The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Referring to the case of the parliamentarians listed above, former members of Eritrea’s National Assembly who have been held incommunicado since 18 September 2001 (often referred to as the “G11”), as outlined in the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/187/12(b)-R.1), and to the resolution adopted at its 186th session (April 2010),

Recalling the following: the former parliamentarians concerned - the so-called G11 - have been held in incommunicado detention since September 2001 in violation of the Constitution of Eritrea, which, in its Articles 16 and 17 guarantees the right to human dignity and the right to habeas corpus; the Government still attributes to them the commission of crimes against the sovereignty and security of the State of Eritrea, but has not laid criminal charges against them and still less brought them before a court; the sources affirm that their detention has to do with their written criticism of the Government and their call for democratic reform; the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well as the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have concluded that their detention constitutes a violation of their right to freedom of expression and their right to liberty and have called for their immediate release; although Eritrea is a party to the African Convention on Human and Peoples’ Rights and thus bound to implement the decisions of the Commission, it has failed to release the persons concerned,

Considering that the European Parliament has taken many initiatives to raise the issue of the “G11” prisoners and will continue to do so; noting in this respect that, in her letter of 22 July 2010, the European Union’s High Representative for International Affairs and Vice-president of the European Commission has affirmed the European Union’s commitment to working for the release of the persons concerned, stating that, however, the Eritrean authorities have, to date, not given any information and have denied access to the detainees; noting in this respect that, it appears from her letter, that according to unconfirmed information, nine of the eleven G11 members are still in detention with poor health conditions,

1. Thanks the High Representative for her letter and expresses it great appreciation of the initiatives taken and efforts made by the European Union to obtain the release of the G11 prisoners;

2. Can only express its indignation at the continuing incommunicado detention of the persons concerned, and at the Eritrean Government’s attitude of ignoring not only the Constitution of the country but also its international obligations in the field of human rights, which command their immediate release and compensation for their arbitrary detention;

3. Reiterates its pressing call for the immediate release of the former parliamentarians concerned, whose lives may be in grave danger; appeals once again to all member parliaments to do their utmost to put an end to the plight of their Eritrean colleagues and to inform the Secretary General of such initiatives as they may have taken to this end;

4. Requests the Secretary General to continue to do everything in his power with a view to obtaining their release, including through contacts with the competent bodies of the European Union and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly; also requests the Committee’s titular and substitute members to take or continue taking action to this end;

5. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 124th IPU Assembly (April 2011).

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