Spotlight Eritrea: A country on the verge of collapse Litteraturhuset, Oslo: 08.04.2014 ilpi.org/events/seminar-on-eritrea/ ILPI’s Senior Legal Advisor and Research Professor Daniel Rezene Mekonnen making a point. From left, Selam Kidane, human rights activist, London; Dr. Mohamed Kheir, researcher and human rights activist, Oslo; Meron Estefanos, radio host and human rights activist, Stockholm; Dr. Daniel Mekonnen, Senior Legal Advisor & Research Professor, ILPI HQ, Oslo. The human rights situation in Eritrea is among the worst in the world. Because of this, a massive exodus has been going on for years. Many lose their lives en route to Europe, others are caught by kidnappers in Sinai, and subjected to rape and torture there, while their families are being pressed for ransom. Eritreans now make the largest nationality of immigrants coming to Norway. ILPI has significant in-house expertise on Eritrea, and hosted a seminar at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on Tuesday 8 April, addressing the human rights crisis in the small Horn of Africa country. Four organizations joined ILPI as co-hosts. These were the Norwegian Church Aid, the Norwegian People’s Aid, the Stefanus Alliance International, and the Rafto Foundation. Following introductory remarks, the seminar opened with a screening of parts of ‘The Sound of Torture,’ a new documentary directed by Keren Shayo, and featuring the Swedish-Eritrean radio host Meron Estefanos, about the kidnapping and torture of Eritrea refugees in the Sinai. Estefanos herself presented the film and took part in the following panel at the seminar. Together with her on the expert panel were the London-based Eritrean activist Selam Kidane who co-ordinates civil action inside her home country, activist and researcher Mohamed Kheir Omer, and ILPI’s own senior legal advisor and research professor Daniel Rezene Mekonnen. The seminar drew a full house and all four members of the expert panel added detail to the audience’s understanding of the situation inside Eritrea. Following the experts, another panel, consisting of Norwegian politicians took over. This included State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hans Brattskar, representing the Norwegian Conservatives (Høyre), the former holder of the same position, the Labour Party’s (Arbeiderpartiet) Raymond Johansen, and MP for the Liberal party (Venstre) Sveinung Rotevatn. Both panels were challenged by the audience. Managing Partner and Director of ILPI’s Centre for African Studies Professor Kjetil Tronvoll moderated the seminar. Tronvoll is an internationally recognized expert on Eritrea, with several books and a large number of articles on the country to his record.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 09:59:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015