Eritrea

The Eritrean government is considered an extremely repressive regime. It is a one-party Dictatorship led by the President Isaias Afewerki. The president and a small group of high Party Members and Members of the military rule Eritrea and there is no separation of powers. Eritrea has neither an official parliament nor an independent judiciary. The parliament, elected after independence from Ethiopia, never met and the country has neither a constitution nor are any laws passed by parliament. There is no free media, and anyone who criticises the president or the regime is arrested without charge. Torture and inhumane conditions of detention happen on a daily basis. Many opposition members have disappeared since 2001. It comes as no surprise that Eritrea ranks last in the “reporters without borders” press freedom index.

The main reason why such a large number of Eritreans are fleeing the country is the unlimited "national service": since the Eritrean-Ethiopian border war of 1998-2000, all Eritreans who reached the age of 18 have to go to the national service and it is compulsory for men and women (unless the women get married). The promises of the Eritrean government that the service would be limited to 18 months have not yet been implemented. The national service is not limited to military tasks, but includes work in agriculture, in mines, on construction sites or in the public service; in some cases even for private enterprises of high army or party members. Soldiers are often arrested and tortured for criticism of superiors or just minor violation of rules. Especially women are often victims of abuse, sexual violence or rape. The payment people receive is so low that the soldiers cannot cover their own living expenses. Deserters are regarded as "traitors to the nation" and are punished severely with torture or other inhumane treatment.

Refugees: it is estimated that around 5 000 Eritreans leave their home country every month. At the end of 2016, a total of roughly 500'000 Eritreans lived as refugees in a third country. That is about one fifth of the whole Eritrean population. The neighboring countries, Sudan and Ethiopia, each host over 120,000 Eritrean refugees. More than 25,000 currently live in Switzerland and form the largest group of asylum seekers here.

In 2016, from all 5 178 Eritreans seeking asylum in Switzerland, 42.4% got recognised as refugees (B-Ausweis) and 34.2% got temporary protection. This is roughly the same rate as in most other European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden or Great Britain.

Recently, there have been some significant changes in the policy of accepting Eritrean people as refugees by the federal administrative court.

In 2017, the BVGer decided that the pure fact of leaving Eritrea illegally does not lead to persecution as required for refugee status. Only if there are additional factors that lead to actual, individual persecution in the specific case at hand, the persecution is sufficient for refugee status.

In Switzerland, conscientious objection (Wehrdienstverweigerung) or desertion alone is not considered to be sufficient for a recognition as a refugee. SEM assumes, however, that the national service is of unlimited duration and that desertion or refusal can lead to persecution relevant for asylum and, therefore, those people were given F-Permissions. However, the practice was tightened in June 2016 for persons who "left Eritrea at a minor age and therefore have not yet been in service or left after having completed their national service".

This practice by SEM got confirmed in August 2017 by the Federal Administrative Court. It ruled that Eritreans who had already finished their compulsory military service back home are not expected to be forced to go back to the army service and, therefore, also not face punishment when they return home. The court therefore considered that a return to Eritrea "cannot generally be considered as unenforceable".

Furthermore, the court ruled that deserters were not at risk of inhumane treatment. The same applies to those who have already lived abroad for several years and who have resolved their situation in their country of origin.

In February 2017, the court had already tightened the admission criteria for Eritrean asylum seekers. It ruled that Switzerland will no longer recognise Eritreans as refugees solely on grounds of having fled their country illegally. The policy automatically granted refugee status to some Eritreans. However, the court decided, “The illegal exit from Eritrea cannot in itself justify recognition as a refugee”.

They justified this decision with the argument, that after analyzing the situation in Eritrea, there does not seem to be any more rigorous action against returnees.

In July 2018, the Swiss Federal Court ruled (E-5022/2017) that the threat of being forced into the national service in the event of a return to Eritrea does not violate the prohibition of forced labour (Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights ECHR) nor the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment (Article 3 ECHR). It justified its decision by claiming that the situation for returnees does not extend the critical line of forced labour.

The BVGer's judgement uses a variety of sources for its analysis of the situation in Eritrea. At the same time, it is noted how hard it is to find valid sources and credible information about Eritrea.

Despite this, the court apparently considers the reasons for a change in practice to be sufficient. This comes to a different conclusion from another much-noted judgment from the United Kingdom last October. Also, the various UN institutions continue to classify the threats as serious and a return to Eritrea as too dangerous.

With the new ruling, in principle, it is clear that a significant proportion of asylum seekers from Eritrea will no longer be recognised as refugees. Anyone who has refused service or has de- serted before fleeing Eritrea will continue to receive asylum.

Forced return to Eritrea is not possible as Eritrea only takes back voluntary returnees and Switzerland does not have a return agreement with the state. In reality, there are almost no voluntary returns of Eritreans for reasons of fear of repression and punishment upon arrival. If these people do not disappear, they will stay in Switzerland and live on emergency aid, Nothilfe as Sans Papiers.

Practical advice:

• Discuss with the client whether s/he left the country illegally, and if so, encourage him or her to tell this in the interview.

• Ask the client whether there were any other reasons s/he might be subject to persecution, e.g. political activity, issues during the military service, escaping from military service. If so, encourage him/her to tell this in the interview.

• If the client was a member of the military, encourage him or her to tell any bad things that happened during military service.

• If your client is older (meaning 30 or more), discuss how s/he can prove that s/he was not released from military service. If SEM assumes that the asylum seeker has been released from military service (the older a person is, the more this assumption applies), refugee status will not be granted.

• In general, Eritreans are asked way more specifically about the flight itself, e.g. the landscape, circumstances, people, etc. how they crossed the border, when, and where, so make sure to prepare the part about the departure from Eritrea especially well. Make sure that the story is consistent also in this regard.