Eritrean rights advocates on Wednesday sued the EU and asked it to halt 80 million euros (US$86.5 million) in aid to the east African nation, saying that the money funded a scheme built on forced labor.
The Netherlands-based foundation Human Rights for Eritreans (FHRE) filed a lawsuit in the Amsterdam District Court, accusing the EU of financing a major road renovation project that relies on forced labor and of failing to carry out due diligence.
Some of the laborers belong to the national service, condemned to forced labor and slavery by the UN and the European Parliament, lawyers backing the suit said.
The Netherlands is host to a large number of Eritrean migrants and pays toward the project as a member of the EU.
The EU last year said that it would monitor the work to ensure that laborers were paid and treated well.
Eritrean Minister of Information Yemane Ghebremeskel questioned the credibility of the FHRE, saying that the suit was typical of its “demonization campaigns.”
“The accusations emanate from a very small, but vocal group, mostly foreigners who have an agenda of ‘regime change’ against Eritrea,” he told reporters.
Eritrea signed a peace deal with Ethiopia in 2018, raising expectations that a longstanding system of universal conscription would be scaled back, but Human Rights Watch last year said that no changes had been made to a “system of repression.”
The Dutch law firm backing the lawsuit — Kennedy Van der Laan (KVDL) — said that it is seeking a court ruling that the roads project is unlawful and that the EU should cease supporting it.
“The EU has normalized and given an acceptable face to a practice which has been universally condemned by the international community and is a clear violation of the most fundamental human rights norms,” the firm said.
KVDL attorney Emiel Jurjens said that the FHRE raised the issue in April last year with the EU, which rejected its criticism before announcing further funding for the project in December.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS