Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea

Introduction

Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea © UN Photo / Jean Marc Ferré

Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker (Sudan) was appointed as Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Eritrea in September 2020.

Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker is an Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Khartoum, and founding Director of its Human Rights Centre. He teaches human rights law, refugee law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law among others. Dr. Babiker is also a practicing lawyer and conducted international investigations in many countries in the Horn of Africa in the areas of human rights and international humanitarian law.

In addition to Dr. Babiker’s academic qualifications, he has extensive experience working with international human rights organizations and institutions, including the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).

In December 2017, he was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General as Humanitarian Expert with the Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group. In December 2018, he was also appointed as the Humanitarian Expert with the Panel of Experts on Somalia. Dr. Babiker also worked as a Legal Advisor and a Human Rights Officer with UN and AU peacekeeping operations, as well as a number of UN agencies.

Dr. Babiker was awarded a PhD in law in 2005 from the University of Nottingham, School of Law, UK, in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. He was also awarded a LLB (Hon) degree in Law in 1998 from City University-London, UK. He also obtained a MA Degree in English/Arabic Applied Linguistics and Translation in 1996 from the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies) and BA (Hon) Degree in English language and French language in 1994 from the University of Khartoum.

Mandate by the Human Rights Council

Human Rights Council resolution 53/2 extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea and requested the mandate-holder to continue to assess and report on the situation of human rights in follow-up to the report of the Special Rapporteur, and to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its forty-ninth session during an interactive dialogue, and to present during an interactive dialogue a report on the implementation of the mandate to the Council at its fiftieth session and to the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session.

Individual complaints

In the discharge of the mandate, the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea has developed the form below to facilitate the submission of information. Although communications are also considered when they are not submitted in the form of this model questionnaire, the Special Rapporteur would be grateful for receiving information tailored to his mandate. The objective of this questionnaire is to have access to precise information on alleged human rights violations in Eritrea. If any information contained in the questionnaire should be kept confidential please mark “CONFIDENTIAL” beside the relevant entry. Please do not hesitate to attach additional sheets, if the space provided is not sufficient.

Should you have any questions concerning the completion of this form, please feel free to contact the Special Rapporteur.

The questionnaire (English, Arabic, Tigrinya) should be filled out and sent to:
Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea
c/o Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations at Geneva
8-14 avenue de la Paix
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax: (+41) 22 917 90 06
E-mail: hrc-sr-eritrea@un.org or urgent-action@ohchr.org (then please include in the subject box: Special Rapporteur on Eritrea).