On Saturday January 25th from 4pm to 8pm I attended the academic event “Human Rights in Eritrea”. This event detailed the history of the oppressive regime in Eritrea, the stories of those facing religious persecution and mandatory indefinite military service in the region, and the movement opposing the regime called Yiakl. In addition to history and data, personal stories about the refugee experience were shared. The speakers included Father Athanasius Ghebre-Ab who spoke on the religious persecution of Orthodox individuals, Muftasta who spoke on the religous persecution of Muslim individuals, Yonatan who spoke one the religous persecution of Pentecostal individuals, Habtay who spoke on the religous persecution of Catholic individuals, and Michael who spoke on the 3 waves of refugees.
This event gave examples of the main themes we have covered in my Politics of Immigration class, including why people migrate. People migrate from Eritrea to flee the oppressive government, religious persecution, and mandatory military service. The government outlawed all but 4 religions. Members of the now illegal religions are the victims of discriminatory practices and mass arrests. The religions that remain legal lost their leaders, because government officials took on these positions. Anyone who speaks against the government’s policy or continues to practice an illegal religion is arrested and held indefinitely without a trial. Father Athanasius Ghiberti-Ab spoke about the difficulties he faced as he witnessed and recorded the Orthodox community’s reaction to the arrests, deaths, and replacements of their leaders. The government action that seemed to upset Father Athanasius Ghiberti-Ab the most was the arrest of the leader of the Eritrean Orthodox Church. This leader is now the oldest political prisoner at age 94.
Mandatory indefinite military service was the last straw that caused many men to flee Eritrea. After you complete 12th grade all men are required to serve in the military for as long as the government decides they need them to. The conditions the men are required to work in are unbearable; it is known that they regularly starve and die under mysterious circumstances. One man named Michael shared the difficult journey he took in order to escape this fate. He first traveled for 23 days to Sudan. Once in Sudan, he overcame harassment and earned a visa to study in Egypt. He received the visa on a Friday and was set to fly to Egypt on Monday. That Friday night, Michael was arbitrarily arrested and sentenced to 6 months in jail. Luckily, his brother had connections and managed to bribe the authorities so that Michael only served 2 weeks. Once free, he flew to Egypt where he was arrested again. He was arrested because he did not have the 150 dollars required to enter the country. Under a rouse of calling his brother, Michael called the United Nations for help. They had helped organize his visa and were able to free him from jail. Michael said he had the strength to complete this difficult journey because he believed his generation would be the last to flee in this manner. He believed change would come in Eritrea that would make this no longer necessary. Unfortunately, young men like him are still fleeing mandatory indefinite military service using the same methods he did. The thought of this made Michael visibly upset.
I am very grateful that Michael and other refugees were open to sharing their personal stories. The organizers hoped that by sharing these experiences and exposing the abuse committed by the regime, they could give a voice to victims within Eritrea who are silenced. The government is determined to keep its victims silent through any means necessary, earning them the reputation as “Africa’s North Korea”. Free press and leaving the country is illegal. Foreign aid is refused. They imprison people within freight boxes in desert conditions with little food, water, and sanitation. The movement Yaikl is an attempt to call attention to these human rights abuses and prove to the Eritrean government that they will not be silent.
In Politics of Immigration, we have started to study how and why people migrate. By looking at the reason Eritrean refugees have fled their home country, I am able to connect individual stories to the large trends we are studying. This is a valuable action because it humanizes the issue. I will continue to attend events like this and interact with different kinds of migrants in order to make sure I connect the content I learn with the perspective of the migrants. I think it is unfair to study the topic if you do not hear their side of the story.
The following are pictures I took of the speakers at the event:
