Eritrea

Summary of Domestic Prohibition

Slavery and slave trade

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Practices similar to slavery

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Servitude

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Forced or compulsory labour

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Human trafficking

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Forced marriage

Provisions related to forced marriage in Eritrea are found in the 2015 Civil Code, which addresses a marriage where consent has been extorted by threat at Article 530. Provisions related to forced marriage in Eritrea are also found in the 2015 Criminal Code, which addresses intentionally concealing from the other party a fact that would annul or invalidate the marriage by means of intentional misrepresentation, error, fraud or deceit at Article 320, with a potential penalty of imprisonment of 1 month to 6 months or a fine of 5,001 – 20,000 Nakfas.

Consent to marriage

Provisions requiring consent to marriage in Eritrea are found in the Constitutional law 1997, article 22(2) of which states that men and women of full legal age shall have the right, upon their consent, to marry and to found a family freely, without any discrimination and they shall have equal rights and duties as to all family affairs. Article 530 of Civil code 2015 recognises that the consent of a party or prospective party to a marriage is invalidated where the person is subjected to coercion.

Servile marriage

There appears to be no legislation in Eritrea that prohibits servile matrimonial transactions.

Marriage trafficking

There appears to be no legislation in Eritrea that prohibits marriage trafficking.

Minimum age for marriage

The minimum age for marriage in Eritrea is 18, without differentiation by gender, as set out on Article 522 of the 2015 Civil Code. Where marriages are conducted involving a person below the minimum age, any interested person can request the dissolution of the marriage, as set out on Article 522 of the 2015 Civil Code. However, marriages below this age are permitted when a female is pregnant or has already given birth a child, as set out on Article 522 of the 2015 Civil Code. These exceptions allow marriages as early as 16.

Region

Africa

Regional Court

Not party to a court

Legal System

Mixed

International Instruments

1926 Slavery Convention
Not Party
1953 Protocol to the Slavery Convention
Not Party
1956 Supplementary Slavery Convention
Not Party
1966 ICCPR
22 January 2002
1930 Forced Labour Convention
22 February 2000
2014 Protocol to the 1930 Forced Labour Convention
Not Party
1957 Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
22 February 2000
1999 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
03 June 2019
2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
25 September 2014
1998 Rome Statute of the ICC
Not Party
1956 Supplementary Slavery Convention
Not Party
1966 ICCPR
22 January 2002
1966 Optional Protocol to the ICCPR
Not Party
1966 ICESCR
17 April 2001
2008 Optional Protocol to the ICESCR
Not Party
1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages
Not Party
1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women
Not Party
1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child
03 August 1994
2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography
16 February 2005
2011 Optional Protocol to the CRC on a communications procedure
Not Party
1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
05 September 1995
1999 Optional Protocol to CEDAW
Not Party
1978 Convention on the Celebration and Recognition of the Validity of Marriages
Not Party
2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
25 September 2014
1998 Rome Statute of the ICC
Not Party
1999 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
03 June 2019

International Obligations

  • Slavery
  • Servitude
  • Forced Labour
  • Human Trafficking
  • Marriage Trafficking

Regional Organisations

  • African Union
  • Regional engagement SCORE

Legislative Provisions

ERITREA CONSTITUTION 1997

Article 15: Right to Life and Liberty  

(1) No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. (2) No person shall be deprived of liberty without due process of law.  

Article 16: Right to Human Dignity  

(1) The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.  

(2) No person shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.  

(3) No person shall be held in slavery or servitude or required to perform forced labour not authorised by law. 

Article 22. Family 

  1. The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to the protection and special care of the State and society.
  2. Men and women of full legal age shall have the right, upon their consent, to marry and to found a family freely, without any discrimination and they shall have equal rights and duties as to all family affairs.
  3. Parents have the right and duty to bring up their children with due care and affection; and, in turn, children have the right and the duty to respect their parents and to sustain them in their old age.

Eritrea Constitution 1997 (PDF)

CRIMINAL CODE

Article 108. Crimes against Humanity 

(1) A person who, in violation of international law and international humanitarian law, with knowledge of such attack, organizes, orders or engages in any of the following acts as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population: 

(c) enslavement; 

(e) rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution and engagement in debauchery, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, grossly inhuman treatment, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; 

 (h) imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law; 

(j) other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health, 

is guilty of crimes against humanity, a Class 1 serious offence, punishable with life imprisonment, or, in cases of exceptional gravity, with death, or with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 23 years and not more than 27 years. 

(2) For the purpose of the offence of crimes against humanity: 

(c) “Enslavement” means the exercise of any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over a person and includes the exercise of such power in the course of trafficking in persons, in particular women and children; 

Article 109. War Crimes against the Civilian Population. 

A person who, as part of systemic plan or policy or a largescale 

commission, and in time of war, armed conflict or 

occupation, organizes, orders or engages in any of the following 

acts:(2) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within  the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts: 

(t) committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization or biological experiments, or any other form of sexual violence; 

is guilty of war crimes against civilian population, a Class 1 

serious offence, punishable with life imprisonment, or, in cases of 

exceptional gravity, with death, or with a definite term of 

imprisonment of not less than 23 years and not more than 27 

years. 

