Briefing

May 2014


NATIONAL SERVICE IN ERITREA
SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME










This briefing aims to highlight the Indefinite National Service as a core issue of human rights violation
where conscripts are recruited forcefully and kept indefinitely against their will often working in
construction and agricultural projects under slave like conditions.
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Contents

1. Background: Human Rights Violations in Eritrea ............................................................................ 2
2. Introduction: Indefinite National Service Must Stop ...................................................................... 3
3. Eritreas National Service: Indefinite Conscription and Forced Labour .......................................... 4
4. Impacts of Eritreas national service ............................................................................................... 4
4.1 Impact on recruits ................................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Implications for Eritrea ........................................................................................................... 7
5 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 8
6 Recommendations .......................................................................................................................... 9

















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Briefing from the Stop National Service
Slavery in Eritrea Campaign


1. Background: Human Rights Violations in Eritrea

Since the mid-2000s nearly all reports on Eritrea have consistently reported that
human rights conditions have deteriorated drastically. Nearly all basic human rights
are violated and the indefinite military service, torture, arbitrary detention have made
it impossible for many Eritreans to remain in their country. Thousands of Eritreans
flee the country each month, often taking unimaginable risks posed both by
government policies as well as unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers capitalising
from the atrocities in Eritrea.
With reputations only paralleled by North Korea, todays Eritrea is a country with no
constitution, no functioning legal system, no independent press or political system.
No elections are held, dissent of any magnitude is not tolerated and power is
concentrated in the hands of the president and his few enablers.
Those that are forced to leave the country often do so through increasingly
dangerous routes. In mid-2012, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea
concluded that Bedouin traffickers...routinely hold their passengers captive and
demand exorbitant ransoms from their families for their releasetypically between
$30,000 and $50,000. If ransom is not paid, hostages may find themselves brutally
tortured or killed. The Monitoring Group included five testimonies of Eritreans.
In October 2013, more than 360 Eritrean refugees drowned when a boat bringing
them to Europe capsized near Lampedusa, Italy.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over
305,000 Eritreans (more than 5 percent of the population) have fled during the past
decade. Majority of those who leave Eritrea and hence a great majority of those who
become victims of trafficking and dangerous exits are young people often fleeing the
indefinite national service
In its resolution 20/20, the UN Human Rights Council expressed deep concern at the
ongoing reports of grave violations of human rights in Eritrea, and decided to appoint
a special rapporteur. The Council requested the Special Rapporteur to submit a
report at its twenty-third session. It also called upon the Government of Eritrea to
cooperate for the fulfilment of the mandate. However despite repeated requests,
Eritrea denied the United Nation special rapporteur on Eritrea, Sheila Keetharuth, a
visa.


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In a 2013, in a report based on refugee interviews, she concluded that in Eritrea
basic tenets of the rule of law are not respected. Following her report, the Council
strongly condemned Eritreas continued widespread and systematic violations of
human rights and fundamental freedoms.
In February 2014 Eritreas second Universal Periodic Review on human rights was
adopted and discussions highlighted the level of concern on a wide range of issues,
including the indefinite national service that is causing the unprecedented levels of
forced migration of Eritreans.


2. Introduction: Indefinite National Service Must Stop
when I realised there was no end to it I made a decision to leave and it took two
years to escape (Robel served from 1997-2004, now lives in Italy)
This briefing aims to highlight the Indefinite National Service as a core issue of
human rights violation where conscripts are recruited forcefully and kept indefinitely
against their will often working in construction and agricultural projects under slave
like conditions.
The briefing is based on the experiences of many former recruits who fled the
country after serving periods ranging from 2 to almost 20 years in the national
service; many have left friends and family members who are still serving.
In video evidence, social media and face to face discussions, former recruited
outlined the impact of the national service that forced them to leave the country by
any means necessary. Men and women talked about:

