Armed and insecure

Recommendations

Info

oth physical and psychological, during interrogation by the police, military and security forces; inhumane prison conditions; compulsory national service of an unspecified and extended duration; no respect for civil liberties, including the freedoms of expression and opinion, assembly, association, religious belief and movement; discrimination against women, and sexual and gender-based violence; violation of child rights, including conscription, which has a profound impact on education; and precarious living conditions. These violations were cited as reasons pushing a constant stream of Eritreans to cross the borders.” 484 So worrisome was this report that the UN Human Rights Council established a Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea; its first report in June 2015 was just as terrifying, finding that “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government. Some of these violations may constitute crimes against humanity.” 485 A follow-up report—to document the said crimes against humanity—was launched in June 2016, noting “no improvement with respect to the most critical human rights violations”, asserting “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity, namely, enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, other inhumane acts, persecution, rape and murder, have been committed in Eritrea since 1991”, and recommending the UNSC “refer the situation in Eritrea to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for consideration”. 486 As a result of Eritrea’s deplorable situation, thousands of people have fled the country—at times up to 5,000 per month—leading to enormous refugee flows to neighbouring countries (particularly Sudan and Ethiopia); in mid-2014 the UNHCR estimated the total number at over 350,000, or almost 10 per cent of the nation’s citizens. 487 As such, Eritreans are reportedly the “second-largest nationality seeking asylum in Europe after Syrians”, despite the treacherous journey across sea and/or desert that this entails. 488 Thousands of Eritreans, including unaccompanied minors as young as seven years old, have escaped to Sudan, particularly its Shagarab camp, where almost all the 35,000 refugees are Eritreans hoping to reach Europe. 489 In the words of Amnesty International, “twenty years on from the euphoric celebrations of independence, Eritrea is one of the most repressive, secretive and inaccessible countries in the world”. 490 With tensions with Ethiopia unresolved—the status quo has been described as a state of “no war, no peace”, as there has been no peace deal, a UN peacekeeping mission has left, and thousands of troops face off along the heavily fortified 1,000 kilometre-long border—is 484 OHCHR, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth’, May 2013, www.ohchr.org/Documents/ HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.HRC.23.53_ENG.pdf. 485 OHCHR, ‘Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea’, June 2015, www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIEritrea/Pages/ReportCoIEritrea.aspx. 486 OHCHR, ‘Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea’, www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIEritrea/Pages/2016ReportCoIEritrea.aspx. 487 According to the Commission of Inquiry, “The extensive militarization of all aspects of life in Eritrea, the fear and experience of national service, its policy of prolonged military conscription, arbitrary arrests, detention and torture and persecution on grounds of religious belief are among the main reasons causing people to flee”. OHCHR, ‘Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea’, www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIEritrea/Pages/2016ReportCoIEritrea.aspx. 488 BBC, ‘Inside the secretive state of Eritrea’, March 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31851587. 489 BBC, ‘The lone seven-year-olds leaving home and country behind’, February 2015, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31586810. 490 Amnesty International, ‘Eritrea: Rampant repression 20 years after independence’, May 2013, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2013/05/eritrearampant-repression-years-after-independence/. 112 PAX ! Armed and insecure
Eritrea a ticking time-bomb? 491 Or is there perhaps reason for some hope, as the country’s diplomatic and economic isolation appears to be easing? 492 Armed Conflicts and Armed Violence Despite its internal repression and appalling human rights situation, Eritrea today is not, on the surface, a highly violent country internally. In the absence of a raging armed conflict like the historically recent clashes with Ethiopia, Eritrea’s rates of violence have purportedly declined significantly. In fact, since 2010, the available data for ‘violent deaths’ places Eritrea quite close to the global average, which for many countries in the Horn of Africa—and Africa more broadly—would be quite an accomplishment. For the most recent year available, 2012, Eritrea’s rate stood at 7.4 per 100,000. 493 Likewise, when considering only ‘homicides’ by whatever means, the country’s rate for that same year was 7.1. 494 These numbers are particularly impressive as they are roughly half the rates that applied between 2004 and 2008. With an average of 100 firearm homicides per year between 2007 and 2012, it will come as no surprise that civilian ownership of guns in Eritrea is extremely low: an estimated 0.5 firearms per 100 people, giving one of the lowest rates of private gun ownership in the world, with the country ranked 169 out of 178 countries. 495 It is unclear, however, how much of this decline and the low levels of violence are real, or related to the repressive regime snuffing out conflict and imprisoning political adversaries, or whether the data are tainted by Eritrea’s absolute lack of transparency and the unknown numbers of citizens suffering ‘enforced disappearance’. As noted by the Commission of Inquiry, “it is not law that rules Eritreans, but fear”. 496 Weapon Use Regarding the use of conventional weapons and explosives in major incidents of armed violence, there were several deadly attacks, particularly between 2010 and 2012, from Eritrean armed rebels on military positions and economic infrastructure (power stations, water 491 BBC, ‘Eritrea country profile’, May 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13349078. 492 “In the last few years, the pendulum has swung back in Eritrea’s favour, and – against expectations – the government has used the opportunity to regain status in the Horn that it had so completely lost to Ethiopia […]. Most importantly, its dire economic isolation – despite continuing sanctions – has eased […]. The European Union and its member states, anxious to assist the regime in stemming the flow of migrants toward the Mediterranean, have offered renewed development assistance of €200 million in late 2015.” ‘A Wake-up Call for Eritrea and Ethiopia’, June 2016, http://blog.crisisgroup.org/worldwide/2016/06/15/awake-up-call-for-eritrea-and-ethiopia/. 493 Geneva Declaration, ‘Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015’, May 2015, www.genevadeclaration.org/measurability/global-burden-of-armed-violence/ global-burden-of-armed-violence-2015.html. 494 UNODC, ‘Global Homicide Study 2013’, www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf. 495 Geneva Declaration, ‘Global Burden of Armed Violence 2015’, May 2015; Small Arms Survey, ‘Completing the Count: Civilian firearms - Annexe online’, in: ‘Small Arms Survey 2007: Guns and the City’, http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2007.html. 496 OHCHR, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth’, May 2013, www.ohchr.org/Documents/ HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.HRC.23.53_ENG.pdf. “The basic tenets of the rule of law are not respected in Eritrea owing to a centralized system of Government where decision-making powers are concentrated in the hands of the President and his close collaborators.” PAX ! Armed and insecure 113
Page 1 and 2:
Armed and insecure An overview of a
Page 3 and 4:
Armed and insecure An overview of a
Page 5 and 6:
PAX ! Armed and insecure 5
Page 7 and 8:
MSF NISAT-PRIO OCHA OHCHR RECSA RPG
Page 9 and 10:
Weapon Use 68 Military Spending and
Page 11 and 12:
Agents of Political Conflict in Afr
Page 13 and 14:
Saudi Arabia Map 2 Horn of Africa S
Page 15 and 16:
unacceptable humanitarian harm caus
Page 17 and 18:
corruption, Somalia ranks last in t
Page 19 and 20:
A few lessons learned can be mentio
Page 22 and 23:
1. Sudan Once the continent’s lar
Page 24 and 25:
iggest perpetrator of this type of
Page 26 and 27:
documented, a few of which will be
Page 28 and 29:
The relentless bombing and constant
Page 30 and 31:
107mm mortars, as well as reportedl
Page 32 and 33:
weapon systems are Russia, China, U
Page 34 and 35:
small arms and light weapons (SALW)
Page 36 and 37:
ocket launchers are also promoted.
Page 38 and 39:
which they deemed ineffective. 124
Page 40 and 41:
Spotlight: Children killed and maim
Page 42:
© Enough / Amanda Hsiao South Suda
Page 45 and 46:
!Abyei South Sudan Juba The Sudanes
Page 47 and 48:
“Hundreds of extra-judicial killi
Page 49 and 50:
embargo on South Sudan. 161 In earl
Page 51 and 52:
implement” the remainder of the c
Page 53 and 54:
thought to have been considerable,
Page 55 and 56:
Equatorian leaders complained to th
Page 57 and 58:
Spotlight: An Armed Newborn—Pre-i
Page 59 and 60:
PAX ! Armed and insecure 59
Page 62 and 63: 3. Uganda With a population slightl
Page 64 and 65: civil disobedience”—led to anot
Page 66 and 67: against the arrest and beating of a
Page 68 and 69: nonetheless killed 725 civilians in
Page 70 and 71: Concerning major weapons systems, t
Page 72 and 73: SU-30s do not appear to meet any ob
Page 74 and 75: the aim of offsetting the North’s
Page 76 and 77: Spotlight—Uganda and South Sudan:
Page 78: © Pete Lewis / UK DFID Refugee she
Page 81 and 82: Kenya Nairobi largest city), which
Page 83 and 84: end of 2014; the remaining cases ar
Page 85 and 86: them. 355 A few days later, 36 work
Page 87 and 88: 2009, reaching USD 954 million in 2
Page 89 and 90: 380 381 FN PRODUCTION Kenya has a s
Page 91 and 92: of USD 16,305 in small arms ammunit
Page 93 and 94: One fascinating investigative repor
Page 96 and 97: 5. Ethiopia Among the largest and m
Page 98 and 99: the secession and autonomy efforts
Page 100 and 101: Ethiopian security forces have kill
Page 102 and 103: while providing limited hardware, t
Page 104 and 105: with the transformation of S-75 sur
Page 106 and 107: had been binding since March 1999.
Page 108: © David Stanley Military equipment
Page 111: Eritrea Asmara severe drought and f
Page 115 and 116: Ethiopian economy and disrupted the
Page 117 and 118: Arms Transfers The imposition of th
Page 119 and 120: used, and was contaminated by, clus
Page 121 and 122: trying to run away” and “one of
Page 124 and 125: 7. Somalia Somalia topped the ‘Fr
Page 126 and 127: In a 2015 global study of corruptio
Page 128 and 129: Particularly dramatic attacks occur
Page 130 and 131: Despite being dubbed “Al-Shabaab
Page 132 and 133: educed by almost half as incidents
Page 134 and 135: also been starkly criticised. 616 M
Page 136 and 137: and extended it until October 2015,
Page 138 and 139: SMALL ARMS Because of the embargo,
Page 140 and 141: supplying enemy lines, as it has be
Page 142 and 143: consignment” seized on the MV Sha
Page 144: © US DoD / Staff Sgt. Joseph Araiz
Page 147 and 148: Djibouti Djibouti nation’s mariti
Page 149 and 150: killed. 689 Regardless, the history
Page 151 and 152: the launching-pad for drone surveil
Page 153 and 154: use of major weapons in Djibouti—
Page 155 and 156: the UN Firearms Protocol on small a
Page 157 and 158: PAX ! Armed and insecure 157
Page 159 and 160: conflict situations or homicides. 7
Page 161 and 162: For example, SIPRI has been unable
Page 163 and 164:
weapons have been acquired is often
Page 165 and 166:
To the governments of Horn of Afric
Page 168:
Godebaldkwartier 74 3511 DZ Utrecht
show all

Armed and insecure

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?