Children Flee Eritrean Conscription Threat, UN Rights Envoy Says
- Minors at risk of abduction, abuse after leaving country
- African nation says national service needed to protect itself
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Unaccompanied children are fleeing Eritrea to avoid conscription, putting them at risk of abduction and abuse as they seek shelter in places including Europe, a United Nations rights envoy said.
There’s been a “steady influx of Eritrean unaccompanied and separated children” into Egypt and neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan since 2008, Sheila B. Keetharuth, the UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Eritrea, said Monday in Geneva. She said rights violations were the main reason young people flee, with unaccompanied children citing a fear of forcible conscription into the army.