The European Union on 6 July 2026 introduced draft resolution L.3 REV1 at the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, seeking to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea for an additional year. The EU stressed its appreciation for increased dialogue with Eritrea and noted encouraging developments, including a human rights training conducted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Asmara and the release of some arbitrarily detained persons, while calling for these steps to be continued and translated into concrete results.
The draft resolution comes amid continued systematic human rights violations and abuses in Eritrea, as reported by the Special Rapporteur, including enforced disappearance, decades-long arbitrary detention, and persecution of political opponents, journalists, and religious groups. This year's report highlights arrests of religious leaders and closure of Muslim religious institutions, all against a backdrop of a continued lack of accountability. Some states have expressed preference for technical assistance over the mandate, but the EU, citing OHCHR's closing remarks at the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue, argued that technical assistance and special procedures for monitoring and reporting are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive.
The EU stated that the core group remains open to assessing the continued need for the mandate, noting that historically mandates have expired when countries engaged with established mechanisms, took concrete steps, and implemented reforms. To date, Eritrea has not done so, making the Special Rapporteur's mandate necessary for monitoring, reporting, and advancing accountability where no domestic avenues for justice or redress exist. The EU encouraged Eritrea to consider offers of constructive cooperation from the Special Rapporteur and OHCHR over the next year and expressed hope to strengthen bilateral dialogue to address human rights and other areas of mutual interest. The EU thanked all delegations for their cooperation and expressed hope for consensus adoption of the resolution.