Summary: Non-signatory Eritrea says it supports the convention’s humanitarian objectives, but it has not taken any steps to join it. Eritrea has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, but not since 2015. It voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2017.

Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and denies stockpiling them, but it used cluster munitions during the 1998–2000 war with Ethiopia.

Policy

The State of Eritrea has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Eritrea has expressed support for the convention’s humanitarian provisions and an interest in accession but has not taken any steps to join.[1] In 2010, Eritrea told States Parties that it supports the convention and sees benefits in joining.[2] In 2008, Eritrea said that as a contaminated state, it understands the problems caused by cluster munitions, and therefore supports their prohibition.[3]

Eritrea did not participate in the international meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions but attended the two African regional meetings, where it supported a comprehensive ban.[4]

Eritrea has participated as an observer in all except three of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and attended the First Review Conference in 2015.[5] It has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, as well as an intersessional meeting on the convention in 2012.

In December 2017, Eritrea voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] It also voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution on the convention in 2015.[7]

Eritrea is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Eritrean and Ethiopian forces both used cluster munitions during their 1998–2000 war.[8]

Eritrean aircraft attacked the Mekele airport in Ethiopia with cluster bombs in 1998.[9] In 2009, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission in The Hague awarded Ethiopia US$2.5 million “in respect of deaths and injuries, medical expenses, and property damage resulting from the dropping of cluster bombs in the vicinity of the Ayder School in Mekele.”[10]

Although Ethiopia has denied it, there is ample evidence that it attacked several parts of Eritrea with cluster munitions during the war.

In May 2013, Eritrea stated that it does not use or stockpile cluster munitions or function as a transfer country.[11]

In October 2010, an Eritrean official said the country has not produced cluster munitions and has no stocks.[12]

Eritrea reportedly inheritedChilean-manufactured CB-500 cluster bombs when it achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1991.[13] It also possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[14]

Note: SHA = suspected hazardous area; ERW = explosive remnants of war; UXO = unexploded ordnance.

Contamination

The State of Eritrea is affected by mines and ERW dating back to World War II, but largely as the result of the struggle for independence in 1962–1991 and its armed conflict with Ethiopia in 1998–2000.

In May 2015, the Deputy General Manager of the Eritrea Demining Agency (EDA) reported “no significant progress registered by the EDA currently.” He stated, though, that the EDA was being reorganized in an effort to make “better progress.”[1] The EDA did not respond to repeated requests for further information, since 2015, including most recently in 2018.

The last estimate of mine contamination in Eritrea dates back to the end of 2013, when Eritrea reported that 434 mined areas remained over an estimated 33.4km².[2] This was a two-thirds reduction on the earlier estimate of 99km² of June 2011,[3] and significantly lower than the 129km² identified by the 2004 landmine impact survey.[4]

SHAs by region (at end 2013)[5]

Antipersonnel mines and ERW are reported to negatively affect socio-economic conditions in Eritrea, blocking access to agricultural and pastoral land vital to farmers and animal herders, and preventing the implementation of construction and development projects, including of roads, schools, and clinics.[6]

Program Management

The EDA, established in July 2002, is responsible
for policy development, regulation of mine action, and the conduct of mine clearance operations. The EDA reports directly to the Office of the President. The Eritrea mine action program is entirely nationally managed.

Operators

In the past, demining has been primarily conducted by the engineering units of the Eritrean defense forces under the supervision of the EDA, which also carries out quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) in accordance with Eritrea’s National Mine Action Standards.[7] According to its second Article 5 deadline extension request, submitted in 2014, Eritrea planned to deploy “at least” five demining teams during its second extension period, the same number as then deployed, but might increase the number if adequate financial and logistical support were found.[8]

Following expulsion of international NGOs in 2005, Eritrea does not allow any international demining operators to conduct survey or clearance in Eritrea.

