Since its independence in 1991, Eritrea has seen egregious violations of human rights and
humanitarian law. This study examines the perpetration of international crimes in Eritrea
between 24 May 1991 and 30 May 2008. A factual and legal analysis of the major
incidents and events that took place during the above period of time reveals that crimes
against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression have been perpetrated in Eritrea
in an alarming manner affecting hundreds of thousands of people. In most cases, human
rights violations have been perpetrated under a clear and premeditated government plan
of persecution and repression of political dissent and certain religious convictions.
Although some of the incidents discussed in this work appear to be sporadic events
occurring only in a specified time and with a specific objective, most of the violations
portray a clear, coherent, systematic and comprehensive government policy of repression.
The widespread and systematic violation of human rights in Eritrea constitutes crimes
against humanity as defined by the relevant provisions of international law. There are
also violations perpetrated in the context of the 1996 Eritrea-Yemen border conflict, the
1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia border conflict, as well as other incidents of internal and
international armed conflicts. These cases portray categories of crimes perpetrated with
political motive of a cross-country nature. It is concluded that a certain group of highranking
government officials can be tentatively identified as the most responsible
perpetrators and accordingly they bear individual criminal responsibility for serious
violations of international law since 1991.
To end the culture of impunity, this study proposes that international criminal justice,
administered by the International Criminal Court, foreign municipal courts, or national or
mixed tribunals, should be instituted. However, in the event of a negotiated and peaceful
political transition, conditional amnesty administered by a democratically constituted
truth and reconciliation commission is also regarded as an acceptable option.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-04082009-144225 |
| Date | 08 April 2009 |
| Creators | Mekonnen, Daniel Rezene |
| Contributors | Prof JL Pretorius |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-04082009-144225/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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