Article 297. Enslavement and Abetting Traffic 

(1) A person who:  

(a) sells, alienates, pledges, buys, trades, traffics or otherwise enslaves another person;  

(b) keeps or maintains another person in a condition of slavery even in disguised form; or  

(c) knowingly transports whether by land, sea or air persons enslaved or aids and abets such traffic whether within Eritrean territory or otherwise,  

is guilty of enslavement and abetting traffic, a Class 6 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years and not more than 10 years.  

(2) If the person enslaved is under eighteen years of age, the offence shall be a Class 4 serious offence, 189 punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 13 years and not more than 16 years.  

Article 299. Violation of the Right of Freedom to Work. 

(1) A person who by intimidation, violence, fraud or any other unlawful means, whether alone or with others compels another to: 

(a) to accept a particular employment or particular conditions of employment, or to refuse or withhold his labor, with the object of imposing on an employer by force the acceptance or modification of terms of employment; 

(b) to join a group or association having as its aim the objects mentioned in (a); or 

(c) anyone who prevents another from freely leaving such a group or association,  

is guilty of violation of the right of freedom to work, a Class 1 petty offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 6 months and not more than 12 months, or a fine of 20,001 – 50,000 Nakfas, to be set in intervals of 2,500 Nakfas. 

(2) Violation of the right of freedom to work may only be prosecuted upon preferring of charges by the victim. 

Article 300. Aggravated Violation of the Right of Freedom to Work 

A person who commits an offence of the violation of the right to work as defined in Article 299 and:  

(a) carries a weapon or instruments; or 

(b) where the prevention or coercion is the work of a large group, 

is guilty of aggravated violation of the right of freedom to work, a Class 9 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 1 year and not more than 3 years. 

Article 315. Traffic in Women, Infants and Young Persons 

A person who for gain or to gratify the passions of others:  

(a) traffics in women or infants and young persons, whether by seducing them, by enticing them, or by procuring them or otherwise inducing them to engage in prostitution or the production of pornography or for pornographic performances, even with their consent; or  

(b) keeps such a persons in a disorderly house or to let them out to prostitution,  

is guilty of traffic in women, infants and young persons, a Class 7 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years and not more than 7 years.  

Article 316. Aggravated Traffic in Women, Infants and Young Persons 

A person who commits an offence under Article 315 and where:  

(a) he professionally procures children under fifteen years of age;  

(b) he professionally procures his wife or his descendant, his adopted child or the child of his spouse, his brother or his sister, or his ward or anybody entrusted to his custody or care;  

(c) he has taken unfair advantage of the physical or mental distress of his victim, or his position as a protector, employer, teacher, landlord or creditor, or any other like situation;  

(d) he has made use of trickery, fraud, violence, intimidation or coercion, or where he has misused his authority over the victim; 202  

(e) he intends to deliver the victim to a professional procurer, or the victim is taken abroad or the victims whereabouts or place of abode cannot be established; or  

(f) the victim has been driven to suicide by shame, distress or despair, is guilty of aggravated trafficking in women, infants and young persons,  

a Class 6 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years and not more than 10 years.  

Article 317. Organization of Traffic in Persons 

A person who makes arrangements or provisions of any kind for the trafficking of women, or infants and young persons, is guilty of organization of traffic in persons, a Class 8 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years.  

Article 318. Aggravated Organization of Traffic in Persons 

A person who commits an offence under Article 317 as a professional procurer and fully makes arrangements involving many victims, is guilty of aggravated organization of traffic in persons, a Class 7 serious offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years and not more than 7 years.

Criminal Code (PDF)

CODE OF ERITREA (TCE).

Note: Marriage is based on the free consent of both partners, and needs no parental consent. The legal age for marriage was raised to 18 years from 15, Women can enter into marriage freely and are afforded equal rights as men; Bride price and abduction became prohibited by law

PROCLAMATION NO. 118/2001 THE LABOUR PROCLAMATION OF ERITREA

Article 3: Interpretation 

(17). “Forced Labour,” means any service which a person performed involuntarily due to the coercion of another person and includes the following: 

  1. any work performed by a young person contrary to the provisions of this proclamation; and
  2. any work performed involuntarily merely because of someone’s influence as a result of his holding a public office or traditional status of chieftaincy. 

Compulsory national service, normal civic obligations, forced labour as a provided for in the Penal Code, communal services and services rendered during emergency may not, however, be regarded as a forced labour. 

Employment Relations Chapter 1. Contract of Employment 

Article 9: General 

(6) An employer who engages in forced labour shall be punishable under the Penal Code

ERITREA CONSTITUTION 1997

Article 22. Family

  1. The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to the protection and special care of the State and society.
  2. Men and women of full legal age shall have the right, upon their consent, to marry and to found a family freely, without any discrimination and they shall have equal rights and duties as to all family affairs.
  3. Parents have the right and duty to bring up their children with due care and affection; and, in turn, children have the right and the duty to respect their parents and to sustain them in their old age.

