[JURIST] The Eritrean government has committed “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations,” according to a report [materials] released Monday by a panel of UN investigators. The investigators were denied access to Eritrea but were able to conduct their investigation through confidential interviews and submissions. The report asserts that the Eritrean government, led by President Isaias Afwerki [BBC profile], has imposed a culture of fear through the restriction of many essential freedoms, including maintaining constant surveillance of citizens, placing heavy burdens on the ability to exit the nation, repressing dissenting opinions and controlling religious practices. The report also claims that Eritrea is ruled arbitrarily as there is no independent parliament or court system. Arrests are allegedly arbitrary and backed by information provided through spying networks, and violations of trial rights and due process abound. Detainees are also often subjected to enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions. According to the investigators, the have caused a record number of Eritreans to attempt to flee the country. The report implores neighboring nations to protect Eritrean asylum seekers, as returning to their homeland would most likely mean death.

Eritrea has faced much criticism from the international community for continued abuses of human rights. In 2013 the UN called for an end to human rights abuses in Eritrea and appealed to the international community to increase their scrutiny [JURIST reports] of the nation. The UN also pleaded for aid [JURIST report] for Eritrean refugees, as denial of asylum would most likely condemn them to death, based on the country’s shoot to kill order [report, PDF] for anyone attempting to leave the country illegally. In late 2013, a report from Dutch and Swedish researchers discovered that officers of the Eritrean military were kidnapping children [JURIST report] and smuggling them into Sudan. In March of this year, another UN commission released a report [JURIST report] which found that the various human rights abuses found in Eritrea included torture, a large number of detentions, and paltry wages insufficient for an adequate standard of living.