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RWCHR is leading an international coalition of leading non-governmental and human rights organisations calling for Magnitsky sanctions against Eritrean officials involved in corruption cases and rights violations against Dawit Isaak and his colleagues.
Montreal, 4 October 2021 – 23 September marked the twentieth anniversary of the imprisonment of Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), in collaboration with an international coalition of leading non-governmental and human rights organisations, experts, lawyers and journalists, hosted a high-level conference to address 20 years of dictatorship in Eritrea: A Case Study on the Global Assault on Media Freedom by Authoritarian Regimes.
The Eritrean authorities arbitrarily detained Isaak, who was then reporting for Eritrea’s first independent newspaper, Setit , without charge or trial, along with at least ten other independent journalists. His current condition and whereabouts are unknown, and some of the journalists arrested with him have already died in custody. Mr Isaak and his colleagues are the longest-imprisoned journalists in the world.
In light of the Eritrean government’s ongoing attacks on fundamental rights and freedoms, including media freedom and the persecution of journalists, as well as systematic serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detentions, inhumane detention conditions and suppression of dissent in relation to the case and matter of Mr Isaak and his colleagues, the RWCHR has submitted a submission to the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Global Affairs Canada recommending sanctions against Eritrean officials involved in corruption cases and rights violations against Dawit Isaak. The petition was filed under the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act (Sergei Magnitsky Law).
Together with Reporters Without Borders (RSF), PEN Canada, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Raoul Wallenberg Research Initiative (RWI-70) and the Fritz Bauer Forum, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) and the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), RWCHR calls on the Eritrean government to abide by its international legal obligations and release Dawit Isaak and his colleagues immediately and unconditionally.
„It is important that we act swiftly to achieve justice for Dawit Isaak and his colleagues and hold human rights violators accountable for the massive repression of human rights in Eritrea. We urge the imposition of targeted Magnitsky sanctions against the high-ranking Eritrean officials responsible for crimes against humanity. We also reiterate the call on the Swedish prosecutor to launch an investigation into the crimes against humanity against Mr Isaak. The failure to prosecute can be seen as leniency, if not an incentive for impunity.“
– Irwin Cotler, International Chairman of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR)
– Judith Abitan, Executive Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR)
„Reporters Without Borders (RSF) supports the call for Magnitsky sanctions in the case of Eritrea, the country at the bottom of our World Press Freedom Index. But they cannot replace justice. The Swedish prosecutor’s office, to whom we have sent several complaints against the Eritrean president and high-ranking members of his government for crimes against humanity in the case of Dawit Isaak, can no longer refuse to open a criminal investigation.“
– Paul Coppin, Head of the Legal Department, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
„For twenty years, Dawit Isaak and his colleagues have been arbitrarily detained in appalling conditions without being formally charged or sentenced. Every day they remain in prison is another scandal. We call on the Canadian government to do everything in its power to use the Magnitsky sanctions to secure their immediate and unconditional release.“
– Grace Westcott, President, PEN Canada
„After two decades, the devastating mistreatment of Dawit Isaak continues to symbolise the appalling conditions for journalists in Eritrea. Dawit and all imprisoned journalists in the country must be released, and the government’s ongoing campaign to censor or silence its critics must end.“
– Angela Quintal, Africa Programme Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
„The years-long detention of Dawit Isaac and his colleagues, comparable to a state kidnapping, without charge or trial, under torture and in complete isolation from relatives, lawyers and consular support, is not only a serious crime against humanity, but also a political and moral scandal of the worst kind. Why was Dawit Isaac imprisoned? As a journalist, he reported critically on the living conditions and the political leadership in Eritrea, a self-evident right in any constitutional state. The Eritrean government has thus completely marginalised itself and should be sanctioned by the international community with all diplomatic, legal and economic means at its disposal.“
– Susanne Berger, Founder and Coordinator, Raoul Wallenberg Research Initiative (RWI-70)
– Dr Irmtrud Wojak, Managing Director and Director, Fritz Bauer Forum
“ Twenty years on, the case of Dawit Isaak and his colleagues still has a chilling effect. The arbitrary imprisonment of journalists is one of the main methods used to silence them. As international human rights bodies have recognised, politically motivated arrests, trials and detentions constitute a particularly serious form of abuse that requires stricter scrutiny and remedy. We join our partners in calling on Canada to impose targeted sanctions against Eritrean President Afwerki and his regime for the serious human rights violations committed with impunity against journalists and media outlets over decades, including in this tragic case.“
– Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
„Parliamentarians for Global Action calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners in Eritrea. In 2015, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea found that systematic, widespread and serious human rights violations have been and continue to be committed in Eritrea under the responsibility of the government. Some of these violations may constitute crimes against humanity. The case in question is an example of this situation, which is almost always ignored by the international community.
– David Donat-Cattin, Secretary General, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)
„Afwerki’s regime, which infamously disregards the rights and dignity of the Eritrean people, has turned Eritrea into one of the most closed societies in the world. The fact that he has been able to act so cruelly and commit his crimes with impunity is at least partly due to the inaction of the international community. It is time for his regime to be held accountable for its abuses and for the international community to show solidarity with Eritreans.“
– Roberto González, Head of the Legal Department, Human Rights Foundation (HRF)