|
 Network
of Eritreans for Constitutional
Governance
(NECG)
Eritrea
Doubly Evil
2
April 2010
By Doug Bandow
The
American Spectator
Eritrea
is not quite two decades old. But it has become an international
problem, a source of instability and repression on the Horn of
Africa. It also is one of the world's worst religious persecutors.
Eritrea
was an Italian colony, administered by Great Britain after World War
II, and then federated with Ethiopia in 1951. An independence
movement soon became active. After three decades of war Eritrea
became a separate nation.
The
conflict was bitter and costly; for many years Ethiopia was
controlled by one of world's most brutal communist regimes, which was
complicit in the 1980s famine that killed an estimated one million
Ethiopians. A bloody border war flared up between the two nations a
dozen years ago. Eritrea also fought a brief war with Yemen over a
disputed island. These conflicts have provided the governing regime
an excuse for delaying elections and repressing human rights,
including religious liberty.
Eritrea
continues to have a malign impact on its neighbors. Last month the
State Department reported that Asmara "acted as a principal
source and conduit for arms to antigovernment, extremists, and
insurgent groups in Somalia." Eritrea has responded to
Washington's criticism with vitriol, accusing Washington of promoting
chaos in the region. The State Department has suspended consular
services at the embassy in Asmara and issued a travel warning for
Eritrea.
As bad
as the Eritrean government is for its neighbors, it is far worse for
its own people. Eritrea is widely recognized by human rights groups
and Western states as having an extraordinarily repressive
government. It is one of "the world's most systematic human
rights violators," according to the State Department.
The
Department's 2009 Human Rights report catalogued a long list of
abuses, including "abridgement of citizens' right to change
their government through a democratic process, unlawful killings by
security forces, torture and beating of prisoners, sometimes
resulting in death, abuse and torture of national service evaders,
some of whom reportedly died from their injuries while in detention;
harsh and life-threatening prison conditions," and many more.
Last
year Freedom House rated Eritrea "Not Free" and placed the
country in the lowest category for political rights. Freedom House
explained: "The government of Eritrea continued its
long-standing suppression of democratic and human rights in 2008, and
a group of independent journalists imprisoned in 2001 remained behind
bars. The country also maintained its aggressive foreign policy in
the region, initiating border-related clashes with Djiboutian
forces."
Similarly,
Human Rights Watch declared: "Eritrea has become one of the most
closed and repressive states in the world. Thousands of political
prisoners are detained in prisons and underground cells; there is no
independent civil society; all independent media outlets have been
shut down; the head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church is in
incommunicado detention; and evangelical Christians are rounded up
and tortured on a regular basis." Another HRW study referred to
the government having "established a totalitarian grip on
Eritrea."
Amnesty
International has routinely detailed human rights abuses by the
Asmara authorities. Last year, for instance, the organization noted
that "The government prohibited independent journalism,
opposition parties, unregistered religious organizations, and
virtually all civil society activity." Moreover, Amnesty added,
"thousands of prisoners of conscience and political prisoners
remained in detention after years in prison."
Some
countries establish political tyrannies while leaving people alone in
their religious beliefs. Unfortunately, Eritrea fears freedom of
conscience in any form. Freedom House pointed to "significant
limitations on the exercise of faith." A review directed by Paul
Marshall of the Hudson Institute explained that "The government
had long used the threat of real or perceived enemies to generate
popular support." Those targeted include religious believers.
Noted the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom, "government spokespersons have cited Pentecostals,
along with Muslim extremists, as threats to national security."
The
Asmara regime routinely assaults religious liberty. The Commission
said last year: "The government of Eritrea continues to engage
in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious
freedom." A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion &
Public Life found government restrictions on religious freedom to be
"very high" in Eritrea, placing that nation among the ten
worst nations rated.
Since
2004 the State Department has targeted Eritrea as a "Country of
Particular Concern." Last year Open Doors ranked Eritrea at
number nine on its watch list, up from number eleven the year before.
This year Eritrea fell back to number eleven, its relative
improvement primarily reflecting the worsening of conditions in Laos
and Uzbekistan, which moved up on the list.
Last
year International Christian Concern placed Eritrea at number nine in
its annual Hall of Shame. According to the ICC the intensity of
persecution was "high" and "increasing." In the
ICC's report this year the group abandoned its attempt to rank
persecutors, but again included Eritrea among the worst ten. Eritrea
placed among the top four in intensity of persecution, along with
North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia.
