Freedom of movement

Number of health professionals working in

the mental health sector Rate per 100,000

Training of health professions in

educational institutions Rate per 100,000

Psychiatrists 0.0 NA

Medical doctors, not specialized in

psychiatry

0.02 0.57

Nurses 1.07 4.19

Psychologists 0.04 NA

Social workers 0.02 NA

Occupational therapists

0.0 NA

Other health workers 0.08 NA

See also Overview of availability of medical treatment and drugs.

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from the government 10 days in advance to leave Asmara. The government did not respond to a number of such requests early in the year but granted permission more liberally during the second half of the year.’ [3b] (section 2d)

25.02 The United States State Department ‘2012 Human Rights Report: Eritrea’, also stated:

‘The government restricted foreign travel. Requirements for obtaining passports and exit visas were inconsistent and nontransparent. Nonetheless, increasing numbers of

citizens traveled abroad legally to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Qatar…In general citizens had the right to return. However, citizens residing abroad had to show proof that they paid the 2-percent tax on foreign earned income to be eligible for some

government services, including passport renewals. Persons known to have broken laws abroad, contracted serious contagious diseases, or been declared ineligible for political asylum by other governments had their visas and visa requests to enter the country considered with greater scrutiny than others did.’ [3b] (section 2d)

25.03 The Human Rights Watch ‘Service for Life - State Repression and Indefinite Conscription in Eritrea’ report, published on 16 April 2009, stated:

‘Severe restrictions on freedom of movement are in place. As more and more of its citizens leave the country, the government’s methods to try and stem the exodus have become more brutal…within Eritrea, movement is equally circumscribed through a variety of mechanisms…a visitor to Eritrea in late 2008 described buses being frequently stopped and passengers asked for ID cards: some possessed laminated cards showing that they had completed national service, others had letters authorizing travel to a specific place and for a limited period of time.’ [29c] (p62-63)

25.04 The minutes of a presentation by Dr David Bozzini given on 16 February 2012, entitled

‘National Service and State Structures in Eritrea’, noted that:

‘Police control is enforced through the control of identity documents at checkpoints and by police or military police who carry out regular roundups…since the border war with Ethiopia (1998-2000), military conscripts need only a laissez-passer (and no ID card) to pass check-points.

‘Conscripts in both sectors of the National Service hold laissez-passers (Mänqäsaqäsi), which are issued by the Ministry of Defense (for the military sector) or another ministry or civil institution under which the conscript is assigned…demobilization cards are issued to National Service members who have successfully carried out the

demobilization process. This card replaces laissez-passers. It generally grants more freedom of movement within the Eritrean territory.’ [33a] (p6)

25.05 The same document noted that:

‘Until autumn 2011, movement on Eritrean roads was controlled by many checkpoints.

At these checkpoints, only laissez-passers were checked with no cross-checking other identity documents such as ID cards. It was never verified, if a laissez-passer really belonged to the person who was using it. Deserters using documents of friends or falsified documents were thus almost never detected. Nevertheless, the controls were responsible for a climate of fear and incertitude.’ [33a] (p7)

25.06 The British Embassy in Asmara, in a letter dated 10 August 2010 (Annex F), provided the following information, obtained from Eritrean sources:

‘Travel permits are required to travel anywhere in Eritrea, travel to border areas is not permitted. They are issued by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the Demobilisation

Commission and other local administration offices. The format is not standard, for those who have completed their national service, they can travel using their ID Card and their demobilisation papers. If issued by the MOD, the travel permit contains: full name, date of travel, expiry date of permit and where travelling to and from. The demobilisation paper contains: full name, military number, date of birth, national service details and a photograph of the holder. Anyone found trying to leave without the necessary permit or demobilisation paper will be detained until they can prove they have completed their national service. Those who have not reported for national service will be detained as deserters and sent to a military training camp. ID cards are compulsory for anyone over the age of 18. They are issued by the Department of Immigration and Nationality in a standard format. They contain: full name, date of birth, place of birth, address and a photograph of the holder. ID cards need to be carried at all times. If found not to be in possession of an ID card, individuals will be detained until such time as one can be produced. They rely on friends or guards to inform their family of their detention.’

