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
- The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and is entitled to the protection and special care of the State and society.
- 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.
- 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)
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)
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:
- any work performed by a young person contrary to the provisions of this proclamation; and
- 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
