Cleric Highlights Plight of Eritrean Refugees: Rejected, Exploited, Prostituted, Deprived

In April, Ethiopia’s Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) announced that it will no longer grant “prima facie” refugee status to Eritreans entering the country, contrary to previous policy, which granted them the right to stay.

The head of ARRA also announced the narrowing of criteria for offering asylum to Eritreans, with applicants expected to prove “a personal fear of persecution based on political or religious action or association or military position.”

Affected refugees, aid agencies as well as the UN have opposed the ongoing plans by the Ethiopian government to close Hitsats refugee camp. The camp, according to UNHCR, is home to 26,652 Eritrean refugees including 1,600 unaccompanied children.

The scheduled closure of the refugee camp, Fr. Mussie says, has produced many Eritrean urban refugees without any form of protection, rights or basic needs, thus exposing them “to all forms of exploitation and abuse.” 

The most vulnerable people “are women and minors, especially unaccompanied minors, many left to themselves, with the risk of ending up victims of sexual predators, reduced to slavery work,” the Priest nominated for the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize says.

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He further notes that the situation has increased desperation among the Eritrean refugees making them vulnerable to human trafficking, and at the same time increasing their exodus to Sudan and Libya in search of better opportunities.

“Eritreans are thus victims of exploitation, prostitution and deprivation,” Fr. Mussie who fled to Italy at the age of 14 says in the Agenzia Fides report.

In his considered opinion, the “delicate situation” facing the Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia is a consequence of the 2018 peace agreement, which ended two decades of “frozen war” between the two Horn of Africa nations.

“What was hoped could be an agreement capable of guaranteeing peace and development in the region, is in fact turning into a nightmare for many Eritreans who cannot return to their homeland,” the Eritrean Cleric who was ordained a Priest in 2010 bemoans in the September 10 report.

On behalf of the Eritrean refugees, Fr. Mussie appeals to the Ethiopian government “to respect the international obligations deriving from its adherence to the conventions that protect the rights of children and the rights of refugees."

"We ask the European Union to invest resources in order to welcome these Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia with dignity. Otherwise the exodus to Europe will increase, with the sad death toll in the desert and in the Mediterranean Sea,” the Cleric cautions.