COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES ERITREAN REFUGEE STATUS IN ETHIOPIA Already prior to the COVID-19 lockdown measures, Eritrean refugees and new asylum seekers were experiencing confusion and distress due to key policy shifts by the Ethiopian government on the recognition modality of their refugee status. For years, the Ethiopian government granted all Eritrean asylum seekers prima facie refugee status as a group. However, since late January of this year, the Federal government started to apply an ‘exclusion criteria’ preventing a large number of Eritrean asylum seekers from obtaining recognition as refugees. The exclusion criteria includes the following categories: (i) unaccompanied and separated minors.16; (ii) persons within the age of conscription in Eritrea; (iii) persons who access Ethiopia to seek medical care; (iv) persons who have crossed the border on repeated occasions, regardless of whether or not they have sought asylum in Ethiopia before; and (v) persons wishing to reunite with family members in a third country.17 Though Ethiopia and Eritrea have been engaged in a peace process since June 2018, to date there is no evidence that the Eritrean government is undertaking any reforms of the policies of national service and militarised education that are linked with human rights violations and are the major cause of young Eritreans fleeing the country.18 Since 2018, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea continues to report that in Eritrea “[there is] no accountability for continuing and past human rights violations and crimes against humanity.” 19 In 2019, the Special Rapporteur reported that “despite the improved regional climate for peace and security, the human rights situation in Eritrea remains unchanged.” 20 It is therefore a matter of concern that the Ethiopian government changed its open door policy toward Eritrean asylum seekers and is now applying exclusion criteria without following official procedures, as stipulated in their 2019 Refugee Proclamation21. The reasons for this policy decision are unknown. It is however clear that Eritreans without access to asylum procedures are at greater risk to human rights violations, detention, exposure to human trafficking and expulsion to Eritrea. The Ethiopian Government’s decision to end prima facie recognition of refugee status of Eritreans in combination with the application of the movement and quarantine restrictions, means that newly arrived Eritrean asylum seekers (including unaccompanied minors) are at greater risk of being detained. The exact practices of immigration detention of migrants in Ethiopia are unknown although according to the Global Detention Project, “there have been occasional reports of authorities arresting and deporting migrants as they pass through the country”. 22 According to Daniela Kravetz, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, in several cases asylum seekers were turned away or told to go back to Eritrea by border and immigration staff members. 23 Return of people who left Eritrea without permission means persecution, detention or imprisonment by the state authorities. Refusal to register asylum seekers leaves them without access to basic services and protection, particularly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Eritreans being denied refugee status recognition on a prima facie basis in Ethiopia may decide to undertake further secondary migration to other countries further afield, hence increasing their exposure and vulnerability to COVID-19 and human trafficking. PROPOSED CLOSURE OF HITSATS REFUGEE CAMP IN TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA The situation of Eritrean refugees was further jeopardised by the decision of the Ethiopian government to close Hitsats refugee camp. In March 2020, in the middle of the COVID- 19 pandemic, the Administration for Refugees & Returnee Affairs (ARRA) verbally informed Hitsast refugees of the directive of the Federal Government to close the camp. There was no formal written notice from the Ethiopian government. The estimated population of Hitsast refugee camp at the time of the notice was 11,000 refugees. There was no prior structural preparation either at Hitsats or any of the receiving refugee camps in Tigray, all of which are overcrowded, underserviced and are not prepared to receive the additional population. 24 The proposed closure of Hitsas camp generated protest from the refugees in the camp as well as Eritrean Human Rights organisations25 who engaged in an advocacy campaign with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, donors, and regional bodies to highlight the danger of the closure of the refugee camp during the COVID-19 pandemic. The advocacy campaign highlighted that the unprepared mass movement of refugees amid the world pandemic is unprecedented and would endanger refugees as well as local communities. UNHCR, Eritrean Human Rights organisations, as well as other organisations such as Human Rights Watch, continue advocacy campaigns against the closure of the camp while requesting the Government to respect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers and abide by the Principle of do-no-harm. 26 16 Human Rights Watch, 21 Aprils 2020; Ethiopia: Unaccompanied Eritrean Children at Risk; https://www.hrw.org/node/341087/printable/print; 17 Habte Hagos; 28 March 2020; Eritrea Focus – Urgent: Ethiopia adopts new criteria excluding Eritrean Refugees – https://eritreahub.org/urgent-ethiopia-adoptsnew-criteria-excluding-eritrean-refugees 18 Van Reisen, M., & Estefanos, M. (2017). The exodus from Eritrea and who is benefiting. Human Trafficking and Trauma in the Digital Era: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Trade in Refugees from Eritrea. Bamenda, Cameroon: Langaa RPCIG, 95-158.; Van Reisen, M., Saba, M., & Smits, K. (2019). ‘Sons of Isaias’: Slavery and Indefinite National Service in Eritrea. Connected and Mobile: Migration and Human Trafficking in Africa. 19 UN Human Rights Council (2018). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. Retrieved from: https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/38/50 20 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24721&LangID=E 21 The Federal Democratic Republic Of Ethiopia. (2019). Refugee Proclamation No. 1110/2019. Federal Negarit Gazette. Retrieved from https://hopr.gov.et/ documents/20181/94381/REFUGEES+PROCLAMATION/fc2e0847-ba23-49a5-972b-4e70bd5d34ec?version=1.0 22 The Global Detention Project, 20 August 2020, Ethiopia Immigration Detention Profile, Retrieved from https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/africa/ ethiopia#covid-19-updates 23 UN Human Rights Council. (2020). Human rights situation in Eritrea. A/HRC/44/23. Retrieved from https://eritreahub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ UN-Special-Rapporteurs-Report-2020.pdf 24 Human Rights Watch, 21 Aprils 2020; Ethiopia: Unaccompanied Eritrean Children at Risk; https://www.hrw.org/node/341087/printable/print; Habte Hagos; 28 March 2020; Eritrea Focus – Urgent: Ethiopia adopts new criteria excluding Eritrean Refugees – https://eritreahub.org/urgent-ethiopia-adopts-new-criteriaexcluding-eritrean-refugees Melicherova, K. (2020). Closure of Hitsats refugee camp in Ethiopia. EEPA. Retrieved from: https://www.eepa.be/?p=3672 25 Eritrea Focus. (2020). Ethiopia: Open Letter to PM Abiy on closing Refugee Camps for 18,000 Eritreans. Eritrea Hub. Retrieved from: https://eritreahub.org/ethiopiaopen-letter-to-pm-abiy-on-closing-refugee-camps-for-18000-eritreans 26 UNHCR Ethiopia, 30 April 2020; Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia Tigray and Afar Regions. Situation Update .Human Rights Watch, 21 Aprils 2020; Ethiopia: Unaccompanied Eritrean Children at Risk; https://www.hrw.org/node/341087/printable/print; idcoalition.org | westernsydney.edu.au/hadri 17