Eritrea-Report-Final

EASO Country of Origin Information Report — Eritrea. Country Focus — 37
be 17 years old or even younger (272). According to a leaked Eritrean military report, one-third of those drafted during
the 21st recruitment round in 2010 were under 18 (273). The Eritrean government claimed that the under-age pupils
attending Warsay-Yikealo school did not belong to the army (274).
The conscription of minors for national service during giffas is also a frequent occurrence and age is often judged
merely by appearance. Parents who submit identity papers proving their child’s real age are often ignored (275). One
report claims that kebabi administrations conscript minors for national service partly to make up numbers but also
for arbitrary reasons or as a reprisal against the child’s family (276).
3.4 12th school year at Sawa
The 12th school year at the Sawa-based Warsay-Yikealo school involves a combination of academic and military
training and labour deployments (277). The Ministry of Education is responsible for the academic session, which begins
after the conscripts are recruited in July or August, lasts seven or eight months and focuses on the propagation of
national values, i.e. the PFDJ’s ideology (278). Pupils are subjected to military discipline during this period and can
be mobilised repeatedly for military training events (279). According to several sources of a Norwegian fact-finding
mission, however, it is likely that the Warsay-Yikealo school has become less military in nature in recent years, since
it is now primarily an educational institution (280).
The academic session ends in February or March with tests in five different subjects (two of which must be English
and Mathematics) held over a period of several days, known as the Eritrean School Leaving Certificate Examination
(or the Eritrean Secondary Education Certificate Examination) (281). All tested pupils receive a certificate, regardless of
their marks (282). The precise length of the military training which then begins differs from year to year; the sources
refer to periods of between six weeks and six months (283). A few sources state that part of the military training takes
place before the academic session, which again suggests that the arrangements are not identical every year (284).
The pupils who score best in the final examination can continue their education at one of the country’s nine colleges
after completing their 12th school year. Since 2007, those who fare less well have been able to start vocational
(272) Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 25; US Department of State, Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 2013 — Eritrea, 27 February 2014, p. 20; UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, 13 May 2014, p. 9; Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, Eritrea: Rekrutierung von Minderjährigen, 21 January 2015, p. 3; Child
Soldiers International, Louder Than Words, 2012, p. 41; Human Rights Concern — Eritrea, Report on Child Rights Violations in Eritrea, 19 November 2013.
(273) Mekonnen, D.R., Translation of the Report of the Commander of the Sawa Military Training Camp to the Office of the Eritrean President, 13 November 2010.
(274) UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group of the Universal Periodic Review, 8 March 2010, pp. 4-5.
(275) UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, 13 May 2014, p. 9; Child Soldiers
International, Louder Than Words, 2012, pp. 41-42; Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, Eritrea: Rekrutierung von Minderjährigen, 21 January 2015, p. 4; Women’s
Refugee Commission, Young and Astray: An Assessment of Factors Driving the Movement of Unaccompanied Children and Adolescents from Eritrea into
Ethiopia, Sudan and Beyond, May 2013, p. 12.
(276) Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe, Eritrea: Rekrutierung von Minderjährigen, 21 January 2015, p. 5.
(277) BBC, Eritrea rapped for ‘military’ schooling, 11 January 2004; Kibreab, G., The Open-Ended Eritrean National Service: The Driver of Forced Migration, 15-16
October 2014, p. 9; Local contact, interview, Ethiopia, 17 September 2014.
(278) Mekonnen, D.R., Translation of the Report of the Commander of the Sawa Military Training Camp to the Office of the Eritrean President, 13 November 2010;
Local contact, interview, Ethiopia, 17 September 2014; Landinfo, Temanotat Eritrea: Nasjonaltjeneste, 23 March 2015, p. 11.
(279) Child Soldiers International, Louder Than Words, 2012, p. 41; HRW, Service for Life. State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea, 16 April 2009, p. 50;
Tronvoll, K., and Mekonnen, D.R., The African Garrison State. Human Rights & Political Development in Eritrea, 2014, p. 181.
(280) Landinfo, Temanotat Eritrea: Nasjonaltjeneste, 23 March 2015, p. 9.
(281) Local contact, interview, Ethiopia, 17 September 2014; Eritrea — Ministry of Information, Warsay-Yikealo Secondary School: Preparing Students for Academic
Excellence, 2 April 2010; Eritrea — Ministry of Information, Eritrea: National School Leaving Examination Got Underway Today, 17 March 2014; NOKUT, Report
on recognition of higher education in Eritrea and Ethiopia, January 2013, p. 9.
(282) NOKUT, Report on recognition of higher education in Eritrea and Ethiopia, January 2013, p. 9.
(283) UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, 13 May 2014, p. 12; Local contact,
interview, Ethiopia, 17 September 2014; Udlændingestyrelsen (Danish Immigration Service), Eritrea — Drivers and Root Causes of Emigration, National Service
and the Possibility of Return, Appendix edition, December 2014, p. 11.
(284) Human Rights Concern — Eritrea, Report on Child Rights Violations in Eritrea, 19 November 2013; Landinfo, Temanotat Eritrea: Nasjonaltjeneste, 23 March
2015, p. 12.