Forced labour

The use of mandatory indefinite national military service which sometimes amounted to slavery continued. It was applied to anyone aged between 18 and 40, and the practice was associated with multiple human rights violations. In his May report to the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea said that the government had taken no steps to reform the programme, including by failing to address inhuman or degrading conditions of service, rape, other sexual and gender-based violence, and torture. He reported that girl recruits in the notorious Sawa military training camp faced the risk of sexual abuse and harassment by camp officials; and that the policy required all students, including children, to complete their final secondary school year at the Sawa camp, which restricted their access to education.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

Hundreds of Eritreans continued to flee the country, many of them as a result of the military conscription policy, among other abuses. Between December 2024 and 27 February 2025, according to reliable reports from Ethiopia, more than 600 Eritreans who had sought refuge in Ethiopia were forcibly returned to Eritrea, where the government regarded their asylum claims as evidence of treason. The UN Special Rapporteur said in his May report (see above, Forced labour) that he had received credible information that refugees and asylum seekers returning to Eritrea following deportation were interrogated, arbitrarily detained and subjected to enforced disappearance and indefinite conscription.

Freedom of expression and enforced disappearances

Eritrea continued to severely restrict media freedom. The 2001 ban on all independent media remained in place as did the practice of subjecting journalists, political figures, religious leaders and other real or perceived dissidents to enforced disappearance, and arbitrary arrest and detention, among other violations. However, the exact number of people subjected to these measures remained unclear.

The fate and whereabouts of 11 members of the G-15 who were forcibly disappeared in 2001 remained undisclosed. The G-15 was a group of 15 politicians who demanded that President Afwerki implement the draft constitution and hold open elections. Additionally, 16 journalists accused of links with the G-15 were also detained that year and had not been heard from since.

Right to truth, justice and reparation

In July the UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly to defeat the government’s resolution to end the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, renewing it for another year.

The government failed to take steps to address the recommendations by the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on human rights in Eritrea, 10 years after its latest report found that crimes under international law may have been committed in Eritrea since 1991. These included crimes against humanity of enslavement, imprisonment, enforced disappearance, torture, persecution, rape, murder and other inhumane acts. The COI had also concluded that in the absence of appropriate domestic legal and institutional reforms by Eritrea, which might provide justice and accountability for these crimes, further international action should be taken. They should include a UN Security Council referral to the ICC Prosecutor, and the exercise of universal jurisdiction by UN member states to investigate and, where sufficient evidence exists, prosecute those suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law. Despite this and the findings by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, justice was yet to be realized and crimes under international law and other serious violations persisted.

Multiple international NGOs continued to call for a stronger mandate from the UN Human Rights Council to enable further investigations and documentation of violations.