Eritreas Human Rights And Foreign Policy Issues In The Aftermath Of The Post-independence Conflict With Ethiopia

Eritrea emerged an independent state, in 1993, from a protracted armed struggle to break-freernfrom Ethiopia. Initially making democratic and economic gains, Eritrea soon relapsed into arndevastating war against Ethiopia to assert its territorial integrity. The war formally ended with arnpeace agreement and the dispute is resolved by a binding arbitration. However, disagreeing inrnthe process of implementing the peace agreement, the two states are locked in a no-war-nopeacernscenario for the last decade. Within this detrimental situation, Eritrea has been deeplyrntroubled and isolated under an increasingly authoritarian and militaristic government fixated onrna position to implement the arbitrary ruling to its letter and aggressively refusing anyrncompromise. In the context of this stand-off, the government has been denying Eritreansrnpolitical, religious, civil, economic, social, cultural rights and subjecting them to an indefiniternnational service, imprisonment and even torture. As a result, and partly due to its rigidrnapproach to foreign relations, the government is ostracized and sanctioned. This study proposesrnto capture the complexity of these issues and the factors involved. Eritrea’s border war againstrnEthiopia and its uncompromising position on the border issue are critically scrutinized in light ofrna nationalistic approach to politics. And the violation of human rights is inspected using manyrnsources attested by some of the victims themselves. The factors that influence the aggressivernforeign policy are analyzed by the Democratic Peace and Regional Complex theories. Usingrndifferent concepts and considering historical legacies, the study has attempted to determine that Eritrea’s reality is animated by an exclusivist nationalistic itinerary. The stand-off with Ethiopia and the violation of human rights are carried out for and by this extraordinary force. Finally,rnadmitting a fundamental dilemma, it is concluded that Eritrea’s internal predicament andrnexternal isolation is of its own making, and more to the point, its government’s making.

Get Full Work

Report copyright infringement or plagiarism