Closing Statement during the Universal Periodic Report Review of Eritrea – Eritrea Ministry Of Information

Closing Statement during the Adoption of the Report of the Working Group of the 46^th Session of the Universal Periodic Report Review of Eritrea

10 May 2024 Geneva

Mr. President,

Colleague Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, please allow us Mr. President to thank you for your excellent leadership. We appreciate the chairmanship of the Vice-President Indonesia, who ably presided over the review of Eritrea. We are highly grateful to Malawi, Kuwait, and Romania, for their tremendous work, in their capacity as members of Eritrea’s UPR Troika. We also thank today’s rapporteur Amb. Caroline Bwanali-Mussa, for presenting report of the Working Group. We thank the UPR secretariat for their technical guidance and support and the Conference Services and interpreters for their diligent work.

Mr. President,

Using this opportunity, we would like to reiterate, once again, that promoting and respecting universal human rights is a core value and a central priority for us. Eritrea attaches utmost priority to poverty eradication and achieving inclusive sustainable development. In all its policies, Eritrea seeks to ensure inclusive development and the protection of the rights of those historically marginalized and vulnerable groups of our society.

Mr. President,

Eritrea is a firm proponent of multilateralism. Like many others, we greatly value the UPR process. We have unwavering commitment and support and we remain devoted to the UPR process and cooperation with the UN Human Rights Council.

It should be absolutely clear by now, however, that Eritrea does not recognize any country-specific mandates. Especially, those that do not enjoy the support of the countries concerned. In Eritrea’s case, the main sponsors have kept extending the fundamentally flawed mandate and maintained the vicious circle rolling year in and year out for the last 13 years. This injustice has to stop. It has to stop now.

In closing Mr. President,

We thank the delegations who participated in our UPR in a spirit of constructive and meaningful dialogue. We commend the majority of them, for their positive appraisal and for recognizing the concrete measures Eritrea has taken during the reporting period. Rest assured that we will dully consider all the 293 recommendations received and we will give our feedback to this Council within the required time.

I thank you.