UN rights council rejects Eritrea’s bid to end human rights investigation

Human Rights Watch says Asmara’s move was an effort to distract from independent reporting on the ‘country’s dire rights record’.

Hundreds of Eritreans demonstrate in front of the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia, in support of a UN Inquiry report and asking for measures to be taken against Eritrea, in 2015 [File: Nichole Sobecki/AFP]

The United Nations Human Rights Council has rejected Eritrea’s attempt to shut down an independent investigation into alleged rights abuses, in a move hailed as vital to preventing impunity.

Eritrea’s rare bid to scrap the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on its human rights record was defeated on Friday, with only four votes in favour, 25 against, and 18 abstentions.

The move by Eritrea surprised some observers and marked one of the few times a state under active investigation tried to end such scrutiny through a formal vote.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the outcome, calling it “an important message that the international community is not fooled by Eritrea’s efforts to distract from, and discredit, independent human rights reporting on the country’s dire rights record.”

Eritrea’s motion argued that alleged rights violations were not systemic and blamed “capacity constraints” common to other developing nations. But European states responded with a counter-resolution to extend the mandate for another year, which passed with ease.

In his latest report in June, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN-appointed special rapporteur and a Sudanese human rights lawyer, said Eritrea had shown “no meaningful progress” on accountability.

He referenced the 2016 UN inquiry that found “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations … committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government … may constitute crimes against humanity.”