Geneva to Vatican City to highlight alleged human rights abuses in Eritrea where tens of thousands of people, including Christians, are reportedly detained without a proper trial.
Tekle and Samuel Gebregiorgis, both in their 40’s, set off from the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, June 15, after holding meetings with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour and representatives of the Swiss government, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said.
The brothers, who are Orthodox Christians, were reportedly seen off for the 1,200 kilometer trip (about 688 miles) by a representative of the Vatican and were accompanied by several solidarity walkers for the first ten kilometers of their journey. They hope to reach the offices of Pope Benedict XVI within the next 20 days with what they call a "peace march for Eritrea".
"It is sad that after 30 years of war and 12 years of peace the situation in Eritrea is worse than ever before," said Tekle Gebregiorgis in a statement released by CSW.
"GREATEST DICTATOR"
"The former Che Guevara of Eritrea is now one of the greatest dictators in Africa. There are more than 40,000 prisoners of conscience detained without trial and without access to their families," he claimed. "In some cases we don’t know if they are alive or dead. It is impossible for us to close our eyes and do nothing. In the past I walked to free Mandela. Now it is my people who are looking for international solidarity."
This is the second long march for peace that these brothers have undertaken. Last year they walked from their home in Germany to the European Commission in Brussels to highlight the human rights situation in their country, CSW explained.
"CSW applauds this latest initiative by the Gebregiorgis brothers to draw attention to the appalling human rights violations taking place in Eritrea," said CSW Advocacy Director, Tina Lambert. "We call on the international community to enter into immediate dialogue with the Eritrean government to bring about an improvement in the country’s human rights situation, and to use all necessary mechanisms to call the Eritrean government to account for its repressive policies."
"REPRESSIVE COUNTRY"
CSW described Eritrea as "one of the most repressive countries on the African continent with regard to its overall human rights record," and said it ranks significantly amongst offending countries worldwide.
"In 2001 all independent media outlets were closed and several journalists were indefinitely detained, along with 11 ruling party members who had called for democracy. In 2002 the government ordered the closure of all churches that were not affiliated to the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran or Orthodox denominations, and ended all other religious practices except Islam," CSW reported. "Arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention are now commonplace in Eritrea," the organization stressed.
It said "thousands of people" are held without charges in Eritrea "for months and years" at locations that include army camps, police stations, shipping containers, underground cells and even villas. "Amongst this number are around 500 Christians, some of whom have been held without charge since 2002," CSW explained.
The Eritrean government has denied there is religious persecution in the country. President Isaias Afworki has been quoted as saying that several religious groups have been "duped by foreigners" who sought to "distract from the unity of the Eritrean people and distort the true meaning of religion."
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
However CSW said several detainees are held in extended solitary confinement and refused family visits. Conditions in detention centers "can be dangerously overcrowded and unsanitary, torture is often routinely practiced, and detainees with long-term medical conditions are sometimes deprived of their medicines," CSW added.
It cited reports that Rev. Dr Tekleab Menghisteab, an Orthodox priest detained with two colleagues since November 2004 and an insulin-dependent diabetic, "collapsed on at least one occasion after he was unable to obtain his medication and had to be admitted into hospital."
During their march the Gebregiorgis brothers are collecting signatures for a petition requesting that Pope Benedict XVI uses his influence to secure the "release of illegally detained Eritreans." The petition also calls on the Pope to urge key members and bodies of the international community "to set up an independent commission to inspect the conditions in all the official and unofficial detention centers in the country," said CSW which saw the text of the petition.
The petition is also available for online signatures via website http://www.PetitionOnline.com/FreeErit, while updates on the march are available via http://www.dhnet-eritrawian.com (With BosNewsLife Research and reports from Eritrea and Geneva).
