August 17, 2000

DEPORTATIONS CONTINUE TO VIOLATE RIGHTS

The deportations and expulsions undertaken by the governments in Eritrea and Ethiopia continue to violate the rights of innocent people who are being used as pawns in the conflict and war that has erupted between the two since May 1998. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has let it be known that Ethiopians being expelled by the Eritrean authorities are being subjected to harsh conditions, exposed to hunger and thirst, made to trek for 18 hours or more on foot and, on the whole, denied basic safety protections. More than five people have been reported dead and returnees to Ethiopia complained that they have been separated from their men folk and robbed of their properties. According to the ICRC report the returnees included women (including pregnant ones who gave birth on the way) and children , and, in one batch, 39 psychiatric patients. The ICRC accuses the Eritrean authorities of, among other things, violating Article 36 of the 4th Geneva Convention. On their part, the Eritrean authorities blame the EPRDF for the problem since, according to them, it has closed the agreed points of entry and continues to refuse to accept its own nationals. They also accuse the EPRDF of detaining thousands of Eritreans in virtual concentration camps in Ethiopia. Wranglings and accusations aside, there is no denying that the deportations and so called "voluntary repatriations" clearly violate the human rights of the concerned people. It is evident that innocent people are being victimized as scapegoats and because of their ethnic origin. SOCEPP once again calls for an immediate end to the illegal deportations, to the violations of rights and demands the release of all the interned as well as the closure of the internment camps in both places.

SOCEPP