Summary

Non-signatory Eritrea has expressed interest in the humanitarian objectives of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps towards accession. Eritrea last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2015. Eritrea voted in favor of the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and denies stockpiling them, but used cluster munitions during the 1998–2000 war with Ethiopia. There is evidence that cluster bombs were used in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region during the first half of 2021, but the user and circumstances of use are not known.

Policy

The State of Eritrea has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Eritrea has acknowledged the convention’s humanitarian rationale, but has not taken any steps to join it.[1] Eritrea stated in 2008 that as a country contaminated by cluster munition remnants, it understands the problems caused by these weapons and therefore supports their prohibition.[2]

Eritrea did not participate in the international meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but attended two African regional meetings, where it supported a comprehensive ban.[3]

Eritrea participated as an observer at the convention’s meetings of States Parties in 2011–2014 and the First Review Conference in 2015, but has not attended a meeting of the convention since then. Eritrea has participated in regional workshops on the convention.

In December 2021, Eritrea voted in favor of the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] Eritrea has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Eritrea is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Eritrea stated in 2013 that it does not use or stockpile cluster munitions.[5] Previously, a government official said in 2010 that Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks.[6]

However, Eritrea reportedly inheritedChilean-manufactured CB-500 cluster bombs when it achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1991.[7] It also possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[8]

Use

Eritrea has used cluster munitions in the past. It is unclear if the Eritrean Air Force used cluster bombs in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region during the first half of 2021.

Media reports, as well as accounts and images shared on social media, indicate that several types of Soviet or Russian-made RBK-series cluster bombs may have been used in attacks on Gijet and Samre, southwest of the city of Mekelle, on 20–25 February 2021, and on Guyya and Menji near the town of Abi-Adi Tembien on 13 June 2021.[9] The air-delivered cluster munitions reportedly used included RBK-250, PTAB-2.5M, and RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh bombs. RBK-250 ZAB-2.5 incendiary weapons may also have been used.

The Eritrean Air Force possesses aircraft capable of delivering Soviet-made RBK-series cluster bombs. As of 31 May 2022, Eritrea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had not responded to a 2021 request from Human Rights Watch (HRW) to confirm or deny the Eritrean Defense Force’s use of cluster munitions during the outbreak of hostilities in Tigray in 2020–2021.[10]

Previous use

Eritrean and Ethiopian armed forces both used cluster munitions during their 1998–2000 war.[11]

Eritrean aircraft attacked the Mekele airport in Ethiopia with cluster bombs in 1998.[12] In 2009, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission in The Hague awarded Ethiopia US$2.5 million “in respect of deaths and injuries, medical expenses, and property damage resulting from the dropping of cluster bombs in the vicinity of the Ayder School in Mekele.”[13]

Although Ethiopia has denied it, there is ample evidence that it also used cluster munitions during the war, to attack several parts of Eritrea.

Jump to a specific section of the chapter:

Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country summary

The State of Eritrea is affected by mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) dating back to World War II, but largely as the result of the struggle for independence in 1962–1991 and its armed conflict with Ethiopia in 1998–2000.

Since 2005, Eritrea has not allowed any international demining operators to conduct survey or clearance in the country.While Eritrea appeared to be making some progress in clearance of contaminated areas between 2007 and 2013, there has been no indication of any progress in mine action since the end of 2013. Eritrea has not submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2014. Eritrea’s second Article 5 clearance deadline extension request, submitted in 2014, sought a further five years to continue clearance and complete re-survey of suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) but not to fulfil its clearance obligations under the treaty.

In November 2019, Eritrea submitted a third request to extend its mine clearance deadline, which was granted with a new deadline set for 31 December 2020.[1] Eritrea failed to fulfill its Article 5 obligations within its deadline and to submit a fourth extension request. Eritrea has been in a state of non-compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty since the end of 2020.

The United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that in 2019 the risk of landmines and ERW is a continuing threat to many communities, particularly in the border areas and that continuous school-based mine risk education was required.[2]

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination overview[3]

Established in 2000, under the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE-MACC), the Mine Action Coordination Centre (MACC) was responsible for all mine action activities within the temporary security zone. Its mandate ended when UNMEE left Eritrea in 2008.

The Eritrean Demining Agency (EDA), established in July 2002, is responsible for policy development, regulation of mine action, and the conduct of mine clearance operations. The EDA reports directly to the Office of the President. The Eritrea mine action program is entirely nationally managed.

Information management

It is not clear what information management systems are used by Eritrea.

