By Angelo Martins Junior
In November we held a panel and photographic exhibition on ‘Eritrea and Human Rights: Conflict and Mobility’ at the University of Bristol. Through these talks and images we explored the grave human rights violations faced by Eritreans at home and on their journeys of escape, and the continuing rights violations they face on arrival in Europe. The event was part of the activities of the ERC research project ‘Modern Marronage: The pursuit and practice of freedom in the contemporary world’ and the MMB research challenge Control, Conflict, Resistance.
The speakers included: Thangam Debbonaire, MP for Bristol West, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees and Co-Chair on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea; Helen Kidan, co-founder of the Horn Human Rights and Eritrean Youth in the UK, executive member of the Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Human Rights and member of the Network of Eritrean Women and Eritrea Focus; Yodit Estifanos Afewerki who works with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and is currently employed by the French NGO Médecins du Monde in Rome, where she manages a project on access to healthcare for migrants in informal settlements; Dr Sarah Ogbay, member of the Eritreans for Facilitating National Dialogue, Languages in Africa–British Association of Applied Linguistics, the Network of Eritrean Women and the Eritrean Snit Study Group; and Habte Hagos, founding member and Chairman of Eritrea Focus.
The photographic exhibition, ‘Eritrea in the News’, revealed a series of fascinating images captured at pivotal points in the country’s history, from Italian colonial rule through to the struggle for independence and the repression of dictatorship that followed. The photographs featured a mix of archive material and personal collections and showed the trajectory of the country in a visual snapshot of the places and people that have shaped Eritrea, from the present day back as far as 1882. Today, after decades of repression, there is a glimmer of hope as Ethiopia has reached out to Eritrea: their leaders have met and there is the prospect of reconciliation. Yet Eritreans still long for true freedom.
The exhibition was organised by Eritrea Focus, an association of NGOs, human rights organisations, exile and refugee groups and individuals concerned with the gross abuses of human rights in Eritrea. It is an open and inclusive organisation that welcomes members from all sections of the Eritrean communities both at home and in the diaspora as well as non-Eritreans who are concerned with the dictatorship and the complete absence of rule of law in the country. It is funded through voluntary donations from members.
Helen Kidan’s talk can be read here and Yodit Estifanos Afewerki’s here.