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Paulos Tesfagiorgis is an Eritrean human rights activist. Fought for his people by establishing the only PFDJ licensed Regional Centre for Human Rights and Development in Eritrea. (The People's Front for Democracy and Justice) Tesfagiorgis was also co-founder and head of the Eritrean Relief Association during the Eritrean war of independence. [1]
During the Eritrean war of independence Paulos Tesfagiorgis was the head of the Eritrean Relief Association, coordinating international aid for Eritreans, particularly during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. Following Eritrean independence Tesfagiorgis was appointed to the commission which drafted Eritrea's constitution. The constitution was ratified in 1997. In 2002 Tesfagiorgis and 17 other Eritreans set up the "Citizens Initiative for the Salvation of Eritrea" (CISE) [1]
In his Paper A Personal Observation, Tesfagiorgis explains his political views on “What Went Wrong?: The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front from Armed Opposition to State Governance”,and democracy. [2]
He believes that only democratically elected governments have legitimacy, because they are always accountable to the people they govern. For this reason he also abstains from violence. [3] He joined the UK based non partisan activist group Eritrea Focus in 2018 to promote non violent transition to democratic rule. https://www.eritrea-focus.org
From his exile in London, and later in South Africa,Tesfagiorgis has been working for the advocacy organisation Justice Africa, and has spent much time working for agreement among other Eritrean dissidents on a non-violent democratic alternative for Eritrea. He also abstains from violence. In June 2015 a United Nations Commission on Human Rights of Inquiry accused President Afwerki of systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations that may constitute crimes against humanity. [1]
He has a master's degree in law from McGill University, Canada and has been a lecturer in law at the University of Asmara, Eritrea.
While he was a Faculty of Law at McGIII University, Montreal, October 1991 wrote his Thesis: "HUMAN RIGHTS, DEVELOPMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA"
"A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIAEMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LAWS (LL.M.)." [4]
Paulos Tesfagiorgis was awarded the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize for 2003 for his work for human rights and democracy. [5]
The Politics of Eritrea and the Government of Eritrea takes place in a framework of a single-party presidential republican totalitarian dictatorship. The President officially serves as both head of state and head of government. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice is the only political party legally permitted to exist in Eritrea. The popularly elected National Assembly of 150 seats, formed in 1993 shortly after independence from Ethiopia, elected the current president, Isaias Afwerki. There have been no general elections since its official independence in 1993. The country is governed under the constitution of 1993. A new constitution was ratified in 1997, but has not been implemented. Since the National Assembly last met in January 2002, President Isaias Afwerki has exercised the powers of both the executive and legislative branches of government.
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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 May 1991, ending the 30-year-old war for independence from Ethiopia.
The People's Front for Democracy and Justice is the founding, ruling, and sole legal political party of the State of Eritrea. The successor to the left-wing nationalist Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), the PFDJ holds itself open to nationalists of any political affiliation. The leader of the PFDJ party and current President of Eritrea is Isaias Afwerki. It has been described as totalitarian.
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Eritrea(listen), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.
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The legal systems of Eritrea go as far back as the 14th century. Before independence, Eritrea was colonized by Italy and later occupied by Britain, therefore subjugated to those nations' laws through the World War II era. In the 1950s, the United Nations gave neighboring Ethiopia power and responsibility for Eritrea, and thus its legal system mirrored that of Ethiopia. After gaining its independence in 1993, Eritrea began to draft its own constitution, which was implemented in 1997. Much of Eritrea's judicial system is spelled out in this Constitution. However, even today, customary law has remained the most prevalent law in the lives of most Eritreans.
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On 24 May 1993, Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia following a United Nations sponsored referendum, which gained 99.8% Eritrean support for independence. Isaias Afwerki became president and head of Eritrea, after fighting with his Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the authoritarian Derg government during the Ethiopian Civil War from 1974 to 1991. Eritrea became a one-party state and promised to schedule presidential elections in 2001, but was then delayed them indefinitely without precondition. Isaias became a totalitarian leader and was accused by many watchdogs of repression and purges of journalists, dissent and opposition groups like People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) officials, mass surveillance, arbitrary detention, lack of independent judiciary body and freedom of association, press and speech. In 2015, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea reported that there were "systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations carried out in a context of total lack of rule of law". The Freedom in the World ranked Eritrea "not free" state as of 2022, with total 3/100 score in both political rights and civil liberties.
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