Eritrea
The Southampton group's campaign focus is on Eritrea.
Eritrea has been ruled by the autocratic President Isaias Afwerki since it gained independence in 1991. Under his oppressive regime the population lives in fear, with all opposition or attempts to flee the country brutally repressed.
In 2001 an open letter to the President asking for more democracy was signed by 15 politicians, including ASTER FISSEHATSION. All were immediately arrested and without any legal process they disappeared into Eritrea’s network of prisons.
A few days later, all independent media was closed down and many journalists arrested, including DAWIT ISAAK whose newspaper had published the letter from the 15. Like the politicians, their fate remains unknown – they could still be in prison 20 years on, or they could have died as a result of the torture and inhumane conditions prevailing in Eritrea’s gaols. Aster and Dawit are both designated Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International.
Everyone between the ages of 18 and 60 in Eritrea is subject to mass conscription. This can take the form of military service, construction projects, agriculture or low-grade government jobs, and is of indefinite duration. Attempting to evade this forced labour leads many to illegally cross the border, but harsh punishment awaits anyone caught.
CIHAM ALI AHMED was detained trying to flee to join her father, who had defected from the government. At the age of 15 she was imprisoned, and nothing has been heard of her for 10 years.
Much of Amnesty’s campaigning focuses on the three individuals named above, but they represent the fate of thousands of similar victims who have been ‘disappeared’ in Eritrea since 2001. We continue to urge the Eritrean President to reveal the fate of the prisoners, and to release all who are still alive.
You can read here the Eritrea entry in the 2020/21 Amnesty International Annual Report on The state of the world's Human Rights.

Other campaigns
The Southampton group is involved in many of the campaigning activities of Amnesty International. In particular our activity is focused on

• People on the move
• The Death Penalty
• Human Rights in the UK and, in particular, The Human Rights Act.
• Individuals at risk
• South Asia.