The economic devastation caused by their period of service
The practice of illegal detention, torture and inhumane treatment entailed in
the recruitment and maintenance of the indefinite national service
The psychological impact of forced recruitment and indefinite periods of
service
The loss of employment and education opportunities
The health related impact of long term conscription






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3. Eritreas National Service: Indefinite Conscription and
Forced Labour
The only option for a woman to escape the harsh labour is to become pregnant,
many of my friends had unplanned pregnancies and some got married just to escape
national service (Lydia 17
th
round recruit now lives in Netherlands )

In Eritrea conscription into the national service is compulsory for all men and
unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 50
1
. Although the law limits national
service to 18 months, since the border war with Ethiopia in 1998, demobilisation has
generally not taken place, in the exceptional circumstances a conscript has been
demobilised it is through unofficial channels (often through personal contacts).
Since the final year of high school is only provided in the Military Service Training
Centre (Sawa Military Camp), children as young as 16 can be recruited. During the
roundups that target potential draft dodgers and absconders, children under the age
of 18 have been caught up and inducted, trained and deployed for national service.
Many recruits report to have been subjected to violence and ill-treatment for alleged
defiance or following a failed escape attempt. Although many women are
ambivalent about reporting it, recruits say it is well known that many women are
subjected to sexual violence from military commanders.
Given that recruits arent currently required for active military duties, much of their
time is spent in what the government calls developmental activities under a plan
known as Warsay Yikealo Development Campaign. This involves mainly, hard labour
in construction and agriculture, including working for construction companies owned
by the ruling party and even individuals associated with the ruling party (PFDJ). The
conscripts are paid $15 per month and have to pay for their food and subsistence out
of that.
2



4. Impacts of Eritreas national service

Inevitably the net effect of the current status of Eritreas national service has been
detrimental to the recruits, their families and communities and ultimately to Eritrea.
The unprecedented outflow of refugees and particularly the nature of the journeys

1
David Bozzini, February 16
th
, 2012 National Service and State Structures in Eritrea
http://www.ejpd.admin.ch/content/dam/data/migration/laenderinformationen/herkunftslaenderinformation
en/afrika/eri/ERI-agreed-minutes-bozzini-e.pdf
2
GAIM KIBREAB, Forced labour in Eritrea J. of Modern African Studies, 47, 1 (2009), pp. 4172. f 2009 Cambridge University
Press doi:10.1017/S0022278X08003650 Printed in the United Kingdom
http://ehrea.org/force.pdf
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has also had implications for the wider region and further afield, as the number of
vulnerable refugees in need of support continues to spiral.



4.1 Impact on recruits

sometimes it is double jeopardy, even your own family dont understand the pressure
you are under and you cant talk about it freely with them either
(Lydia 17
th
round recruit now lives in Netherlands)

Psychological impact: The psychological impact of the current status of the
national service is like a double edged sword devastating young people. On the one
hand the national service is a cause of major stress and trauma at every stage:
forced separation from family members, hard labour and military training under
extreme conditions are all causes of potential trauma. Those who contemplate
leaving and those caught over-staying their leaves are all punished severely (and
often tortured).
On the other hand the systematic and indefinite nature of the service has shattered
the entire societys resilience, making it impossible for young people to relay on their
respective communities for support and healing.
Relationships are disrupted at all levels in the society (family relationships,
friendships, romantic relationships, relationships with spiritual leaders etc). As a
result of these discontinuities young people are unable to draw from the social
capital of their respective communities to overcome difficulties and remain resilient.
Recovering from the impacts of such devastation, both on the individual and
collective levels is likely going to be a major challenge for Eritreans for a long time to
come.

I served four years and now I am a refugee... I am trying my best, I am trying very
hard to change my life but all the youth I left behind are still there
(Iyob served 4 years now lives in the UK)
Economic impact: The Eritrean economy is largely based on subsistence
agriculture with over 60% of its population relying on agricultural activities, for food
and income. The indefinite national service takes the most productive members
away from their families and villages and this plays a significant role on the rising
levels of poverty in the country.
Much of the non agriculture based economy (construction, service industry, small
scale industries and increasingly mining) is dominated by the government and the
private sector is pushed out of the market both as a result of labour shortage (as the
workforce is engaged otherwise in the national service) as well as the stiff
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competition from the government that benefits from an unrestricted supply of free
labour. In many cases, it is diaspora based Eritreans that are sustaining families and
even whole communities.


