{"id":6096,"date":"2015-06-19T09:41:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T09:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/?p=6096"},"modified":"2015-06-19T09:41:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-19T09:41:54","slug":"why-eritreans-risk-their-lives-to-flee-refugees-tell-a-different-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/munkhafadat.com\/en\/uncategorized\/why-eritreans-risk-their-lives-to-flee-refugees-tell-a-different-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Eritreans risk their lives to flee – refugees tell a different tale"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Cordina<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Eritreans have come to Malta and obtained humanitarian protection over the past few years, although they only comprise a small minority of the hundreds of thousands who have fled the country.<\/p>\n

According to the UNHCR, there were over 320,000 Eritrean refugees scattered across the globe as of July 2014, and their number is only rising with time.<\/p>\n

But while the number represents a significant exodus out of the country \u2013 whose population is only some 6 million \u2013 the country\u2019s government is adamant that there is no human rights problem in the country.<\/p>\n

\"malta2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In comments made to The Malta Independent, which were reproduced in yesterday\u2019s edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday, Eritrea\u2019s ambassador to France Hanna Simon argued that Eritrean refugees \u2013 and other East Africans claiming to be Eritrean \u2013 were making up \u201cthe same story\u201d of persecution to a sympathetic audience, simply to migrate for economic reasons.
\nInevitably, the Eritrean asylum seekers who spoke to The Malta Independent strongly contested her claims. As it happens, so do international human rights organisations and United Nations institutions.<\/p>\n

A brief history of a young country<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eritrea\u2019s present borders date back to the 19th century, when areas controlled by the Ottoman Empire, the Ethiopian empire and various independent states were consolidated into an Italian colony.
\nThe British took over the territory during World War II before the territory was joined with Ethiopia.
\nBut a war for independence began in 1961, and it would last for 30 years before the fall of the Derg regime in Ethiopia helped pave the way to independence.
\nThe Eritrean People\u2019s Liberation Front leading the struggle, led by Isaias Afewerki, led a transitional government, ostensibly to help prepare for democratic elections: in 1994, it transformed itself into a political party called the People\u2019s Front for Democracy and Justice.
\nBut a general election scheduled for 1995 was first postponed by six years, and subsequently postponed indefinitely: no elections have taken place, and the PFDJ remains the only legal political party in the country.
\nThe country is routinely described as one of the most repressive regimes \u2013 it has been ranked last in Reporters Without Borders\u2019 World Press Freedom Index for the past few years, and the most heavily censored country in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury \u2013 and also spurring many Eritreans to escape \u2013 is a harsh national service every able-bodied adult is obliged to take part in.<\/p>\n

\"malta3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Years of virtual slavery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conscription, of course, is not unusual across the world, or even in Europe: countries with a period of compulsory national service include Austria, Switzerland and Greece. But those conscripted typically serve for a fixed, relatively short, period.
\nOstensibly, this is also the case in Eritrea, where the maximum period of national service is set at 18 months.
\nBut in practice, Eritreans end up serving for much longer periods of time, under conditions that are often comparable to slavery.
\nAbraham (not his real name), who spoke to The Malta Independent on condition of anonymity to avoid any possible reprisals on his family back home, is a middle-aged father of nine who fled his homeland in 2012.
\nHe explains that he started his national service in 1999. Thirteen years later, when he finally fled, there was no indication that he would be sent back home.
\nThe brief interview took place through an interpreter who, as it happens, also fled Eritrea after being conscripted.
\nYonas, a 29-year-old who presently operates Selam, a \u0126amrun bar and restaurant serving East African cuisine, had fled Eritrea in 2003.
\nHe was still an underage student when he was forced to terminate his studies and join the national service.
\nIll-treatment of conscripts is rife within the national service: one particular incident had spurred Yonas to leave.
\nHe was being made to work in the afternoon of a hot summer day \u2013 average temperatures in a sizeable proportion of Eritrea are among the hottest on the planet \u2013 but despite working in such conditions for hours on end, he and his fellow conscripts were not being given any water.
\nSo at some point, unable to bear the heat and the thirst any longer, he asks his commanding officer for water, only to be punched for his trouble. His eardrum was ruptured in the incident, so severely that surgery was required to fix it \u2013 an operation that only took place in Malta years later.
\n\u201cAfter that happened, I thought to myself that I don\u2019t have anyone to take care of, and that is why I left,\u201d he adds.
\nIn her comments, Ambassador Simon had acknowledged that the national service was driving Eritreans to flee, but insisted that it was necessary, and that the country had the right to prolong it as it saw fit.
\nBut both Yonas and Abraham question the necessity of a national service which, for the most part, translates into forced labour: conscripts receive payment, but barely enough to survive on, let alone maintain their families.
\nAbraham, for instance, points out that during his time in the national service; he often carried out work in the homes of powerful persons, which could hardly be described as a national priority.
\nYonas makes a different argument, questioning whether a system that was contributing to such a significant exodus could be deemed beneficial to the country.<\/p>\n

No speaking up<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both men also highlight a culture of repression in their home country, with Abraham noting that is afraid that speaking to his family back home would cause them to suffer repercussions. Their home has already been confiscated by the government.
\nHe recounts that one is always afraid of talking about politics or criticising the government in any way, fearing the authorities would be informed and the possibility of arbitrary arrest in a country where thousands are believed to be political prisoners.
\n\u201cThat is why underage students run away; the country is not free, and you are not even free to study because of the government\u2019s actions,\u201d Yonas highlights, recounting his own experience.
\nAs it happens, an Eritrean who had suffered arbitrary detention had spoken to The Malta Independent during the summer of 2013, when journalists were invited to visit Malta\u2019s detention centres. Filmon had been a history student at university, but ended up arrested as he and other students were involved in a protest.
\nThat asylum seekers risk their lives when they cross the Mediterranean on rickety boats is well known, but when it comes to Eritrean refugees, the risk of death presents itself at the very first step.
\nAs confirmed by UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea Sheila Keetharuth, Eritrea employs a shoot-to-kill policy on civilians trying to flee the nation.
\nThis does not deter thousands of Eritreans from fleeing the country every year, even though reports of civilians shot at the border surface from time to time, including the apparent killing of 13 children seeking to enter Sudan last September.
\nOthers risk being sent back along the way, including hundreds of Eritreans who had come to Malta and who were deported in late 2002. A report published by human rights organisation Amnesty International had said that these were among those who faced torture and punishment on their return, citing accounts by some who managed to flee once more.
\nAbraham is adamant that returning to Eritrea is not an option given the present circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will kill me,\u201d he insists.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0The Malta Independent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Cordina Hundreds of Eritreans have come to Malta and obtained humanitarian protection over the past few years, although they only comprise a small minority of the hundreds of thousands who have fled the country. 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