Risk education management and coordination

Risk education management and coordination overview

In 2019 UNICEF worked with the Ministry of Education in the implementation of school-based risk education in Eritrea.[4]

Victim assistance management and coordination

Victim assistance management and coordination overview[5]

Laws and policies

Eritrea announced the development of a national disability policy in 2011.[6] A review of the draft policy was conducted in 2015.[7] The draft policy aimed to improve the coordination and implementation of social security of persons with disabilities.[8]

The Transitional Civil Code includes protections for the legal rights of persons with disabilities. The Martyr’s Survivors Benefit Scheme, under the Hidri Trust Fund, provides a social protection program for families with a monthly allowance and additional grant and credit schemes.[9]

Eritrea has a Strategic Partnership Cooperation Framework (SPCF) 2017–2021 agreement with the UN to support cooperation between the government, UNICEF, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The SPCF continued efforts made under the previous agreement between Eritrea and the UN agencies, which include support for the national community-based rehabilitation (CBR) program.[10]

Social security in Eritrea covers health, education, and social inclusion. Rehabilitation is a main mandate of the Department of Social Security (SSD) of the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare (MoHLW), including rehabilitation activities for people affected by war.[11]

Impact

Contamination

Contamination overview (as of December 2019)

*Eritrea has not provided any new updates on the extent of contamination since 2013 (its most recent Article 5 deadline extension request of 11 November 2019 reports the same contamination estimate).

Note: ERW=explosive remnants of war.

Landmine contamination

Eritrea is affected by mines and ERW dating back to World War II, but largely as the result of the struggle for independence in 1962–1991 and its armed conflict with Ethiopia in 1998–2000.

The last estimate of mine contamination in Eritrea dates back to the end of 2013, when Eritrea reported that 434 mined areas remained over an estimated 33.43km².[12] This was a two-thirds reduction on the earlier estimate of 99km² of June 2011,[13] and significantly lower than the 129km² identified by the 2004 landmine impact survey.[14] Eritrea reiterated these estimates in its extension request submitted in November 2019.[15]

Antipersonnel mines and ERW are reported to negatively affect socio-economic conditions in Eritrea, blocking access to agricultural and pastoral land vital to farmers and animal herders, and preventing the implementation of construction and development projects, including of roads, schools, and clinics.[16]

Casualties

Casualties overview[17]

Note: ERW=explosive remnant of war.

Casualties: details

The Monitor has not recorded any landmine/ERW casualties in Eritrea since 2012. There is no systematic, reliable available data collection in Eritrea with respect to mine/ERW casualties. Eritrea has not provided any casualty data since 2013. There is reason, however, to believe that casualties occurred since then.[18] For 2016, UNICEF reported seven landmine/ERW accidents, a decrease from the 22 incidents identified by UNICEF in 2015. However, statistics on casualties caused by the incidents were not reported.[19]

The total known number of mine/ERW casualties in Eritrea is 5,299 (2,522 killed; 2,777 injured).[20] The EDA recorded 802 casualties (206 killed, 596 injured) between 2000 and the end of 2012, including 365 from 2005–2011 (86 killed, 279 injured).[21] The Eritrea Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) remains the most extensive source of cumulative casualty data, identifying 4,934 mine/ERW casualties up to June 2004 (2,436 killed, 2,498 injured).[22] Previous estimates of tens of thousands of mine casualties in Eritrea in total remain unconfirmed.[23] However, the LIS data collection was limited to communities that reported mine contamination.[24] Therefore, it is likely that the LIS does not record veterans injured and killed by mines from urban localities.

Cluster munition casualties

At least 172 cluster munition casualties have been reported in Eritrea; 163 of which were reported as occurring during cluster munition attacks, all in 2000 or earlier. Another nine casualties of unexploded cluster submunitions were also recorded.[25] No further information on whether there had been casualties caused by cluster munition remnants was available

Addressing the impact

Mine action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

Clearance

Landmines

No progress in mine clearance or land release was reported since 2016.

Eritrea provided few updates on its mine action program in its Article 5 extension request submitted in 2019. It noted it was in the process of restructuring the EDA, which had presented obstacles to Eritrea submitting its extension request and a workplan for the period beyond the deadline of February 2020 agreed in response to its 2014 extension request.[26]

An extension of its clearance deadline, until 31 December 2020, was requested so that Eritrea could present a detailed extension request including an update on contamination, progress made, and a workplan for implementation.[27] The “interim” extension was granted at the Mine Ban Treaty Fourth Review Conference in December 2019. It was decided that Eritrea and the States Parties could benefit from a cooperative exchange on the request process in order to prepare another extension request.