The
Institute on Religion and Public Policy reports that the Asmara
government recognizes only four churches: "the government
routinely fails to approve registrations" and "interferes
in the everyday workings of registered religious groups at the
highest levels." The State Department echoed that conclusion:
"The government continued its involvement in the affairs of the
four approved religious groups." It is far worse, however, for
those churches which are not authorized. State explained that
"Authorities regularly harassed, arrested, and detained members
of various religious groups. The government closely monitored the
activities and movements of unregistered religious groups and
members, including social functions attended by members."
The
list of abuses is lengthy. Reported the Commission:
Violations
include arbitrary arrests and detention without charge of members of
unregistered religious groups, and the torture or other ill-treatment
of hundreds of persons on account of their religion, sometimes
resulting in death. Other serious concerns continue to include the
prolonged ban on public religious activities by all religious groups
that are not officially recognized, closure by the authorities of the
places of worship of these religious groups, inordinate delays in
acting on registration applications by religious groups, and the
disruption of private religious and even social gatherings of members
of unregistered groups.
Non-Sunni
Muslims also suffer. Businesses, both Christian-owned and retailing
Christian products, are targeted by the government. The military is
the fount of much abuse: at risk are Jehovah's Witnesses and Muslims
who refuse to perform military service as well as Christian personnel
banned from practicing their faith. Many people of faith go to jail
for their beliefs. In 2005 Amnesty International published an
extensive report "on widespread detentions and other human
rights violations of members of at least 36 evangelical Christian
churches."
More
recently, the Commission reported that "Eritrean security forces
have disrupted private worship, conducted mass arrests of
participants at religious weddings, prayer meetings, and other
gatherings, and detained those arrested without charge for indefinite
period of time." Government restrictions make it hard to count
the number arrested and imprisoned, but stories of arrests,
imprisonment, and torture have become sadly routine. Nevertheless,
the stories of many victims ultimately leak out.
International
Christian Concern estimated that "there are more than 3,000
Christians imprisoned in Eritrea. Many are kept in metal shipping
containers, military barracks and prison cells under inhumane
conditions. Many Christians have been paralyzed or killed in prison
due to torture and lack of medical condition." Conviction of a
crime in a court of law is not required for imprisonment.
The
prison conditions alone would be considered as torture almost any
where else on earth. Reported the Institute on Religion and Public
Policy: "Prospects for these recent detainees and those held for
several years are grim," as "it is not uncommon for
prisoners to die from the torture and the inadequate and unsanitary
conditions to which they are exposed." Marshall's report details
the horror: "Life in detention centers is extremely harsh since
it occurs in some of the hottest places on earth. The Bada detention
center lies in an area 70 meters below sea level and at times
experiences temperatures of over 60 degrees C. In such conditions,
people have died or gone insane."
The
Asmara government even presses people to renounce their religious
beliefs. Explained the State Department:
There
continued to be reports that police forced some adherents of
unregistered religious groups held in detention to sign statements
saying they abandoned their faith and to join the Orthodox Christian
Church as a precondition of their release. These individuals
typically faced imprisonment and/or severe beating until they agreed
to sign the documents. Reports indicated these individuals were also
monitored afterward to ensure they did not practice or proselytize
for their unregistered religion.
It
comes as no surprise, then, that Eritrea routinely rates near the top
of every list of religious persecution. The Eritrean government
typically responds that such reports are "hyperbole" and
"distorted and exaggerated." They are not.
Not
all religious persecutors are geopolitical problems. Not all
geopolitical problems are religious persecutors. Alas, Eritrea is
both.
Washington's
options in dealing with Asmara's tyranny are limited. But the
president should use his bully pulpit to publicize and embarrass
human rights violators like Eritrea. The administration should work
with allies and friends to apply diplomatic pressure and develop
sanctions targeted against regime elites.
The
U.S. also should welcome refugees seeking to escape a countrywide
prison camp. We know what happens when asylum applicants are sent
back to Eritrea: Amnesty International has reported on cases of
asylum-seekers from other nations who were forcibly returned and who
then disappeared from public view, apparently arrested on their
return. Torture and lengthy imprisonment likely followed.
Finally,
the rest of us should seek to discomfit Eritrean officials and
protest Eritrean policies. We should help refugees fleeing repression
of all kinds and back groups which support religious liberty. And we
should pray for the martyrs of faith today. People around the world
continue to pay the ultimate price for freedoms which we in America
take for granted.
Doug
Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special
Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author of Beyond Good
Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
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