We, the Eritrean-American diaspora community across the United States of America, believe in justice and democracy.  We express our gratitude and endorse the actions taken by President Joe Biden of the United States and the State Department regarding Executive Order 14046, which imposes sanctions on the Eritrean Government (PFDJ).  In concurrence with Congressman Brad Sherman’s proposal, we ask for additional sanctions on Isaias Afwerki and Commerce Sanctions on supporting businesses and individuals that support PFDJ. Additionally, we ask congress and President Biden to support Senator Jeff Merkley’s bill, S.831, known as the Transnational Repression Policy Act.

For more than three decades, Eritrea has been governed by the totalitarian regime of Isaias Afwerki. Under such rule, Eritreans have been subjected to extreme oppression devoid of any human or civil rights. The abuses experienced by the Eritrean people are well documented by UN human rights commission, amnesty reports, and other international/regional entities who track human rights violations. In 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur stated that “human rights violation committed in Eritrea by the regime may amount to crimes against humanity”, and the situation has only worsened since.

Eritrea has been consistently notorious for its flagrant violations of human rights. One of the egregious practices of violation is the enslavement of citizens through a program dubbed “National Service,” through which the Eritrean youth are forced into recruitment with neither term limit nor adequate compensation. Most of these young recruits end up in the army where they are deployed into endless regional wars. These senseless realties accompanied with mass arrests, torture, and disappearances, has forced many young Eritreans to leave the country for safe havens. Consequently, Eritrea has become one of the largest contributors to the refugee population of the world.

Many Eritrean refugees came to the US, where they were given asylum, and became naturalized citizens. This was supposed to provide them a shield from the abusive Eritrean regime they fled from. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. The Eritrean government has managed to establish a cross-national government extending throughout the world wherever the Eritrean diaspora reside.

Eritrean-Americans and residents in the United States find themselves susceptible to the far-reaching influence and continued perpetuation of abuses. Entities affiliated with foreign countries, operating under the guise of community organizations, religious institutions, and youth associations aligned with the regime, overseen by Eritrean Embassy personnel, function as instruments enforcing allegiance to the Eritrean government. Some of the illicit activities of the Eritrean regime significantly impacting the Eritrean-American Community in the U.S. include:

·        Eritrean government affiliated entities perpetrate all types of abuses against the diaspora, including disrupting our community and religious institutions and creating intentional conflicts that end up in courts resulting in expensive litigations.

·         Through its security agents that infiltrated as refugees, government spies collect information on opposition elements where relatives in Eritrea become victims of retaliation.

·         Agents of the regime, including embassy staff, coerce and manipulate refugees granted asylum to sign repentance forms to convert them into government loyalists.

·         The regime keeps on coercing Eritrean-Americans to pay an extortion tax of 2% of their annual income and collecting and laundering large sums of monies under the cover of financing endless deceitful projects in Eritrea.

·         The Eritrean regime has been using festivals, often through its long-armed organizations based in the diaspora, to spread its malicious propaganda and create discord among diaspora community and raise funds to perpetrate its oppression and finance its conflicts.

·         The regime’s encouragement of violence during events organized by regime affiliated groups, as seen in Toronto, Edmonton, Tel Aviv, Seattle, Giessen, and Stockholm among many others.

The regime employs a strategic and coordinated approach of transnational repression to infringe upon the democratic rights of Eritrean-Americans. It is committed to intimidating Eritreans in the diaspora, even after they have fled the country's control.

Subsequently, we the undersigned, citizens, and residents of USA, call upon the Executive Branch, State Department, and Congress for the following:

1. To Investigate all "Eritrean Civic and Culture Centers", the "National Council of Eritrean-American" also known as YPFDJ, including subgroups of “4G”,  “Walta” and including the Diocese called “Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church Diocese of the USA & Canada”.  Once investigations prove their criminality, we recommend sanctions on their efforts with raising money to fund and support the Eritrean Government (PFDJ) as well as full prosecution.
2. Deny entry visas to Eritrean artists who are propagandists promoting hatred against pro-democracy Eritreans and promoting regime-sponsored violence.
3. Call upon ICE, settlement organizations, and government entities to protect Eritrean newcomers and asylum seekers from regime spy interpreters.
4. Protect American citizens from frivolous lawsuits intended to silence Eritrean-Americans who are pro-democracy and justice.
5. Enforce Magnitsky Act sanctions that will prohibit Eritrean government  from fundraising and laundering activities.
6. Sanction activities of Eritrean-Americans who abuse their status, work against the interest of the USA by disseminating fascist propaganda contradicting USA Foreign Policies including in the Red Sea, Ukraine and other regions.
7. The approval and support from Congress and the Executive Branch in regards to S.831, the Transnational Repression Policy Act. Which is a bill targeting foreign governments that intimidate, silence, and/or harm members of the diaspora and exiled communities to prevent them from exercising their human rights. 

We thank you President Joe Biden and the State Department for your current foreign policy on the Eritrean Government.  We ask you to implement our 6 policy recommendations because they will benefit not only USA interests, but also interests of Eritreans who believe in Human Rights, Justice, and Democracy.