UN Authority Figures

UN General Assembly Third Committee, the Social, Humanitarian
and Cultural Affairs Committee, Vice-Chair: Eritrea


Hundreds of young people flee Eritrea every week to avoid conscription into national service, where individuals are condemned to a life of debilitating servitude in the interests of "national security."
Source: The Guardian, May 25, 2016

Mission of the Third Committee, the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee, of the General Assembly: The Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee deals with "a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues that affect peoples all over the world...the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination..." (General Assembly - Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee website, "Third Committee")

Term of office: 2017-2018

Eritrea's Record on "human rights issues that affect peoples all over the world...the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the treatment of refugees, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination":
"Other abuses included killings and disappearances; torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; arbitrary arrest;... violence against women and girls; and discrimination against ethnic minorities. The law criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual activity. Female genital mutilation/cutting, human trafficking, and forced labor occurred... [T]he government engaged in the widespread use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment... [S]exual violence against women and girls was widespread in military training camps, the sexual violence by military personnel in camps and the army amounted to torture, and the forced domestic service of women and girls in training camps amounted to forced sexual slavery... There is no specific law against sexual harassment. Cultural norms often prevented women from reporting such incidents. There was no record of any person ever being charged or prosecuted for sexual harassment... Children under age 18 ... were detained during round-ups and sent to Sawa National Training and Education Center, which is both an educational and military training school... Those who refused to attend and participate in military training either hid, fled the country, or were arrested... Governmental and societal discrimination continued against ethnic minorities..." (US State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2016, Eritrea)

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