47 Eritreans denied refugee status

A group of Eritreans who have been in Malta since December have been denied refugee status by the Refugee Commission and are appealing the decision, said Peace Lab director Fr Dionysius Borg.

The 47 Eritreans, families with children - a couple of whom were born in Malta - were among some 208 illegal immigrants who drifted into Xlendi Bay in March, packed like sardines in a 40-foot fishing boat. They have since been detained at Lyster Barracks in Hal Far.

They have now sought the assistance of the Peace Lab and lawyer George Abela, Fr Mintoff said, adding that their fate, if they were repatriated, would be death.

Meanwhile, fellow Eritreans who have obtained refugee status in Germany have appealed to President Guido de Marco, calling his attention to "the lot of a number of desperate Eritrean refugees in the government's custody" in the hope that he would address their case in the light of the tragic overall reality in Eritrea today.

In its letter, the Eritrean Liberation Front appealed to Prof. de Marco to review their case in the light of the deteriorating human rights and security situation in Eritrea.

It said that Eritreans were fleeing persecution and a deteriorating security situation in a country that had been "rendered uninhabitable by the tyrannical policies of oppression, repression and plunder, espoused by the one-man dictatorship that has imposed its rule, confiscated basic liberties and outlawed opposition".

Based on the record of the dictatorship's policies and practices, the Eritrean Liberation Front had "legitimate fears that the Eritreans now in custody in Malta would, in the event of their deportation, meet a tragic fate".

Fr Mintoff said the group had not intended to stop in Malta and were destined for Europe.

Other Eritrean asylum seekers, who are staying in other camps in Malta, had already been rejected and their appeal not upheld, Fr Mintoff said.

Asked on what grounds their application for refugee status was rejected, Refugee Commissioner Charles Buttigieg said that each individual case had its own considerations and the commission was bound by confidentiality.

He added that anyone whose application was rejected had a right to appeal.

In May, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees declared the cessation of refugee status for Eritreans who fled their country as a result of the war of independence or the recent border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The world-wide cessation should be in effect on December 31 and is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of Eritreans in neighbouring countries.

In its statement, the UNHCR had said that the root causes of the Eritrean refugee problem no longer existed as fundamental and durable changes had occurred with the end of the 30-year-old war with Ethiopia in 1991 and Eritrean independence in 1993.

It said peace had returned with the signing of a cease-fire agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea in June 2000 and the establishment of a UN-supervised security buffer zone between the two countries. The acceptance of the recent decision of the International Border Commission by both countries has contributed further to confidence-building.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees left Eritrea for neighbouring countries as a result of the country's war of independence from Ethiopia, which started in the mid-1960s, and a harsh famine in 1984/85. In the wake of the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 2000, hundreds of thousands more fled their homeland.

The UNHCR believed that "these two groups of refugees from Eritrea should no longer have a fear of persecution, or other reasons to continue to be regarded as refugees".

More than 100,000 Eritreans have already gone home, either on their own, or under a voluntary repatriation operation that began in May 2001.

The agency will be assessing the claims of those individuals who seek continued asylum beyond 2002. Those found to be still in need of international protection would be able to remain in their current host country as refugees, while those who do not qualify for asylum after 2002, but do not wish to return home because of strong family, social, or economic links with the host country, would be expected to legalise their stay there.

In its letter to the President, however, the Eritrean Liberation Front said that according to reports from the region, "the Eritreans in question passed through untold maltreatment at home under a programme of forced labour and forced military service in the most horrible conditions imaginable.

"It has also been reported that the regime has hunted down escapees.... Many caught crossing the border were shot on the spot.

"Eritreans who had fled the country for fear of persecution and were subsequently deported from the Sudan and Saudi Arabia, following hasty and ill-advised decisions, have met a tragic fate. Many have been dealt with extra-judicially in what the regime calls purging the nation of the 'unwanted', meaning the opposition and those who do not comply to the policies imposed by the dictatorship. Others, without due process of the law, were left to rot in underground prisons in remote corners of the country; others were herded to the war fronts and used as cannon fodder."

Fr Mintoff said that peace in Eritrea was "less profound" than it appeared; life was grim and persecution rates high.