The Problem:
In the mid-2000, the human rights conditions in #Eritrea have deteriorated drastically. Nearly all basic human rights are violated and the indefinite military service, torture, arbitrary detention has made it impossible for many Eritreans to remain in their country.
The Exodus:
Thousands of Eritreans flee the country each month, often taking unimaginable risks posed both by government policies as well as unscrupulous smugglers and
traffickers capitalizing from the atrocities in Eritrea.
The Tragedy:
The name #Eritrea becomes synonyms with Sahara death and torture, Mediterranean boat capsizes, Sinai torture and organ trafficking and so on. This culminates with a boat tragedy in October 2013, with more than 360 Eritrean refugees drowned in the sea Lampedusa.
The Birth of a Campaign:
A determined group of #Eritrea activists across Europe comes together and the @StopSlaveryInEr Campaign launches on 01-01-2014 in Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, UK and Italy.
Objectives:
• Highlight toxic nature of #Eritrea’s National Service that is amounted to slavery.
• Highlight conscription to national service as major push factors to Eritrea’s refugee crisis.
• Call Int'l comm to recognize this slavery as abject violation to the human rights
The plan:
The campaign aimed to last six months and culminate in Geneva in June 2016, where the group will appeal the UN Human Rights Council to intervene in Eritrea.
It was their hope that understanding the root cause of the exodus, is key to resolving the refugee crisis.
The short-term impact #1
In video evidence, social media and face to face discussions, former recruited outlined the impact of the national service (psychological, physical, economic and
social) that forced them to leave the country by any means necessary.
The short-term impact #2
lobbying their respective governments including traditional lobbying techniques such as letters, face to face meetings with officials and utilizing social media to
create awareness and seek international pressure against the regime in #Eritrea.
Intermediate impact #1
The campaign organized a demo in Geneva in 2016 that has called for #Eritrean|s from all walks of life to stand up against slavery in Eritrea in the name
of National Service and call on international community for solidarity.
Intermediate impact #2
Support the @UNHumanRights#COI Special Rapporteur work on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, that found out the #Eritrea|n government is
responsible for crimes against Humanity.
Longterm impact#1
The campaign was involved in organizing the historical 2016 Geneva demonstration against Human rights violations in Eritrea, in which more than
10,000 Eritreans from all walks of life staged a demo in #UN office in Geneva.
Longterm impact#2
The campaign breaks diaspora #Eritrea|ns silence and brings together #Eritrea|ns from all walks of life. It was a historical moment of #Eritrea|ns Civic engagement endeavors that many of today's #Eritrea social movements built upon.
Further Information:
Please visit The Stop Slavery In Eritrea Campaign Facebook page (bit.ly/33VP3Fj) and the StopSlavery InEritrea YouTube Channel. (bit.ly/2OonSMP).
Yiaklers, join @BeqaYiakl in acknowledging the very dedicated and organized team behind the #EndSlaveryInEritea Campaign! Thank you @StopSlaveryInEr for proving to all of us that we have what it takes!
Lidiya is a 21 years old prominent activist & organizer who has been passionately involved with her Eritrean community from a very young age.
Ever since she witnessed the daunting & overwhelming plight of Eritrean refugees in Libya, Lidiya got determined not to sit back & watch.
Instead, she picked up the slack left by the organizations which simply abandoned these refugees, and found a way to provide financial and moral support to these refugees and make meaningful contributions to help ease their suffering.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Habtom Yohannes (@Kinzareb) in acknowledgment of his long-standing unwavering advocacy for Eritrean Prisoners of Conscience and his passion to support Eritreans with his expertise in journalism.
Habtom Yohannes is an Eritrean-Dutch human rights activist, a senior editor with extensive experience within the Dutch media, lecturer, advisor & moderator. He continuously raises the issues of #Eritrea|n prisoners & uses every opportunity/platform to demand that they get justice
As a passionate activist, he has been putting the violation of human rights in #Eritrea on the agenda of the Dutch parliament, the European Parliament, the African Union and the United Nations. @Europarl_EN@_AfricanUnion@UN
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to the organizers of @RemEPOC in acknowledgment of their important initiative to help keep the memories of disappeared Eritreans alive until they get justice.
Remembering Eritrean Prisoners of Conscience @RemEPOC is a social media campaign that is dedicated to daily remembering at least one Eritrean Prisoner of Conscience and an accompanying daily narrative of the human rights situation of #Eritrea.
#Eritrea today is a country where its best daughters & sons, including its sheiks, priests, pastors, ministers, diplomats, civil servants, army leaders, teachers, conscripts, poets, newspaper editors, singers, merchants, veterans and faith communities are illegally disappeared.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Tsedal Yohannes in acknowledgment of her perseverance, commitment and courage to advocate for #Eritrean prisoners of conscience.
Despite the emotional toll, Tsedal is a very determined woman who is oftentimes seen in the streets of London, Geneva, Brussels and other parts of the world campaigning for the rights of #Eritrea|n prisoners.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight goes out to Ahmed Raji in acknowledgment of his consistent work as a citizen journalist and his commitment to highlighting and archiving the stories of disappeared #Eritrean|s.
Ahmed as a citizen journalist and a strong advocate for #Eritrean prisoners of consciences is a frequent writer at @awate2 and archives disappeared Eritreans stories on his Facebook page - "Eritrea's Disappeared".
Ahmed started writing at @awate2 in 2003 while still living in Asmara, #Eritrea. In order to protect his identity, the Awate Team gave him the name “Events Monitor”.
Today’s #Yiakl#SundaySpotlight is dedicated to Eritrean activists and campaigners who have actively been addressing the very urgent issue of famine happening in #Eritrea.
This is an acknowledgment to the organizers of #EritreanHiddenFamine and #SaveDenkalia of their quick action in raising awareness to the famine brought by the Eritrean government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the government of Eritrea announced a lock down of many parts of the country due to COVID-19, reports of people starving and pleading families in the diaspora for help started surfacing. #EritreanHiddenFamine#SaveDankalia