One of the main reasons why young Eritreans flee from their own country, into Sudan or Ethiopia and then seek sanctuary in Europe is that they face almost endless military service. In theory they only have to serve for 18 months, but this period has been extended almost endlessly.
Now the British government has been promised that the 18 months limit will be adhered to. And is says it will “continue to press the Eritrean government to live up to this commitment.” The questions were posed by Lady Glenys Kinnock – long a supporter of the Eritrean people.
These answers were given in the House of Lord this week.
Martin
Baroness Anelay of St Johns, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL4645):
Question:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the assurances given by the government of Eritrea to the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials who visited Eritrea in December 2014 that military service there will be limited to 18 months; and whether they will undertake analysis of the matter and report on the outcome. (HL4645)
Tabled on: 03 February 2015
Answer:
Baroness Anelay of St Johns:
The Eritrean government decree (dated 23 October 1995) on national service provides for it to be eighteen months in duration. However, since the 1998-2002 war with Ethiopia, national service has been extended for many citizens over an unspecified period. We have regularly raised the importance of limiting national service with the Eritrean government, most recently in December 2014. Eritrean officials provided assurances that national service will now be strictly limited to 18 months. We welcome this decision but will continue to press the Eritrean government to live up to this commitment.
Date and time of answer: 12 Feb 2015 at 14:23.Baroness Anelay of St Johns, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL4645):
Martin Plaut 
And instead of shoehorning democracy around the world,perhaps the West should take a leaf out of its own history book and remember that it takes a lot of patience in order to develop the models and the systems that you have today. Indeed, the Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer reminds us that it took the United States nearly 170 years from the time that the Constitution was written for there to be equal rights in the United States. Some people would argue that today there is still no equal rights. In fact, there are groups who would argue that they still do not have equal rights under the law.
I was born and raised in Zambia in 1969. At the time of my birth, blacks were not issued birth certificates,and that law only changed in 1973. This is an affidavit from the Zambian government. I bring this to you to tell you that in 40 years, I’ve gone from not being recognized as a human being to standing in front of the illustrious TED crowd today to talk to you about my views. In this vein, we can increase economic growth. We can meaningfully put a dent in poverty. But also, it’s going to require that we look at our assumptions, assumptions and strictures that we’ve grown up with around democracy, around private capitalism, around what creates economic growth and reduces poverty and creates freedoms. We might have to tear those books up and start to look at other options and be open-minded to seek the truth.Ultimately, it’s about transforming the world and making it a better place.
promised by the Eritrean regime are irrelevant and not worthy of being reported.