ICERAS

I’m sitting in a waiting room in Calais, France with three young men.  They’re fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen – all here to see the doctor, all refugees. The oldest, Eferm, continues: “Is no good have money.  Money no good.”  His friends laugh and punch his arm – “No, is good be rich!” – but he shakes his head and tells me gravely that money is not important.  “Important is be happy.  I be very happy, have job and bed.”

Eferm was born in Eritrea, a small country on the Red Sea, bordered by Sudan, Djibouti, and Ethiopia.  Of its population of 5.3 million people, more than 480 000 have been forcibly displaced.  The majority flee to neighbouring countries, but tens of thousands have made it to the European Union, hoping for asylum.  There are just under 50,000 Eritrean refugees in Germany – in 2017, the tiny country came just after Syria for the number of refugee applicants in Europe.  If the same proportion of the UK were to be displaced, there would be over 7 million UK asylum-seekers in the world.

Why are Eritreans fleeing their country in such staggering numbers? 

“What is no good in Eritrea?”  I ask Eferm.  “I know that everyone has to go to the army.”  He counts on his fingers: “No work, no food, army, bad government.”

Bad may be a misnomer.  Eritrea has a totalitarian government that has been in place for 25 years.  There are no elections, no constitution, and no independent press.  The slightest rumour of political activism, or even sympathy with dissenters, is grounds for immediate arrest and indefinite detention.  The United Nations Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea is a horrifying read, as is the US 2017 Human Rights Report.  Even the most clinical language cannot soften the list of human rights abuses: arbitrary arrests and indefinite detentions, the widespread use of torture in prisons and during military service and training, complete government control of movement and resources, and compulsory, indefinite national service.  The government maintains complete control by forcing its citizens to spy on one another – if they refuse, they might be disappeared; if they have nothing to report, they can be jailed.  Any journey, even to the next city, requires a yellow travel pass. Coupons are used to buy foods in government stores, and can be frozen at any time. The average wage during national service is equivalent to €52 a month; in a government store, a litre of sunflower oil and half a kilo of pasta cost €5 each.

Eferm was lucky to have gone to school until he was seventeen, but like all  Eritreans, at eighteen he was to transfer to a military barracks where his national service would begin.  “That’s why you left?” I ask Eferm. “So you didn’t have to go to the army?”  He shrugs. “Some people, they go fight Ethiopia people, Sudan people.  My brother, he go.  Very bad.  Fighting, very bad.  I say, better try go UK.” readmore