Madame President,
The United Kingdom welcomes the Special Rapporteur's report and continues to call on Eritrea to cooperate fully with his mandate.
We thank the Special Rapporteur for including in his report disturbing allegations of atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law in Tigray by Eritrean forces. We are further concerned that Eritrean forces there are responsible for widespread sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, and wilfully impeding access to millions of Tigrayans in need of humanitarian aid. Intentional use of starvation of civilians as a weapon of war is completely unacceptable.
We call on Eritrea to fulfil its commitment to withdraw from the Tigray region immediately. It is essential that all those responsible for human rights violations and abuses be held to account.
Special Rapporteur,
We share your disappointment that recommendations from Eritrea's 2019 UPR have not yet been implemented and continue to urge the government to do so. We continue to press the Eritrean Government to end the indefinite nature of its National Service. We welcome the release over the past year of around 200 individuals imprisoned on religious grounds, but call for the release of all others arbitrarily and indefinitely detained for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Special Rapporteur, what should Eritrea's regional and strategic partners be doing to encourage it to comply fully with its human rights obligations?
Thank you.