We were told to go for military training in the middle of the semester at second year
in university (Yonas served 4 years now lives in the US)

Loss of opportunities: for the majority of young Eritreans the most productive years
are now spent serving the interminable national service working on projects and
initiatives that they have no stake on. This means they lose on opportunities to
develop careers, get trained for a trade or vocation and/or start families. By contrast
Eritreans who leave the country, even to unhospitable refugee receiving countries,
are able to send money to their families with visible positive impact for their families.
Indeed many diaspora based Eritreans including those within the national service
conscription age visit Eritrea during the summer months and the contrast in the life
opportunity differences are starkly visible.
Some of the punishment is too harsh even for animals let alone for human beings
who are serving their country for free. They kicked us all the time even on our necks,
you can imagine the potential consequences for our lives
(Abdela 17
th
round served 5 years, currently lives in Indonesia)

Torture and inhumane treatment: given the length and nature of the national
service, patriotism and a sense of duty are no longer the factors maintaining it. The
regime uses force and often brutal force, to capture young people and recruit them
into the national service and then to keep them stationed in remote areas of the
country away from their families with little or no break for years on end. Those who
attempt to flee and are unsuccessful, are detained and severely punished often
using methods that can only be described as torture. Many former recruits report to
have fled the country following several episodes of beatings and maltreatments in
the various detention facilities operated by the regiments. Sawa training centre,
Kiloma training centre, Wia training centre have all got some of the countrys most
notorious detention facilities. National service recruits are also said to be held in
facilities at Dahlak Island. Many recruits die during those punishments or
subsequently as a result of injuries sustained.

I have a friend who died because she didnt receive medical treatment for the
pneumonia she contracted when we were there, a totally preventable death that still
haunts all of us (Lydia 17
th
round recruit)

Health related problems: the nature of hard work recruits are required to engage in,
often under harsh climates of the training facilities and areas of deployment, in the
absence of basic provisions, often means many recruits become ill and those with
pre-existing conditions are even more vulnerable to health deteriorations. The
training and deployment areas are extremely poorly equipped to deal with the
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volume of need. Since one of the few ways of official demobilisation is ill health,
authorities tend to respond to requests for medical attention negatively; as a result
many have died unnecessarily or contracted serious illnesses. Many flee to save
their lives from such unnecessary death and illness.



4.2 Implications for Eritrea

everybody has a dream about escaping the national service one day, there is no
other way out of it even if you fall ill they ignore you till it is too late (Filmon decided
to leave when he fell ill with a serious heart problem and was refused treatment. He
now lives in Sweden)

Refugee crisis: Over 300,000 refugees have been registered by the UNHCR in the
past decade, it is believed that many more slip through Ethiopia and Sudan without
registration, putting the current estimate of Eritrean refugees close to a million in
total. Given Eritreas population is estimated to be between 4 and 5 million the
figures represent a rather large proportion of the population. While refugee camps in
Ethiopia and Sudan have sheltered a large number of women, children and elderly
men, UNHCR figures show that close to half of the refugees in recent years have
been women and men under the age of 25 fleeing the indefinite national service.

Unaccompanied refugee children: There are thousands of unaccompanied
Eritrean children in refugee camps across the region. With little support and
protection they are vulnerable and exposed to abuse, violence and exploitation.
Children flee Eritrea for various reasons, but those interviewed often state that
prominent amongst their reasons to leave the country was their fear of military
conscription.
Level of militarisation: the level of militarization in Eritrea has gone beyond what is
considered maximum level of militarization in any given situation. According to the
International Crisis Group (ICG), such maximum is believed to be 10% of a given
total population. In Eritrea, accurate figures are not possible to obtain. But plausible
estimations indicate that the level of militarization has already gone to more than
25% of the total population. In situations like this, a society ceases to function
properly
3
.


