UN Special Rapporteur on Eritrea is working with Ethiopian Regime

Sheila Beedwantee Keetharuth meeting with Sophia Tesfamariam  - 3 June 2013

Negating the essence of occupation; a continued campaign and pattern of Behavior

The Permanent Mission of the State of Eritrea to the United Nations in Geneva has noted the 31 March 2014 News Release of the Special Rapporteur (SR), Ms Sheela's expressing unwarranted concerns on Eritrea. Indeed; the concern is to mislead and des-inform the Public.

In her News release, the SR has continued to uphold the pattern of behavior followed in her first report. She denies the essence of occupation and the inherent right of self-defense. The SR is engaged in a campaign trail to influence public opinion against Eritrea by rendering herself as an activist rather than a neutral mandate holder.

From the very beginning, Ms. Sheela made no efforts to assess the situation objectively except to mirror the politically motivated resolutions. It is evident that she suffers from her previously established stance and preconceived judgments developed while working for other international organizations like the Amnesty International, which are renowned for their hostilities and anti-Eritrea campaign and defamation.

Her work always suffers from major flaw of the UN principles that uphold; peace, security, human rights and development are interrelated, as articulated in HRC Resolution 5/2 Paragraph 7(b). The Special Rapportuer has ignored this principle and failed to admit that the occupation of Eritrean sovereign territories constitues a violation of the fundamental right of the people of Eritrea to live in peace. By doing so, Ms. Sheela has shown that she is an integral part of the myth "Eritrea uses occupation by Ethiopia and its security situation as an excuses......"

It is very sad that in this context she continues to defame and try to tarnish the image of the Eritrean National Service program for other political drives and sinister motives unrelated to any human right issue. To say the least, the SR is working in close connection with the Government of Ethiopia as the press release came parallel with the campaign of the Government of Ethiopia to put Eritrea under sanctions as evidenced in the recently leaked documents of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia. The selective and biased collection of information from only anti Eritrea elements is the result of such orientation.

There is concrete evidence that Ms. Sheela underestimated the discussions held with representatives of the Eritrean Community Organizations in Germany. Contrary to her assertions, they challenged her previous initial report for lack of credibility, professionalism and neutrality, criticized her for bias, and opposed her disregard to Eritrean Sovereignty and national security. On the other hand, it is to be noted that she refused to meet the Eritrean community Organizations in Geneva, in the same way as she disregarded the call made by more than 200 Eritrean community Organizations globally to engage her before her release of the initial report.

On this occasion the Permanent Mission reiterates its position articulated in the official protest sent to the OCHCR and the HRC. The News Release itself has significantly reflected that the politically motivated resolutions and the resulting mandate will not add to the protection and promotion of human rights in Eritrea.

Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the UN
Geneva,
11 April, 2014. 

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