Human rights organisations call for release of world’s longest detained journalists

General update

On 30th December 2022, Eritrean troops withdrew from Shire, a town in Ethiopia's Tigray region, following a ceasefire agreement between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and Ethiopia's federal government to end the conflict that has killed and displaced millions since the outbreak of the conflict in November 2020. It remains unclear, however, whether Eritrea maintains soldiers in other areas of Tigray.

Expression

On 21st July 2022, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), together with the Canada-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, filed a complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), against the arbitrary arrest and detention of Dawit Isaak and other journalists who have been subjected to arbitrary detention since 2001, as previously documented. They continue to be the longest-detained journalists in the world. Other signatories include PEN International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and DefendDefenders.

On 15th December 2022, according to the 2022 survey by the CPJ, Eritrea remains the ninth-worst country for press freedom violations worldwide in terms of the number of journalists it imprisons, and retains its position as the worst jailer of journalists in Africa, South of the Sahara – having atleast 16 journalists behind bars as 1st December 2022.