To WHO (World Health Organization), UN Secretariat, AU, Journalists

Without Borders, Amnesty International, Counties directly bordering Eritrea (Ethiopia & Sudan)

From Concerned Eritreans Worldwide (USA Charter)

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Recalling that Eritrea has been under an absolute dictatorship since the time of independence; that Dictator Isaias Afwerki had been found guilty of crimes against humanity at international court; Eritrea is today a failed nation with no accountability, constitution, press, university, freedom of movement, parliament, elections, etc. It is a country considered as the North Korea of Africa with a major refugee crisis (4^th in the world) and indefinite military conscription where about 12 % of the youth has deserted it into life in asylum globally. Eritreans inside the country live under the surveillance of the regime; they don't have Internet access and no voice what so ever that speaks out on their behalf. This is a country that has totally shut off the life of its citizens in all aspects of society. Most of all, there is no neutral justice system that protects the society from random arrests and a disturbing number of our people are today perishing behind the bars without any form of contact with their loved ones.

Apparently, Eritrea today contains over 40,000 prisoners in over 300 jails and prisons all over the country. No journalists or visitors are allowed, the cells are overcrowded, with intolerable living and hygiene conditions and the prisoners sleep close to each other on the ground. They are very vulnerable to any type of contagious diseases and nobody knows how many of them have been dying through the years because of the closed and secretive nature of the regime.

In such a very challenging and difficult situation where the Coronavirus is attacking humanity in uncontrollable tenacity and speed, we believe every nation has taken proper steps to protect its society as part of the ongoing universal effort. Yet, we have not heard anything about how the Eritrean government is dealing with the crisis.

Information is denied to the people, the entire country is confused and helplessly waiting for the regime to do something about it. In so far as our knowledge is concerned, no effort has so far been taken and no protective direction given to the people concerning the virus as of today  In light of this unfortunate reality, we concerned Eritreans worldwide are overly troubled about the condition of our people in general and the prisoners in particular vis-å-vis the virus. We believe the Eritrean Government does not care about the people and has the potential to use the crisis to further accentuate its crime against humanity within the county's extremely secretive prison enterprise. We, therefore, find it important to humbly remind the world to pay maximum attention specifically to the dehumanized Eritrean prisoners that are in an extremely critical situation and under the risk of extermination, should the virus attack that region. We appeal to the world community to seriously consider the potential danger ahead of its actuality; yet to avoid another humanitarian crisis in the country and the regional large.

Thank you

Concerned Eritreans Word-wide (USA Charter)

SUPPORTIVE VIDEOS:

** This petition is getting promoted through some of the groups below,  we will update this list daily, please email to [email protected] if you want to join the spread of this petition as a group, and want to be acknowledged for your support**

-EriSat.TV ([email protected])

-Eritrean Smerrr for Justice and Democracy Paltalk Room

-Eritrean Merbeb Dembe Fithi Paltalk Group

ሕጹጽ ሓበሬታን አቃልቦን ዘድልዮ ጉዳይ!

ሕቡራት መንግስታት አሜሪካ 700 ኤርትራውያን ናብ ኤርትራ ንኽትሶጉግ አብ ምድላው ስለ ዘላ ኩልና ግዱሳት ኤርትራውያንን ካልኦት ተጣበቅቲ ሰብአዊ መሰላትን ነዛ ጽሕፍቲ ብግሊ : ብኮሚዩኒቲ: ብውድብ: ብማሕበር ይኹን ብኻልእ ዝጥዕመናን ንኽእሎን ከምኡ ውን ብአካል ናብ ቤት ጽሕፈቶም ኬድና አውያትና ክንገልጽ ንዳሎ።
የሕዋትናን አሓትናን ድሕሪ ምምላስ ዝመጽእ ሳዕቤን ብምርዳእ ንድሕነቶም ንጉየ።

ጽሑፍ ዝስደደሎም ኣካላትን ሓለፍትን እዞ ዝስዕቡ ይኾኑ።

1. Your state senator (ናብ ስቴት ሰኔተር)
2. Your state House of Representatives (ናብ ስቴት ኮንግረስ)
3. Department of Homeland security (ናብ ሆምላንድ ሰኩሪትይ ኦፊስ)

4. State Department (ስቴት ደፓርትመንት)
5. USCIS office (ኢሚግሬሽን ኦፊስ)

ነዛ ተጻሒፋ ዘላ ወረቀት  ከነረክብ ከሙ ውን ብኣካል ናብ ኦፊሶም ብምካድ ከነዛርቦም ምሕታት።
ናትና ሰኔተርን ኮንግረስን መን ሙኻኑ ንምፍላጥን ሓበሬታንምርካብን ኣብዛ ሊንክ ህረሙ
Individuals can identify their members of Congress on the Internet by entering their street addresses at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members .
Below is drafted letter ( ዝስደድ ጽሑፍ እዛ አብ ታሕቲ ዘላ እያ)

STOP ERITREAN DEPORTATIONS NOW!  

We – Americans of Eritrean descent – are calling for the U.S. government to save 700 of our fellow Eritreans who are here in America from imminent torture or death at the hands of the brutal, dictatorial regime that rules Eritrea.  On September 13, 2017, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a directive to expedite the deportation of approximately 700 Eritreans from the U.S.  Those 700 – mostly law-abiding residents, appear to be at immediate risk of being sent home to Eritrea, where we believe they would face torture, long-term imprisonment, or murder by the regime.  

Eritrea:  The Police State  

Eritrea is a small country in the Horn of Africa.  It is a police state, and it is widely referred to as "the North Korea of Africa."  Its government's merciless brutality toward its citizens has been documented and denounced by the U.S. State Department, the United Nations, and many major human rights organizations.  Citizens live in constant fear of surveillance, arbitrary arrest, torture, malnutrition, detention within a gulag of underground prisons, and indefinite military service under slave-like conditions.  Citizens who are deported from other countries are at particular peril.  We wish to voice our fears on behalf of the 700 in the U.S.A, and to implore the U.S. government to halt any deportations until Eritrea

becomes safe for the individuals to return.  

Why Deportation?  

The 700 here are under final removal orders issued by American immigration courts.  To our knowledge, few are under those orders for having committed crimes here.  Instead, many or most had applied in good faith for asylum in the U.S., but they had merely lost their asylum claims.  Often they failed their cases because they lacked legal counsel because the immigration judges did not understand the dire state of human rights in Eritrea or both.  In recent years, few Eritreans have been deported from the U.S.  The reason appears to have been that the Eritrean government had refused to cooperate with the deportations – specifically, had refused to issue travel documents to the individuals under final removal orders.  In the September 13 directive, DHS sought to remedy that situation by causing the State Department to issue a broad ban on in-bound visas from Eritrea to the U.S., as a means of pressuring the Eritrean regime to issue the travel documents for out-bound deportees.  

Why Eritrea?

Eleven additional countries have also refused to issue travel papers for U.S. deportees.  But DHS chose to place visa restrictions on only four of them, including Eritrea, and to press for Eritrean deportations, apparently without considering the horrors that would likely befall those deported to Eritrea.  We do not object to the ban on in-bound visas.  But we fervently, and with broken hearts, object to Eritreans being deported to an excruciating fate.  

We urge members of Congress to use all influence they may have to cause DHS and ICE to halt the deportation of Eritreans until that country is safe – especially Eritreans whose only shortcoming here is that their asylum claims were denied.  

PLEASE HELP SAVE THE ERITREAN 700!