with Ethiopia, the (allegedly) strategically more important country, giving the Eritrean authorities a reason to reinforce its security apparatus. “The only option to help end the exodus of the young Eritreans would be to agree on a safety guarantee for Eritrea and a more balanced policy for the Horn of Africa.”

During a visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi last Thursday, Neven Mimica announced that the EU will provide 200 million Euros for development projects in Eritrea, most probably before the end of November 2015. Further, the EU could provide several million Euros to reduce the causes for flight. The money is supposed to be used for energy projects. Following international criticism, the projects are not to be implemented by governmental bodies. “We welcome this,” said Delius. “It would be inacceptable if dictators were to receive financial rewards for establishing a system of constant persecution, forcing hundreds of thousands to become refugees.”

Header photo: Roberto Maldeno via Flickr