233/99-234/99 : Interights (on behalf of Pan African Movement and
Citizens for Peace in Eritrea) v Ethiopia and Interights (on behalf of
Pan African Movement and Inter African Group) / Eritrea
Summary of Facts
1. The Complainant alleges that sometime in the second quarter of 1998 there was an international
armed conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia that led to the beginning of active hostilities between the
two countries.
2. During this period it is alleged by the Complainant that thousands of persons of Ethiopian
nationality were expelled from Eritrea, either directly or constructively by the creation of conditions in
which they had no choice other than to leave Eritrea. In particular, over 2,500 were forcibly expelled
and dumped at the border where there was ferocious fighting and heavily infested with anti-personnel
land mines.
3. It is also alleged that between June 1998 and July 1999, more than sixty one thousand people of
Eritrean ethnic descent who are legal residents or citizens of Ethiopia were deported from Ethiopia.
Most of these are urban deportees.
4. The Complainant asserts that in both cases, thousands of persons of Ethiopian origin and those of
Eritrean origin were arrested and interned in Eritrea and Ethiopia respectively under harsh conditions
with no visitation rights for their families, no food, clothing and toilet facilities for extended periods of
time.
5. The Complainant alleges that some Ethiopian women and young girls were tortured and raped in
the affected areas by Eritrean soldiers.
6. The Complainant also alleges that most of the deportees were subjected to cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment. Furthermore, the governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia arbitrarily deprived most of
the deportees [of] their property.
7. Specifically in the case of those persons deported by the government of Eritrea, some deportees
were forced to work without salaries in exchange for protection. Yet others were forced out of their
rental accommodation, suffering forcible eviction and homelessness as a result.
8. While in the case of those persons deported by the government of Ethiopia, the deportees, prior to
their deportation were required to transfer their rights over their property in Ethiopia by a power of
attorney to a legal agent. In compliance with this, husbands often designated their wives as their legal
agents, only to find that their wives were given a month or two to sell their properties and were then
deported a week or two after they were told to sell. In effect, the deportation was accompanied in most
cases by an expropriation of the property of the deportees. In some cases some deportees also had
their rental properties taken over. Some bank accounts were frozen, and some savings books were
destroyed, making it impossible for the deportees or their designated agents to gain access to such
savings.
9. The Complainant claims that while effecting the said deportations, parents and children were
forcibly separated without any provision for the care, feeding, and housing of the children. As at the
time of submission of the complaints, neither parents nor children can travel across the EritreanEthiopian border and even telephone communication is impractical.
Complaint
10. The Complainant alleges violations of Articles
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7(1), 12(1), (2), (4) and (5), 14, 15, 16 and 18(1) of the African Charter.
Procedure
11. The complaint lodged by INTERIGHTS against Eritrea and Ethiopia was received at the
th
Secretariat of the African Commission on 5 October 1999.