Forced labour in Eritrea

Kibreab, Gaim

doi:10.1017/s0022278x08003650

Cited by 61 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For those who originate from Eritrea the practice of forced labour in Eritrea is the first stage of the trafficking cycle. In Eritrea, people are recruited and obliged to serve in national service, sometimes for an indefinite period of time without any payment and without the option to refuse or leave national service (Kibreab, 2009). These recruits are forced to work on the land or in construction, for instance.…”

Section: The Concept Of the Human Trafficking Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Sinai Trafficking: Origin and Definition of a New Form of Human Trafficking

Reisen

Rijken²

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The phenomenon that is coined "Sinai Trafficking" started in 2009 in the Sinai desert. It involves the abduction, extortion, sale, torture, sexual violation and killing of men, women and children. Migrants, of whom the vast majority are from Eritrean descent, are abducted and brought to the Sinai desert, where they are sold and resold, extorted for very high ransoms collected by mobile phone, while being brutally and "functionally" tortured to support the extortion. Many of them die in Sinai. Over the last five years broadcasting stations, human rights organisations and academics have reported on the practices in the Sinai and some of these reports have resulted in some confusion on the modus operandi. Based on empirical research by the authors and the analysis of data gathered in more than 200 recorded interviews with Sinai hostages and survivors on the practices, this article provides a definition of Sinai Trafficking. It argues that the term Sinai Trafficking can be used to differentiate a particular new set of criminal practices that have first been reported in the Sinai Peninsula. The article further examines how the new phenomenon of Sinai Trafficking can be framed into the legal human trafficking definition. The interconnectedness of Sinai Trafficking with slavery, torture, ransom collection, extortion, sexual violence and other severe crimes is presented to substantiate the use of the trafficking framework. The plight of Sinai survivors in Israel and Egypt is explained to illustrate the cyclical process of the trafficking practices especially endured by Eritreans, introduced as the Human Trafficking Cycle. The article concludes by setting out areas for further research.

show abstract

Section: The Concept Of the Human Trafficking Cyclementioning

confidence: 99%

Sinai Trafficking: Origin and Definition of a New Form of Human Trafficking

Reisen

Rijken²

2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A sharp analysis by Kibreab (2009) concludes that demands for national service in Eritrea, and the arrangements for enforcing those demands, amount to forced labor. Depending on how these things are conceptualized and measured, the Eritrean army is among the largest in Africa (Bozzini 2011); in per-capita terms it is exceeded only by North Korea.…”

Section: Eritrean Asylum Seekers: Forced Migrants?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But that support, as with the army's legitimacy more generally, is decidedly limited -as evident in the severe punishments required to secure the participation of significant numbers of conscripts (Kibreab 2009). The country is also riddled with checkpoints where soldiers check people's documents to determine whether they are complying with their service obligations (Bozzini 2011).…”

Section: Eritrean Asylum Seekers: Forced Migrants?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the 'labor power' of the army is regularly co-opted for the benefit and enrichment of senior officers and companies owned by the ruling party and by private individuals (Kibreab 2009). The 'national service' aspect of conscription is connected to the government's 'Warsay Ykaa lo Development Campaign', whose stated purpose is to rebuild the country to remedy the destruction caused by the war for independence and the subsequent war with Ethiopia in 1998-2000.…”

Section: Watch 2009)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Forced Migration and “Rejected Alternatives”: A Conceptual Refinement

Bartram

2015

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The 'forced migration' concept can obscure how some people who migrate in this mode exercise a key form of agency. Some refugee flows occur when people reasonably reject options that might obviate the need to flee (e.g. abandoning their religious beliefs). A similar form of agency must be recognized regarding forced migration of other types: people facing severe economic difficulties sometimes become migrants by rejecting options that might secure their subsistence, and when that choice is reasonable because the alternatives amount to human rights violations, we should then describe their migration as 'forced' even if it is not wholly involuntary.

show abstract

“…(Hirt and Saleh 2013;HRW 2009;Kibreab 2009). Currently, somewhere between three hundred thousand and six hundred thousand people serve as recruits.…”

Section: From a "Beacon Of Hope" To "Africa's North Korea"mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Eritrean Diaspora: Savior or Gravedigger of the Regime? Diaspora Responses to the Imposition of UN Sanctions

Hirt

2013

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the impact of UN-imposed sanctions on the stability of the Eritrean regime, using diaspora behavior as an explanatory variable of crucial importance. It explores the transnational nature of Eritrean society, which is characterized by long-distance nationalism, and examines the history and structure of the Eritrean diaspora as well as its transformation since the political crisis of 2001. The paper argues that the government and its supporters among the diaspora, as well as regime opponents, have all instrumentalized the sanctions for their own specific purposes. While the former use the sanctions to create a "rally around the flag" effect and for fundraising purposes, the latter campaign against the 2 percent diaspora tax levied by the government because it may be used for illicit purposes in breach of the sanctions regime. However, due to the opposition's disunity and failure to organize joint campaigns, its efforts have so far failed to decisively contribute to the demise of Eritrea's crumbling rebel regime. Meanwhile financial flows to both the government's coffers and to private individuals continue to play a stabilizing role. Nevertheless, unsuccessful domestic policies, the mass exodus resulting from the militarization of the entire society and an isolationist foreign policy are all contributing to the growing weakness of the regime, and with it the State of Eritrea.

show abstract

Forced labour in Eritrea

Cited by 61 publications

References 14 publications

Sinai Trafficking: Origin and Definition of a New Form of Human Trafficking

Sinai Trafficking: Origin and Definition of a New Form of Human Trafficking

Forced Migration and “Rejected Alternatives”: A Conceptual Refinement

The Eritrean Diaspora: Savior or Gravedigger of the Regime? Diaspora Responses to the Imposition of UN Sanctions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About