Eritrea Country Report: January 2026
- Genocide Watch
- Nov 10, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 4
By Grace Harris
Eritrea Country Report 2026
By Grace Harris
Eritrea was a colony of Italy from 1889 to 1942. Ethiopia annexed Eritrea in 1962. It gained independence in 1993 following decades of a war of secession. Tensions escalated into a bloody border war with Ethiopia in 1998. The war continued until 2018, when Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders negotiated a peace deal that strengthened relations between the two countries. In 2025, hostilities are flaring once more.
The Eritrean government has used the conflict with Ethiopia to justify authoritarian state repression, which has continued despite the war’s conclusion. Eritrea is one of the world’s most repressive countries according to Human Rights Watch because of the 30-year dictatorship of President Isaias Afwerki, who refuses to abide by the 1997 constitution’s requirement to hold elections.
Very little information leaves the country due to total media suppression. Under Afwerki’s rule, political opponents, journalists, and perceived dissidents are arbitrarily detained for years or decades. Many others have simply been “disappeared” without a trace. Most notably a group of 11 politicians who spoke out against Afwerki and 16 journalists associated with them were abducted and presumably murdered.
Forced labor and universal military conscription are required of all Eritrean citizens. Military service may last for many years. Persons who refuse to serve are arrested and imprisoned.
The condition of minority groups in Eritrea is poor. Sunni Islam, Eritrean Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Evangelical Lutheranism are the only recognized religions, and followers of other denominations are harassed, detained, and denied religious liberty.
The Afar ethnic minority has been subjected to decades of discrimination. Afars have been pushed off their land and barred from fishing, formerly their main source of food. 57,000 Afar have fled to Ethiopia.
Eritrea joined the Ethiopian government in perpetrating the Tigrayan genocide, which killed 600,000 people. Eritrea is not a party to the 2022 peace agreement between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front.
Eritrean forces have stayed in Tigray, where they continue to commit crimes against humanity, systematic rape and sexual violence, and massacres of civilians.
Because of Eritrea’s persecution of dissidents and minority groups, media suppression, and authoritarian rule by President Afwerki, Genocide Watch considers Eritrea to be at Stage 3: Discrimination, Stage 6: Polarization, and Stage 8: Persecution.
Genocide Watch recommendations:
Eritrea should sign the 2022 peace agreement and withdraw from Ethiopia immediately.
A State-Party to the Genocide Convention should bring a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Eritrea for violation of the Genocide Convention.
Eritrea should ratify its 1997 constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and assembly, and the right to vote to all citizens, including religious and ethnic minorities.
The Eritrean government should free all political prisoners and hold fair elections.
Eritrea should end its requirement of military service for all Eritrean citizens.