Land Release

Under its 2014 extension request, Eritrea projected that up to 15.4km² of mined area could be cleared within five years. It reported that 67.3km² of contaminated area had been cancelled through non-technical survey and that 5.7km² was cleared over 38 mined areas in 2011–2013.[9] 

Eritrea has not provided any updates on mine action activities to States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty since 2014. Previously, in 2013, Eritrea reported release of 157 SHAs totaling 33.5km², leaving 385 mined areas of close to 24.5km² to be surveyed.[10] Forty-nine new mined areas with a total size of 9km² were discovered in five of the country’s six regions during non-technical survey in 2013: Anseba, Debub, Gash Barka, Maakel, and Semienawi Keih Bahri.[11]

In 2013, Eritrea seemingly cleared approximately 2.26km² of mined area, almost twice the amount cleared in 2012 (1.2km²).[12] The number of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines destroyed in 2013 was not reported. 

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the three-year extension granted by States Parties in 2011 and a further five-year extension granted in 2014), Eritrea is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 February 2020. It is not on track to meet this deadline.

In January 2014, Eritrea submitted a second Article 5 deadline extension request seeking a further five years to continue clearance and complete re-survey of SHAs, but not to fulfil its clearance obligations under the treaty. In June 2014, States Parties granted Eritrea its extension request until 2020, but noted that five additional years beyond Eritrea’s previous February 2015 deadline “appeared to be a long period of time to meet this objective.”[13] 

Re-survey during the second extension period is planned to involve both technical and non-technical survey of all remaining mined areas across six regions. Re-survey is planned to run concurrently with clearance in priority areas in the Anseba, Maakel, and Semienawi Keih Bahri regions.[14]

Based on a predicted clearance rate of 0.384km² per team per year and 1.92km² per five teams per year, Eritrea estimated that five teams operating at this optimum pace could clear almost 15.4km² in the five-year period.[15] However, this clearance rate was acknowledged by Eritrea as “ambitious” due to the “inevitable collaboration...of the demining teams with the survey teams.” In addition, while Eritrea seems to have set reasonable estimates
for its clearance rates, which roughly match its progress in previous years with similar capacity, this accounts for less than half of the total area Eritrea has estimated as requiring either clearance or re-survey (33.5km²), leaving some 18km² unaccounted for in the workplan.[16]

Eritrea projected that costs for the extension periodwould amount to more than US$7 million, all to be raised nationally.[17] In 2011–2013, Eritrea managed to raise only $257,000 annually. As of December 2013, Eritrea had not received international funding for mine clearance, and in its statement at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties, it said that progress in clearing mines would be slow because it “had limited resources and capacity of one small poor nation.”[18] It is therefore unclear how Eritrea intends to raise the finances necessary for its survey and clearance activities, particularly in light of its regrettable policy not to accept international technical assistance. 

In April 2014, at the Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings, Eritrea stated that the extension period was designed to gain greater clarity about its mine problem, at which point Eritrea “could plan and think about the financial resources to be allocated for mine action.”[19] It was further stated that Eritrea “won’t complete clearance in the next five years,” and will likely require a third extension.[20] Eritrea has not provided States Parties with any information since, nor did it submit an updated Article 5 deadline extension request workplan as requested. It did not attend any meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty in 2016, 2017, or the first half of 2018.

Mine clearance in 2013–2017[21]

Note: N/R = not reported.

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from“Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.

