Eritreans in Saudi Detention Center Begin Hunger Strike to Call for Resettlement
ICC Note
Thousands of Eritreans are forced to leave their country due to religious persecution and political oppression. Christians are among the people targeted for persecution by the Eritrean government. Currently three thousand Christians are detained in Eritrean jails, military barracks and metal shipping containers. When Christians and others leave the country and seek refuge in countries such as Saudi Arabia , they face further difficulties, as this story relates.
By Michael Ireland
08/27/2008 Saudi Arabia (ANS) -- Fourteen Eritreans in a Saudi detention center have begun a hunger strike to highlight the continuing plight of Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Eritreans are part of a group of 28 refugees and asylum seekers who have been held in Gizan Detention Center for periods ranging from three to seven years, pending offers of resettlement in third countries.
CSW says that while conditions in Gizan are relatively good, inmates are not allowed to work study or receive training of any sort. Consequently, many suffer depression due to enforced idleness and separation from families.
The move comes as hundreds of Eritreans in Libya called off a five-day hunger strike aimed at drawing attention to their continued incarceration.
In a media advisory, CSW says 700 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers have been incarcerated in Libya’s Misrata Detention Center for the last two years, and are being held in cramped and squalid conditions where abuse is rife and food, potable water and medical treatment are scarce.
CSW says the group, which includes around 30 children, recently staged a five-day a hunger strike in the hope of persuading the international community, and particularly the European Union (EU), to urgently facilitate their resettlement in third countries. However, the hunger-strike was called off five days later, following fresh offers of resettlement and promises of improved living conditions.
Meanwhile, at least 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers forcibly returned to Eritrea in June by the Egyptian government have been jailed in Wi'a military camp under conditions of extreme hardship and abuse.
The camp is situated in one of hottest places on earth, used during the Italian colonial era as a place of extreme punishment. Only pregnant women and those with young children have escaped this fate.
In addition, news received in July by the opposition Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) appears to indicate that an unspecified number of returnees may have been executed in military camps in front of fellow prisoners in order to dissuade onlookers from escaping.
CSW’s spokesperson on Sub-Saharan Africa says: “We call on key members of the international community to consider offering sanctuary to Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the thousand men and women currently detained in the Wi'a military camp in Eritrea suffering unimaginable hardship and mistreatment in the most arduous conditions. Their fate should serve as a stark reminder of the appalling consequences of returning vulnerable people to countries where they have a well-founded fear of persecution.”
CSW is a human rights organization which specializes in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
For CSW’s in depth report on Eritrea click here: http://dynamic.csw.org.uk/country.asp?s=id&urn=Eritrea
