The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Eritrea in partnership with the Government of the State of Eritrea (GoSE), marked the 19th Commemoration of the Genocide in Rwanda.  The event was organized to pay tribute the victims of the genocide.  
    
Participants rallied at Expo Ground, a prominent setup for Eritrean festivals, to start with a “Walk to Remember”. Speaking to participants during the opening of the walk, UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Mr. Odallo who was also Master of Ceremony, explained the objectives of the walk as being to promote awareness of genocide, and empower participants to take an active stance against genocide and its causes whilst giving a message of hope for the survivors. 

The walk was formally kicked off by the UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator Ms. Christine N. Umutoni and Ambassador Fessehazione Petros, Director General at Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The participants escorted by Police traffic motorbikes marched to Hotel Asmara Palace where the main event was held.

During the walk, Government Ministers, Ambassadors, UN Heads of Agencies, and staff, and invited guests from various Government institutions and civil society organizations were present.

After prayers for the victims of the genocide, all participants stood to observe a moment of silence in honor of the victims. This was followed by candle lighting.

Documentary films, music and video clips the genocide were also screened and a choir from the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students (NUEYS), sang several peace songs and recited poems both in English and Tigrinya languages.

USG meeting with leaders of Eritrea

On 30 August, as part of the visit to the Horn of Africa, organized by the United Nations office (UNO) Asmara, a delegation led by the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, arrived at the capital city of Eritrea, Asmara. Ambassador Petros Fesahzione, the Director General for Department of Desks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinators, Dr. Mamadou P. Diallo and Dr. Idrissa Sow, were all at the Asmara International Airportto to greet the delegation.

The objective of the visit was to meet with the President of Eritrea and the Eritrean Government, to discuss issues concerning peace and security in the East African region.

According to the Programme, the delegation had a joint meeting both with UN Country Team members and the diplomatic community in Eritrea.

Construction of water supply schemes for IDPs

As the result of the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia some 60,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and 10,000 rural expellees were sheltered in emergency camps in harsh condition in the most war affected areas of Debub and Gash Barka and Southern Red Sea regions. The IDPs have been assisted over the last 8 years to return/ resettle and reintegrate to their communities of origin or new resettlement areas.

To address the support of these IDPs and expellees, the Government and United Nations Development Programme (on behalf of the participating UN Agencies in the project) have signed a joint programme in November 2004. The Programme was revised and expended in 2006.

Soon after the programme was started to be implemented phase by phase both in Gash Barka and Debub administrative regions, all IDPs/expellees temporary make shift shelters in all provisional camps were closed in the country. The recovery programme is one of the success stories of UN supported programmes and projects in Eritrea.

The main thrust of the livelihoods security component of the joint programme is to support vulnerable groups with special emphasis on disadvantaged women and children by ensuring equitable access to social services like water, education, food/nutrition, health).

It is believed that this project will contribute in the efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of 1, 2, 3 and 7. Reports indicate that Eritrea is one of the 16 countries globally and one of the four countries in Africa forecast to achieve most of the MDGs by 2015 target year.

The livelihood security component which is supported by the European Commission, Norway, UNDP and UN CERF, responds to the needs of these vulnerable IDPs/ expellees focusing on the women headed house holds with their children under5 years age. Providing diary goats to this particular group of the society provides an opportunity to supplement the daily diet of the children under 5 and will enhance their nutrition deficiencies.

During the period covering 24 September to 31 December 2009, 900 women headed households in Gash Barka regional administration have received five diary goats per household to alleviate their food shortages and to improve the nutrition status of the women in general and children U-5 in general.

For further information please contact the United Nations Office (UNO) in Asmara.

Eritrean delegation participating in the Universal Periodic Review

Eritrea has participated at the 13th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of working group in Geneva on 17 March 2010.

During the 6th Session of the UPR that was held on 30 November 2009, the Working Group on the UPR made 137 recommendations to Eritrea. The Eritrean delegation has grouped the recommendations into 28 clusters. Eritrea accepted close to 50% of the recommendations while rejecting around 15% of them. According to the report submitted to the Human Rights Council, 40% of the 137 recommendations were not labeled accepted or rejected.

Accession to the convention against torture, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and the convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families are some of the recommendations accepted by Eritrea.

The Eritrean delegation indicated that Eritrea accepted the principle of establishing a national institution to promote and protect human rights. Also, the delegation stated that Article 32, sub article 11 of the Eritrean constitution provided the National Assembly to establish a standing committee in order to protect the rights of citizens.

Reports indicate that the Human Rights Council of the United Nations was established in 2006 by the General Assembly. The mandate of the Human Rights Council is to review all Member States' obligations and commitments to human rights in a manner which ensures the universality of coverage and equal treatment of all states.

The Resident Coordinator's Office and the UN Country Team, including UN office Asmara, have been involved in different phases of the UPR process by providing relevant information and support to the Government of the State of Eritrea.