25.07 The Amnesty International report, ‘Eritrea - 20 years of Independence, but still no freedom’, published on 9 May 2013, stated:

‘Former detainees have also said that they were detained along with people who had been caught moving around the country without the requisite travel permit. In Eritrea, a travel permit is required to move around the country or to travel from one town to

another. According to the testimonies of former detainees, some people caught moving without a travel permit have been suspected of an intention to travel to one of the country’s borders in order to flee. It is not known if all people caught without an internal travel permit are arrested, or whether in all cases arrest is based on a suspicion of intention to leave the country without authorisation.’ [6c] (pages 28-29)

25.08 Foreign nationals in Asmara need permission to travel outside the city, as noted in the

‘Travel Advice’, section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, updated on 26 April 2013: ‘All foreign nationals must apply in advance for a travel permit to leave Asmara. This includes diplomats, whose applications are often refused. The British Embassy is unlikely to be able to provide consular support outside the capital.’ [10b]

25.09 A paper by David Bozzini, entitled ‘Low-tech Surveillance and the Despotic State in Eritrea’, published in 2011, stated:

‘Checkpoints were first set up to control population movements during the war against Ethiopia, between 1998 and 2000. But since the proper demobilisation and release from national duty has been postponed, the Military Police has started to check people

assigned to the civil National Service because they have begun to flee the country in such large numbers. Here follows a short description of what typically happens at such sites. A few kilometres out of Asmara [the capital city of Eritrea], at the edge of the eastern escarpments which fall 2000 metres down to the coastal desert, lie some small offices which take the form of two brand new white containers placed on either side of the road. In between them, a simple and almost invisible elastic cord stretches across the road. On the side of the road, a few soldiers are sitting in a quite relaxed way; they exude boredom more than anything else. When the bus reaches the barracks, some of them stand up. And immediately after that, the bus stops. The soldier standing in front of the vehicle begins to shout, admonishing the driver for not having followed the

instructions on a new traffic sign showing that buses have to stop at the right side of the

road; silence reigns among the travellers. The manoeuvre takes place and a second soldier holding a Kalashnikov enters the bus and snaps his fingers three times without targeting anyone in particular. Most of the travellers provide papers to the soldier, who gives them a quick look, checks to see if there is anyone who has not provided a document yet and then snaps his fingers again at those who are late. The papers go back to the entitled travellers and the soldier steps out of the bus without having said a word. Another soldier lowers the elastic cord and the bus continues on its way.

Discussion shyly resumes on the bus. No more, no less.

‘Checkpoints like this number in the hundreds in Eritrea. They are scattered along all roads and stand at the gates of every town. This deployment gives the state a spatial dimension throughout the national territory. Moreover, this ubiquitous presence does not remain unseen but on the contrary, it considerably increases the visibility of the state.

Certainly, few African states can claim to have such an ostentatious territorial presence.

Indeed, people travelling about 100 km regularly have to cross at least 3 or 4

checkpoints. This state presence and its ambition to control its territory and citizens could arguably encourage the view that Eritrea is a police state…or at least one that is deeply shaped and obsessed by security issues…However, state omnipresence was rarely questioned and challenged by my informants who even considered the state omniscient project as normal and legitimate during what they readily recognised, along official definition, as a period of “no war, no peace”. Beside such popular consent to the official perspective, the repetitive presence of checkpoints also certainly contributes to such routinisation and normalisation of state scrutiny…More active and fine-tuned sorting is carried out at checkpoints by Military Police focused attention: ID cards for exempted people such as freedom fighters and “aged” or demobilised civilians, military leaves for soldiers, and travel permits for those assigned to civil National Service. In Tigrinya, this social dichotomy between exempted and non-exempted is even

semantically underlined: leaves and permits are generically called mänqesaqäsi, while mänänät refers to ID cards. Mänqesaqäsi not only inform the Military Police of the name and the assignation of the holder but also specify the route which the conscript is

authorised to follow and the geographical area where he or she can stay. Both leaves and permits have a limited validity in time, which Military Police can also check. They are renewed by officials from the institution to which the conscripts are assigned. ID cards inform the Military Police about the name, the age and possibly about the military rank of the holder. ID cards can also specify status such as “demobilised”, “Ethiopian” or

“security staff”. Finally, medical certificates can testify for a temporary or a more permanent exemption to serve.’ [33b] (pages 98-99)

See also Round-ups (‘Giffas’) and Exit and return.

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