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SUBMISSION TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE: 119th SESSION
for the attention of the Country Report Task Force on ERITREA
Military service, conscientious objection and related issues.
Prepared December 2016
Basic Information
HISTORY: Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, after a thirty-year armed liberation struggle, and that year became the 184th member state of the United Nations.1 Following independence, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front transformed itself into the “Popular Front for Democracy and Justice”, and under that title has imposed military rule ever since. Between 1998 and 2000 a war with Ethiopia over a disputed border caused massive casualties: since then there have been simmering border tensions but no full-scale military conflict. Nevertheless, the level of militarisation in the country has if anything increased.