 

Eritrea ConstitutioN 1997 – Constitute Project – English (PDF)

CRIMINAL CODE 2015

Chapter 5. – Offences against Marriage and the Family

Art. 320. – Fraud and Deceit in Marriage.

(1) A person who intentionally, in contracting or in order to contract a marriage, conceals from his spouse a fact that would annul or invalidate the marriage on one of the grounds specified by civil law or procures a marriage by means of intentional misrepresentation, error or fraud or deceit, is guilty of fraud and deceit in marriage, a Class 2 petty offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 1 month and not more than 6 months, or a fine of 5,001

– 20,000 Nakfas, to be set in intervals of 1,000 Nakfas.

(2) Fraud and deceit in marriage may only be prosecuted upon the preferring of charges by the victim and after the marriage has been annulled.

Art. 321. – Solemnisation of an Unlawful Marriage.

A person who intentionally lends his offices, religious or civil, to the solemnisation of a marriage forbidden by law, is guilty of solemnisation of an unlawful marriage, a Class 2 petty offence, punishable with a definite term of imprisonment of not less than 1 month and not more than 6 months, or a fine of 5,001 – 20,000 Nakfas, to be set in intervals of 1,000 Nakfas.

 

Eritrea Penal Code 2005 – English (PDF)

CIVIL CODE OF ERITREA 2015

Art. 519. – Civil Marriage.

A civil marriage shall take pIace when a man and a woman have appeared before the civil status officer for the ‘purpose ‘of contracting marriage and have given their respective consent before the civil status officer.

Art. 520. – Religious Marriage.

A religious marriage shall take place when a man and a woman have performed such acts or rites as are deemed to constitute a valid marriage according to their religion or the religion of one of them.

Art. 521. – Marriage According to Custom.

A customary marriage shall take pIace when a man and a woman perform such rites as constitute apermanent union between such man “and woman under the rules of the community to which they belong or to,which one of them belongs.

 Art. 522. – Age

  1. A man and a woman who have not both attained the full age of eighteen years may not contract marriage.
  2. (2)  Sub-Article (1) does not apply if the man and woman have both attained the full age of sixteen years and the woman submits to the authority who will celebrate the marriage a declaration made by a doctor stating that the woman is pregnant or has already given birth to a child, without prejudice to sub Article(1) of Article 527.
  3. (3)  The Minister of Justice or a person specially appointed by him may for good cause grant dispensation from the rule concerning age.

Art. 528. – Marriage of Minors.

The conditions under which a minor may contract marriage are laid down in the title of this Code relating to Capacity of Persons.

Art. 530. – Threat.

(1) No consent shall be valid which has been extorted by threat.

(2) Threat shall be deemed to have occurred where consent is given only with a view to protecting the person who has given it, or one of his ascendants or one of his descendants, from a menace of a grave and imminent evil.

(3) Threat shall not be deemed to have occurred where consent is prompted by reverential fear towards an ascendant or’ another person. ‘

Art. 532. – Opposition. –  1. By Whom Made.

(1) Opposition to the marriage may be made by the father or mother of the spouse or by the guardian of the spouse who is a minor. In default of the father or mother or if neither of them is in a position to oppose, one of the grandparents or great-grandparents may oppose. In default of ascendants or if no one of them is in a position to oppose, an. older brother or sister or a paternal or maternal uncle or aunt may oppose.

(2)  Opposition may also be made by the public prosecutor.

(3)  Opposition may be made by no other person.

Art. 533. – Opposition – 2. Time and Form.

(1)  Opposition shall be made at the latest when the marriage is celebrated.

(2)  It shall be subject to no special form.

Art. 547. – Age

(1) Where a civil status officer or authority has celebrated the marriage of a man or a woman who has not attained the age mentioned in Article 522, the dissolution of the marriage shall be ordered on the application of any interested person or of the public prosecutor.

(2) It may no longer be applied for after the conditions of age required by law for marriage are satisfied.

Art. 550. – Marriage of incapacitated Person.

(1)  Where a civil status officer or authority has celebrated the marriage of a minor or of an interdicted person without the necessary authorization, the dissolution of the marriage may be requested from the Court by a minor or by an insane person who is interdicted or by a person who should have consented to the marriage of the minor or by the guardian of the interdicted person.

2) An application for dissolution may no longer be made by the incapacitated person six months after the termination of his disability.

3) It may no longer be made by the other persons six months after the day on which they came to know of the existence of the marriage and, in any case, when the disability of the minor or interdicted person has ceased.

Art. 551. – Threat.

(1) A person who has contracted a marriage under the influence of threat may apply to the Court to order the dissolution thereof.

(2) Such application may not be made six months after the cessation of such threat and, in any case, two years after the celebration of the marriage.

Art. 556. – Various Forms of Marriage Equivalent.

(1) Marriage produces the same legal effects, whatever the form according to which it has been celebrated.

(2) No distinction shall be made as to whether the marriage has been celebrated before a civil status officer or according to the forms prescribed by religion or custom.

Art. 557. – Consummation of Marriage.

The effects of marriage shall in no way depend on the real or presumed consummation of marriage.