Eritrea has punished the family members of thousands of alleged draft evaders during a conscription drive intended to bolster its military campaign in neighboring Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
The HRW report, based on interviews with more than a dozen people who had fled the country and relatives of people caught up in the conscription drive, provides a glimpse into how the secretive country powered its military campaign in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. It said security forces went door to door to identify draft dodgers and detained people who could not account for missing family members.
Since it began fighting a border war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000, Eritrea has conscripted men and unmarried women over the age of 18 into indefinite military or government service. Last June, Asmara dismissed a report from the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea that noted forced military conscription, among other violations.
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