Eritrea: Human Rights

(asked on 15th June 2016) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the human rights situation in Eritrea.


Answered by
James Duddridge Portrait
James Duddridge
This question was answered on 27th June 2016

Following the publication of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea, we remain concerned about human rights issues in the country. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's latest Human Rights Report includes Eritrea in its list of 30 priority countries for the UK government and sets out the changes needed. We continue to press the government of Eritrea, including at ministerial level, to take concrete steps to improve its respect for human rights.

We welcome the recent increased engagement between Eritrea and the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Eritrea’s agreement to work with the United Nations Development Programme to implement the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review on human rights. We urge further such cooperation to help bring about human rights reform in Eritrea.

We will give a full statement when the UN Human Rights Council discusses the COI’s report on 21 June.

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