Eritrea is known for the withholding of its civilians who have done nothing wrong by giving them a sentence to prison and oppressive regulations to monitoring reporters and limitations on the internet and social media access; infamous labels like the bottom-ranked nation on the Press Freedom Index for 10 consecutive years – do not help understand Eritrea’s day-to-day reality.
The presidential power has been held by a single man for 27 years, National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. With little to nothing, survival is necessary for citizens who mostly work in the agricultural sector. 80% of the Eritrean workforce is employed in agriculture.
Eritrea censorship infringes on the citizen’s basic human rights, by restricting their freedom and voice, censoring their citizens from the outside worlds of reality and restricts the citizen’s opinion on politics and the addressing of the issues that affect the country. Some of the citizens have been abused to serve as soldiers for the country, which have affected the younger generation from actually getting the innovation and knowledge of things other than what they see or hear or are allowed to study. When one escaped the country, he said he fled because “he saw no future except living like a slave”.
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Eritrea is ranked 12th in the poorest countries in the world, the record is gotten from the inability to let in information and technological advancement giving the economy a shortage due to its censorship as it prevents the trade or benefit of the resources and information that can be given by other countries. And with this shortage in information and resources; it’s economy, agriculture, and lack of education; has also been a big part of the country’s poverty. It has been exposed to numerous challenges like drought, famines and recurrent war, leaving the country in an uncontrollable state where more than half of the citizens live below the poverty line. Eritrea is known for its vast agriculture sector as its main industry sector, but due to the drought, the country is left with 12% of its land and with 80% of the citizens working; with virtually impossible luck in earning a sustainable living off the land. The censorship prevents the help or exchange of information which could benefit the country’s drought problem.
A censored country like Eritrea; its judicial power is weak giving it’s Human Rights Organization as a non-profit group which gives the citizens fewer chances to appeal to the government for their issues and topics. With that restriction in place many citizens would get curious about the world outside their own, it has crossed a lot of citizens’ minds to leave the country’s grasp. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea was characterized as “enslavement.” Prolonged national service is not the sole reason so many thousands flee each month but it remains the primary one. As one escaped conscript told Human Rights Watch, he fled the country because he saw no future except living “like a slave”, one of those who fled after serving, nine, 12, even 17 years said, “I don’t mind military service but in Eritrea, it never ends and you have no rights.” Another said he fled because he didn’t want to be “in the military the rest of my life”, but the citizens who escaped from the country and later caught are arrested and severely punished.
During my research, Eritrea has been abusing the freedom of speech it’s as though the country doesn’t have one and if it does, it should be questioned. There has been no means to challenge the current policies and government. Numerous reports have been submitted to the subcommittee of the human rights about the harsh treatment of their citizens and it was said to have been a “very serious human right’s violation”, but the Eritrean Foreign Ministry responded to this report as “wild allegations” More Eritrean citizens signed petitions against the paper than those who defended Eritrea.
The freedom of speech allows citizens to express themselves freely but can be revoked if the freedom is taken too far. Many reporters and journalists have embarked on the journey to discover hot topics and reports but have been arrested and sentenced to Prison and some are not heard of again, some are presumed died in there due to their harsh military ways. Even local journalists who aren’t in the news sectors are frequently taken as examples and punished. The government have reduced the citizens to nothing but space and workers as they are punished for questioning or using their human rights as they are all been hindered, citizens can’t protest to get their voices or thoughts on the political issues. Their officials have refused all requests based on providing concrete information on the issue regarding the imprisoned journalists. Nothing more than 100 leading African columnist, academist, and rights reformer wrote an open letter to Afewerki, this request was soundly rejected,
The societies in Eritrea have experienced the use of unfair judgment on their fellow citizens, with this citizens begin to start a resistance by making laws of their own believing that if the government can’t honor the laws they themselves have put in place it would be better if they had rules of their own. Thus the unitary one-party presidential where one the president (central government) is a single body government with ultimate supremacy. Thus citizen are not given the proper channel or body to consult for any constitutional act. Eleven years ago, on February 19, 2009, journalists and other employees working at a Radio station “Radio Bana” in Asmara, Eritrea that broadcast educational programs were arrested due to treason. It was taken by the journalist as a normal search but the reporters were taken to prison, they were there for the next six years enduring continuous beatings and investigations, some were falsely accused of writing a disloyal poem giving them extended prison time.
Political Censorship in Eritrea brings hunger and chaos by giving citizens the idea of making their own laws, oppresses citizens’ voices, prevents citizens from the reality that is outside the world they know and infringes on their rights. The countries treatment of citizens is strict and harsh due to the unconstitutional way of handling the so-called crime charged. The day everything in Eritrea fell apart was named “Black Tuesday” which was the start of Eritrea’s change into the police state that it is today. Before this happened, despite various difficulties, Eritrean autonomous media briefly had created space for open discussion, even providing a forum for dissident political leaders. Eritrea does not have a submersible cable landing station. Officially, there are 146 firm broadband subscriptions in the entire country. There are 100 Internet cafes in the nation – most have less than 10 computers, and are monitored by defence agents. The homes in Eritrea are not allowed to have internet access at their home.
Today, there are no self-governing media outlet’s that work in Eritrea, it’s just has a few local reporters who broadcast positive news or the consequences would be dire. There have been little to no broadcast or print media on the Country’s President, Isaias Afwerki. It has been only a few international news outlets that have access to the country’s knowledge but they are observed by the administration on what they access within the country. The administration has restricted the devotions of beliefs that are not any of the four nationwide identified assemblies: Sunni Islam and the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Evangelical (Lutheran) churches.