Casualties Overview

In 2016, the Monitor did not identify any landmine/ERW casualties in The State of Eritrea. There is no systematic, reliable available data collection in Eritrea with respect to mine/ERW casualties. Since 2013 the Eritrean Demining Authority (EDA) has not provided any casualty data. There is reason, however, to believe that casualties occurred in 2016 but were not systematically recorded.[2] For 2016, UNICEF reported seven landmine/ERW accidents, a decrease from the 22 incidents identified by UNICEF in 2015. However, statistics on casualties caused by the incidents were not reported.[3]

The total known number of mine/ERW casualties in Eritrea is 5,299 (2,522 killed; 2,777 injured).[4] The EDA recorded 802 casualties (206 killed, 596 injured) between 2000 and the end of 2012, including 365 from 2005–2011 (86 killed, 279 injured).[5] The Eritrea Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) remains the most extensive source of cumulative casualty data, identifying 4,934 mine/ERW casualties up to June 2004 (2,436 killed, 2,498 injured).[6] Previous estimates of tens of thousands of mine casualties in Eritrea in total remain unconfirmed.[7] However, the LIS data collection was limited to communities that reported mine contamination.[8] Therefore, it is likely that the LIS does not record veterans injured and killed by mines from urban localities.

Cluster munition casualties

At least 172 cluster munition casualties have been reported in Eritrea; 163 of which were reported as occurring during cluster munition attacks, all in 2000 or earlier. Another nine casualties of unexploded cluster submunitions were also recorded.[9] No further information on whether there had been casualties caused by cluster munition remnants was available.

Action points based on findings

• Develop a transparent mechanism to document and record landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) accidents.
• Finalize and implement the draft national policy on disability.
• Mainstream children with disabilities into educational programs.
• Revitalize mine action capacity in Eritrea.
• Mobilize resources to expand the community-based rehabilitation program to support the thousands of disadvantaged landmine/ERW victims.

Victim assistance commitments

The State of Eritrea is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other ERW who are in need. Eritrea has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

As of 1 July 2017, Eritrea had not signed or acceded to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).[1]

At least 2,810 mine/ERW survivors have been reported in Eritrea.[2] An estimated 650,000 Eritreans live in landmine- and ERW-contaminated areas.[3]

Victim assistance since 2015

Starting in 2014, UN agencies have unsuccessfully sought funding for victim assistance programming in Eritrea through the Portfolio of Mine Action Programs.[4]

Victim assistance in 2016 

In 2016, Eritrea showed significant improvement in the availability of rehabilitation services.

Assessing victim assistance needs

Through the community-based rehabilitation (CBR) network, the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare (MoLHW) continued to collect data on persons with disabilities at the community level, but no specific assessment of survivor needs was conducted.[5] An estimated 120,000 to 150,000 Eritreans live with some form of disability.[6]

Victim assistance coordination[7]

The MoLHW is responsible for the coordination of services for all persons with disabilities, including mine survivors.[8] In 2011, Eritrea announced the development of a comprehensive national disability policy, which remains in draft status.[9] In 2015, under the coordination of the MoLHW, a comprehensive review of the draft policy was conducted with various stakeholders to finalize the policy.[10]

Inclusion and participation

The MoLHW hosted the celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December 2016, in the exposition hall in Asmara. The four nationally recognized disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs)—the National Association of the Visually-Impaired, the National Association of the Hearing-Impaired, the National Association of the Mentally and Developmentally Impaired, and the Eritrean National Association of War Disabled Veterans (ENWDVA)—participated in the event.

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[11]

In 2016, Eritrea showed significant improvement in its efforts to increase the availability of rehabilitation services. The orthopedic workshop in Asmara was able to hire additional staff and build the capacity of staff at the workshop to provide mobility devices to beneficiaries. Through the MoLHW’s CBR program, an additional 120 CBR workers were deployed to four regions that had previously not been reached, extending the CBR program’s coverage to 80% of the country. The CBR program provides physical therapy and psychosocial support to landmine and ERW survivors and persons with disabilities.[12]

Eritrea signed a Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework (SPCF) 2017–2021 agreement with the United Nations to support cooperation between the government, UNICEF, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The SPCF continued efforts made under the previous agreement between Eritrea and the UN agencies, which include support for the CBR program and continues the provision of donkeys to assist children with disabilities access schools.[13]

Education in Eritrea remains non-inclusive, with separate schools for children with disabilities.[14]