8 — EASO Country of Origin Information Report — Eritrea. Country Focus Mmhidar NBHE NCEW NDFLES NUEW NUEYS Administration (all levels) National Board of Higher Education National Confederation of Eritrean Workers National Democratic Front for the Li<strong>ber</strong>ation of the Eritrean Saho National Union of Eritrean Women National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students Nus-Awraja Sub-province, 2nd tier administrative division (until 1996) Nus-Zoba Sub-region, 2nd tier administrative division (after 1996) PGE PFDJ RSADO Shaebia Tegadelti TGE TPDM Provisional Government of Eritrea People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (successor of EPLF) Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization Eritrean People’s Li<strong>ber</strong>ation Front (Tigrinya) Veteran independence fighters (singular: Tegadelay) Transitional Government of Eritrea Tigray People’s Democratic Movement (Eritrea-based Ethiopian organisation) Woreda 3rd tier administrative division (until 1996) WYDC Warsay Yikealo Development Campaign Zoba Region, 1st tier administrative division (after 1996)
Introduction and source assessment The Country Focus on Eritrea aims to provide information on a selection of topics relevant for international protection status determination (PSD; refugee status and subsidiary protection). This report was drafted by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), Division Analysis and Services, Switzerland in German language and has been translated into English. Access to relevant country of origin information (COI) about Eritrea, especially linked to human rights issues, is generally difficult. This is mainly due to the fact that human rights monitors have no access to the country (2), research options for scholars are very restricted and there is no free press (3). Furthermore, the authorities generally do not release information on topics such as the national service. Hence, reports on sensitive issues have to rely largely on sources outside Eritrea. The few available reports based on research in Eritrea mainly draw on government statements and anecdotal knowledge of international representatives, and not on first-hand information. This difficulty was demonstrated in recent polemics regarding a Danish fact-finding report (4). Due to limited direct access to relevant information in Eritrea and the fact that some well-established sources (such as US Department of State, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) do not always quote the origin of their information, there is some risk of roundtripping (5) and false confirmation of information. Therefore this report uses a wide variety of sources as possible. Information from a wide range of scholars, humanrights monitors, aid agencies, non-governmental organisations and governmental agencies has been used in order to provide as balanced a picture as possible under the circumstances described above. Some core topics of this report are particularly affected by the problematic access to reliable sources. These include national service, prison conditions, torture and treatment of deserters and draft evaders; the respective chapters are explicitly marked. On these topics, the reporting human rights organisations rely mostly on information from persons who are familiar with the human rights situation in Eritrea but who live abroad. These include refugees, journalists, political activists and former high-ranking officials in exile, diplomats and international aid workers formerly based in Eritrea, academics, government officials as well as representatives of international organisations (6). On other topics unrelated to the human-rights situation in Eritrea, information is less disputed and thus more reliable. On these topics, information given by the Eritrean authorities has been used as well as other publications, which generally are not contradictory (with a few exceptions e.g. regarding the issuance of exit visas). On some topics, there are relatively few current publications available. The older sources used in the report are still reliable. (2) Cf. UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Oral Update by Mr Mike Smith, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council, 16 March 2015; HRW, Service for Life. State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea, 16 April 2009, p. 6. (3) Landinfo, Temanotat Eritrea: Nasjonaltjeneste, 23 March 2015, pp. 5-6; Tronvoll, K., and Mekonnen, D.R., The African Garrison State. Human Rights & Political Development in Eritrea, 2014, p. 18; cf. Chapter 1.6. (4) Human Rights Watch, Denmark: Eritrea Immigration Report Deeply Flawed, 17 Decem<strong>ber</strong> 2014; UNHCR, Fact Finding Mission report of the Danish Immigration Service, ‘Eritrea — Drivers and Root Causes of Emigration, National Service and the Possibility of Return. Country of Origin Information for Use in the Asylum Determination process’, UNHCR’s perspective, Decem<strong>ber</strong> 2014; Caperi, Eritrea: Professor Gaim Kibreab replies to the Danish Report, 28 Novem<strong>ber</strong> 2014; Arnone, A. and 21 other signatories, Statement on EU Asylum and Aid Policy to Eritrea, 31 March 2015. (5) Round tripping occurs when secondary sources cite each other, instead of referring to the original/primary source. European Union, Common EU guidelines for processing COI, April 2008, p. 7. (6) UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, 13 May 2014, p. 11; Amnesty International, Eritrea: 20 years of independence, but still no freedom, 9 May 2013, p. 8; HRW, Service for Life. State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea, 16 April 2009, p. 6; Tronvoll, K., and Mekonnen, D.R., The African Garrison State. Human Rights & Political Development in Eritrea, 2014, pp. 18-19; US Department of State, 2013 Human Rights Report: Appendix A — Notes on Preparation of Report, 27 February 2014.
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