- Eritrea was listed as one of eight countries worldwide on a US government blacklist of "countries of particular concern" regarding the situation of religious freedom. Inclusion in this annual US blacklist allows for several types of sanctions. The government of Eritrea, again, in a heavy-worded statement denied violating the freedom of worship.
According to the annual 'International Religious Freedom Report', released by the US State Department yesterday, the Eritrean government was showing an increasingly "poor respect for religious freedom for minority religious groups." The US government paper referred to "numerous reports of physical torture and attempts at forced recantations."
The report details the harassment of members of Pentecostal movement; other independent evangelical groups; reform movements from and within the Eritrean Orthodox Church; and Jehovah's Witnesses. There were numerous credible reports that over 400 members of non-sanctioned religious groups had been detained or imprisoned, according to the report.
- There were several reports that on occasion police tortured those detained for their religious beliefs, including using bondage, heat exposure, and beatings, the report says. "There also were credible reports that some of the detainees were required to sign statements repudiating their faith or agreeing not to practice it as a condition for release. In some cases where detainees refused to sign, relatives were asked to do so on their behalf."
This year's report repeats many earlier claims made by the US State Department regarding religious freedom in Eritrea. It is however based on more sources and uses a stronger wording than earlier reports, demonstrating that the US Embassy in Asmara is more secure in its condemnation of the situation. Consequently, this month, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had "designated Eritrea as a 'Country of Particular Concern' under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom."
The new countries to the blacklist "of particular concern" this year include Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam. Previously and still on the list are Burma, China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. In particular the inclusion of US ally Saudi Arabia, where the report says "freedom of religion does not exist," caused some diplomatic disturbances in Washington and Riyadh.
The controversial US International Religious Freedom Act calls for the State Department to map violations of religious freedom all over the world - except for the US - and for US embassies to be in dialogue with foreign governments to improve these freedoms. Where "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" are observed, a range of sanctions against the perpetrator are allowed.
Sanctions are however not the first step that is taken by US authorities. Mr Powell yesterday told reporters in Washington that the US State Department first would "continue engaging" in the blacklisted countries. He added the reports were "just one of the best ways for us to encourage our friends to adopt tolerant practices." The threat of sanctions nevertheless still exists in the US legislation and Mr Powell made it clear that positive engagement was reserved for "friends".
The Eritrean government today reacted rather unfriendly to the US government report, issuing a heavy-worded statement. According to the Asmara Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was "only astonishing to see the US, which lacks moral and legal high grounds on human rights and the respect for religions, make an attempt to become the self-appointed adjudicator."
The Eritrean statement added that the US report did "not come as a surprise to Eritrea as it has been no secret that the CIA and its operatives have been long engaged in fabricating defamatory statements in a bid to embark on other agendas and at the same time conceal its unwarranted intervention." As in earlier Asmara statements on this issue, the Eritrean Ministry holds that Washington's sources were not credible.
However, as the Eritrean government in September 2001 closed down all independent media in the country and last week expelled the last foreign correspondent based in Asmara, it is not possible to obtain any objective assessment of the situation of religious freedom in the closed country. The only non-Eritrean government information is the annual US government study - which is based on reports from religious minority groups in Eritrea.
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