However, during 2020 the treaty’s Committee on Article 5 Implementation reached out to Eritrea on several occasions to discuss matters related to its clearance deadline and its requirement to submit an extension request, with no progress. In 2020, the committee stated that Eritrea’s failure to request an extension for its clearance deadline “represents a matter of serious concern, which will unfortunately lead to Eritrea falling into a state of non-compliance by its upcoming deadline of 31 December 2020.”[28]

In 2014, Eritrea projected that costs for the extension period through to 2019 would amount to more than US$7 million, all to be raised nationally.[29] In 2011–2013, Eritrea managed to raise only $257,000 annually. Mine action donors did not report any international assistance to Eritrea since 2011. In December 2013, Eritrea stated that progress in clearing mines would be slow because it “had limited resources and capacity of one small poor nation.”[30] It remained unclear how Eritrea intended to raise the finances necessary for its survey and clearance activities, given the absence of engagement with international support.

Risk education

Operators and service providers

Risk education operators

Beneficiary numbers

In 2019, an estimated 92,000 school children were reached (49% girls) with risk education messages in primary and junior schools.[31] UNICEF also trained 100 community-based rehabilitation volunteers in risk education.[32]

Implementation

Posters are used in classrooms to provide information on how to recognize mines, the dangers of mines/ERW, and to avoid contaminated areas.[33]

In 2019, in order to support the delivery of integrated mine risk education and violence prevention, UNICEF and Eritrea’s Ministry of Education jointly developed an information, education, and communication flipchart on injury, violence, and disability prevention and control in schools.[34]

Target groups

UNICEF reported that children face heightened risk from landmines and ERW and that continuous mine risk education in schools was needed.[35]

Victim assistance

Victim assistance providers and activities

Victim assistance operators[36]

Needs assessment

The community-based rehabilitation (CBR) network collects data on persons with disabilities at the community level, but no specific assessment of survivor needs was conducted.[37]

Medical care and rehabilitation

CBR volunteers provide physical rehabilitation, psychosocial support, referral to services, and protection of children, particularly survivors of landmines/ERW and children with disabilities. In 2019, with UNICEF support, some 40 CBR volunteers received training. However, this was far fewer than the annual target of 100 volunteers. The training was to improve protection and referral support capacity. By 2020, Eritrea had more than 3,000 CBR volunteers throughout the country, half of all had received training. In addition to rehabilitation, CBR prevention activities include those against social stigma, injury and disability, and violence against children.[38]

Under the SPCF, UNICEF reported, in partnership with the MoLSHW, providing psychosocial support and physical rehabilitation through the CBR program to more than 5,000 children with disabilities including landmine survivors.[39]

Socio-economic and psychosocial inclusion

ENWVA provided employment and socioeconomic inclusion opportunities.[40]

Through 2018, children with disabilities received donkeys for transport to schools through the long-running donkey for school program of the CBR project.[41]

Policy

The State of Eritrea acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 27 August 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 February 2002. Eritrea has not enacted domestic legislation or reported any new national measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, as required by Article 9.[1]

Eritrea previously attended meetings of the treaty semi-regularly until 2014, but has not attended a meeting of the treaty since the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Eritrea also last submitted an Article 7 transparency report in 2014.

On 5 December 2018, Eritrea voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention, as it has in previous years.[2]

Eritrea is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, nor is it party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, stockpiling, retention, transfer, and use

Eritrea has stated that it has never produced antipersonnel mines, and that all the mines used in past conflicts were obtained from Ethiopian forces (either from minefields or storage facilities) during the 1962–1991 war of independence.[3]

In its Article 7 reports, Eritrea has indicated that it no longer has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[4] Eritrea’s treaty-mandated deadline for destroying any stocks of antipersonnel mines was 1 February 2006.

In 2010 and 2011, Eritrea reported that it is retaining 101 live antipersonnel mines for training purposes and 71 inert mines.[5] It has not reported on the intended purposes and actual uses of the live retained mines.

In 2006, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia alleged the transfer of antipersonnel mines from Eritrea to non-state armed groups in Somalia.[6] Eritrea said that the allegations were “baseless and unfounded … Eritrea has never provided landmines or any other military support to any of the factions in Somalia.”[7] Eritrea did not respond to requests for information from two presidents of Mine Ban Treaty Meetings of States Parties for further information on this matter.[8]

There have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines since the end of the 1998–2000 border war with Ethiopia. Between 2003 and 2008, there were incidents caused by newly laid antivehicle mines in the Temporary Security Zone, according to news reports and the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC).