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Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely. Such freedom implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state; its preservation may be sought through the constitution or other legal protection and security. It is in opposition to paid press, where communities, police organizations, and governments are paid for their copyrights.
Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in 24 May 1991, ending the 30-year-old war for independence from Ethiopia.
G-15 is a name given to a group in Eritrea that opposes the policy of President Isaias Afewerki postponing elections and the failure in implementing the constitution. The membership of this group consists of former members of the President's ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) which has ruled the country since its independence in 1993. In May 2001 the group issued an open letter raising criticism against Isayas Afeworki's actions calling them "illegal and unconstitutional."
Human rights in Eritrea are viewed, as of the 2020s, by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch as among the worst in the world, particularly with regards to freedom of the press. Eritrea is a one-party state in which national legislative elections have been repeatedly postponed, the judiciary is weak, and constitutional provisions protecting individual freedom have yet to be fully implemented. Some Western countries, particularly the United States, accuse the Government of Eritrea of arbitrary arrest and detentions and of detaining an unknown number of people without charge for their political activism. Additionally, Eritrean citizens, both men and women, are forcibly conscripted into the military with an indefinite length of service and used as forced labour.
There are no current independent mass media in Eritrea. All media outlets in Eritrea are from the Ministry of Information, a government source.
The Tour of Eritrea is a multistage bicycle race held annually throughout Eritrea.
Seyoum Tsehaye is a jailed Eritrean journalist. At independence in 1993, Tsehaye was named to the head of Eri-TV, the Eritrean state broadcaster. He was arrested in September 2001 when President Isaias Afewerki closed all non-governmental media sources. In December 2007, Seyoum was named Reporter of the Year by Reporters Without Borders. As of January 2016, he was known to be alive, being held at Eiraeiro prison.
Fesshaye Yohannes was an Eritrean journalist who founded the weekly journal Setit and was a recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists' 2002 International Press Freedom Award. Fesshaye was imprisoned without charges in September 2001, and died in government custody.
In 2010 the U.S. Department of State reported that:
Eritrea is a source country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and, to a lesser extent, forced prostitution. During the reporting period, acts of forced labor occurred in Eritrea, particularly in connection with the implementation of the country's national service program. Under the parameters set forth in Proclamation of National Service, men aged 18 to 54 and women aged 18 to 47 are required to provide 18 months of military and non-military public works and services in any location or capacity chosen by the government....
Eritrean children work in various economic sectors, including domestic service, street vending, small-scale factories, and agriculture; child laborers frequently suffer abuse from their employers and some may be subjected to conditions of forced labor. Some children in prostitution are likely exploited through third party involvement....
Each year, large numbers of Eritrean workers migrate in search of work, particularly to the Gulf States and Egypt, where some become victims of forced labor, primarily in domestic servitude. Smaller numbers are subjected to forced prostitution. In 2009, for example, five Eritrean trafficking victims were identified in the United Kingdom and one in Israel. In addition, thousands of Eritreans flee the country illegally, mostly to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya, where their illegal status makes them vulnerable to situations of human trafficking.
Solomon Abera Gebremichae (1968–2011) was a press freedom advocate, and detractor of the Afewerki government. He died of cancer in December 2011.
Large numbers of refugee kidnappings in Sinai occurred between 2009 and 2014. Refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea were transported to Sinai and held hostage by members of Bedouin tribes. Typically, the hostages were forced to give up phone numbers of relatives and were tortured with the relatives on the phone, in order to obtain ransoms in the range of $20,000–$40,000. If the families could not pay, the hostages were killed. The Egypt–Israel barrier, designed to keep out African migrants, caused the Rashaida traffickers to lose income from transporting refugees to the border, so they started to concentrate on kidnappings.
Sound of Torture is a 2013 documentary film written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Keren Shayo which follows Eritrean radio host and human rights activist Meron Estefanos as she reports on Eritrean refugees who have been captured in Sudan while migrating across the Sinai Peninsula into Israel.
Freedom Friday one of the few political opposition organizations in Eritrea as of 2017. Also known as the Arbi Harnet project, this opposition movement seeks to empower Eritreans to publicly challenge the Isaias Afwerki government. According to former diplomat Fathi Osman, there are approximately 5,000 activists out of 6 million Eritreans, and many choose to act in opposition before fleeing the oppressive country. This movement started under the "Empty the Street" Campaign, which was inspired by the Arab Spring movements. However, due to the political culture in Eritrea, youthful citizens were unable to gather to organize mass protests. The official date the movement began was November 11, 2011 when original members made calls and sent messages around the country to join in protesting for democratic changes. The movement as of 2020 is led by Ephrem Tewelde, and has managed to recruit and mobilise new members. Ephrem Tewelde and Tsigabu Asmelash send weekly radio program on short wave and satellite, focusing on the future Eritrea and presenting national plan that covers every aspect of the society. The movement claims that it is reaching new heights in introducing new projects to avail independent internet access for the entire nation. Freedom Friday is claimed to have mobilised community leaders that will help the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Human Right Concern Eritrea, also known as Human Rights Concern–Eritrea, is an Eritrean human rights organisation based in the United Kingdom and founded by Elsa Chyrum.
Vanessa Tsehaye is Swedish–Eritrean human rights activist.
Awate or awate.com is a United States-based Eritrean news website.
Tewelde Goitom, or Walid or Welid, is an Eritrean human trafficker and smuggler.
The Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defence Forces. The person in this post is the highest-ranking military officer in the EDF and is responsible for maintaining operational control over military structures.
Abiy Ahmed's tenure as prime minister of Ethiopia began on 2 April 2018 with his swearing-in at the Ethiopian parliament, succeeding Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is the first person of Oromo descent to hold the office, and became chair of the ruling Prosperity Party after the dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in November 2019.
Meron Estefanos is a Swedish-Eritrean human rights activist and journalist. She first became known in the Eritrean refugee community in 2011 for helping people who had been kidnapped and tortured by human traffickers on their way to Israel in order to extort ransom money from their relatives, exemplified in the 2013 documentary film Sound of Torture. After the migrant and trafficking routes changed to Libya, her efforts continued and uncovered criminal networks reaching into Europe. As of 2022, Estefanos deplored that no traffickers had been brought to justice, with little interest from national governments and international organisations.
References
- 1 2 "Journalists face threats in covering Isaac imprisonment". Committee to Protect Journalists . 2011-09-26. Archived from the original on 2023-04-09. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- 1 2 "Eritrea: repression without borders" (PDF). Amnesty International . 2019-06-24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-01-28. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- 1 2 3 Bernal, Victoria (2013). "Civil Society and Cyberspace: Reflections on Dehai, Asmarino, and Awate". Africa Today . 60 (2): 22. doi:10.2979/africatoday.60.2.21. eISSN 1527-1978. ISSN 0001-9887. Archived from the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- ↑ "Meron Estefanos". Oslo Freedom Forum . 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-11. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- ↑ "Eritrea releases at least 35 Christians from prison". World Watch Monitor . 2018-07-20. Archived from the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