3
Daniel Mekonnen, "Drivers of Fragility and the Perils of State Failure in Eritrea, paper presented at the
International Conference on Human Security: Threats, Risks, Crisis, 1819 October 2012, Kadir Has University,
Istanbul, Turkey
Nicole Hirt & and Abdulkader S. Mohammad. 'Dreams don't come true in Eritrea': Anomie and family
disintegration due to the structural militarization of society. Journal of Modern African Studies 2013 51(1):
139-168.
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5 Conclusion
You have only one life and you are not going to gamble with that life it is a huge risk
escaping Eritrea but it has to be done (Filmon)

Military service for public works constitutes compulsory or forced labour. Eritrea,
National Service recruits are not only forced to take part in public works, but also
work for rms owned by the ruling party, and even for personal enrichment of senior
army ocers.
Article 25 of Forced Labour Convention 1930 (ratified by Eritrea in Feb 2000) states:
The illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour shall be punishable as a penal
offence and it shall be an obligation on any Member ratifying this Convention.
The Convention is an indication of the international communitys determination to
eradicate the slavery-like practice of forced labour. These were reinforced by the
General Conference of the ILOs adoption of the Convention Concerning the
Abolition of Forced Labour (AFLC 1957). AFLC stipulates that states that ratify the
Convention are required to suppress and not to make use of any form of forced or
compulsory labour: (a) as a means of political coercion or education (b) as a
method of mobilizing and using labour for purposes of economic development; as a
means of labour discipline.
The ALFC, states compulsory military service, as one of the exemptions which
otherwise would have fallen under the definition of forced or compulsory labour,
however the service extracted in virtue of compulsory military service should be of a
purely military character and necessary for national defense.
Therefore the open-ended Warsay yikalo Development Project component of the
National Service is forced labour and a form of modern slavery prohibited in both the
above Conventions.
The border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia came to an end amidst much
devastation fourteen years ago and although a peace deal was agreed, there are still
tensions between the two countries. It is these tensions that the government of
Eritrea often uses to justify the indefinite national service. However, the activities that
national service recruits cannot be classed as defence activities essential for national
security.

Kjetil Tronvoll & Daniel R. Mekonnen The African Garrison State: Human Rights and Political Development in
Eritrea (James Currey, July 2014 forthcoming)

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The national service is neither safeguarding national interest nor providing valuable
experience and opportunities for the young people serving; to the contrary it has
become detrimental to Eritrea and all Eritreans. The indefinite national service is a
major cause of the Eritrean refugee crisis including human trafficking and hazardous
crossings over the Mediterranean.

I refer to it as slavery; if an individual is worked like an animal, without any respect or
dignity it is slavery and that is how I was treated (Robel)

6 Recommendations


Stop National Service Slavery campaign calls on:


The Government of Eritrea:
1. To comply with the proclamation governing the national service and limits the
period to the 18 months stipulated there.
2. To comply with the ILOs forced labour conventions (numbers 29 and 105),
and the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
These provisions oblige all member states to promote core conventions,
including the forced labour conventions, regardless of whether they have
ratified them or not.
3. To abide by the Universal Declaration for Human rights and stop the practice
of forced labour and indefinite national service. Article 4 of the Declaration
states: No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave
trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
4. To implement the recommendations made, calling Eritrea to stop the practice
of forced and indefinite national service, during Eritreas first UPR in 2009.
5. To accept the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Eritreas outstanding
request for a visit to assess the situation in the country.

The UN
1. To address Eritreas continued request for assistance with enforcing the
provisions of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commissions ruling, by facilitating
Ethiopias compliance with the ruling.
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2. To take serious measures against Eritrea for failing to comply with Article 4 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as Article 25 of Forced
Labour Convention.

I left because I am not a slave and I dont want to be a slave in my own country
(Filmon)