Human rights in Eritrea

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Eritrea

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Eritrea

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Human rights in Eritrea are viewed as poor. Eritrea is a one-party state in which national legislative elections have been repeatedly postponed, the judiciary is weak, and constitutional provisions for democratic freedoms have yet to be fully implemented. Western observers characterize the Eritrean government's human rights record as poor, and note that it continues to commit serious abuses. Security forces are responsible for unlawful killings, and there are persistent reports of torture and physical abuse of prisoners. Arbitrary arrests and detentions continue, and an unknown number of persons have been detained without charge for their political views. In general, freedom of speech and the press are severely constrained, and freedom of assembly, association, movement, and religion also are restricted. Discrimination and violence against women remain social problems, and the practice of female genital mutilation is widespread. Social discrimination against members of the Kunama group continues, as do government restrictions of workers' rights.

Eritrean Government officials and NGO representatives have participated in numerous public meetings and dialogues. In these sessions they have answered questions as fundamental as, "What are human rights?", "Who determines what are human rights?", and "What should take precedence, human or communal rights?".^[1]

In Regional Assemblies and religious circles, Eritrean's themselves speak out continuously against the use of female circumcision. They cite health concerns and individual freedom as being of primary concern when they say this. Furthermore they implore rural people's to cast away this ancient cultural practice.^[2][3]

[edit] References

1. ^ Public Dialogue Human Rights in Eritrea (2006-06-01). Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
2. ^ Anseba Religious leaders condemn female circumcision (2006-08-31). Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
3. ^ Religious leaders of Northern Red Sea region condemn female circumcision (2006-09-09). Retrieved on 2006-09-10.

• This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.

[edit] External links

• Censorship in Eritrea - IFEX