In May 2011 the United States Commission on International Religious Freedoms published its annual report (covering 1st April 2010 – 31st March 2011). The Commission designated Eritrea a “country of particular concern”.
Here is the Commission’s summary of religious freedom in Eritrea:
“Systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations continue in Eritrea. These violations include: torture or other ill-treatment of thousands of religious prisoners, sometimes resulting in death; arbitrary arrests and detentions without charges of members of unregistered religious groups; a prolonged ban on public religious activities; disruption of private religious gatherings and social events and closure of places of worship of unrecognized religious groups; and inordinate delays in responding to registration applications from religious groups.
In light of these violations, USCIRF again recommends in 2011 that Eritrea be designated as a “country of particular concern”, or CPC. Since 2004, the Commission has recommended, and the State Department has designated, Eritrea as a CPC. In September 2005, when renewing the CPC designation, the State Department announced the denial of commercial export to Eritrea of defense articles and services covered by the Arms Export Control Act. This was the first, and so far only, unique presidential action under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) in response to any CPC designation worldwide.
The religious freedom situation in Eritrea under the regime of President Isaias Afwerki remains grave, particularly for Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of other small and non-traditional religious groups such as Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians. The government dominates the internal affairs of the Orthodox Church of Eritrea, the country’s largest Christian denomination, and suppresses Muslim religious activities or groups viewed as radical or opposed to the government-appointed head of the Muslim community. The government has appointed the heads of both the Orthodox and Muslim communities, despite community objections, and in 2006 placed under house arrest the government deposed Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios, who protested government interference in his church’s affairs.”
Full report, including a more in depth analysis of Eritrea and other countries, here.
