First published at 07:24 UTC on October 30th, 2023.
#Eritrea #Tigray #Catholic #Catholic Church
“Where is your brother? » to their country which, under the iron fist of President Isaias Afewerki, has become one of the African countries from which most people today run away. With escapes that turn in…
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#Eritrea #Tigray #Catholic #Catholic Church
“Where is your brother? » to their country which, under the iron fist of President Isaias Afewerki, has become one of the African countries from which most people today run away. With escapes that turn into odysseys not only in the Mediterranean Sea, but also in the dry Sinai desert, which the Eritreans cross trying to reach Israel, placing themselves in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers, just like the boat smugglers.
«Where is your brother? Since the environment in which we live aggravates the situation, rather than finding solutions that prevent recurrence of incidents similar to that of Lampedusa, this question deprives up of sleep», write the bishops of Eritrea. With a complaint of living conditions in the country without ifs and buts; the bishops face - for example - the issue of the lack of freedom of expression, because of which «our young people are fleeing to countries where there is justice, work, and where you can express yourself openly without fear». And they add: «There would be no reason to search for nations as sweet as honey if one already lived in such a place».
The Eritrean bishops also point their finger on the disintegration of families, of which migration is just one part: «the members of each family - continues the document - are today scattered between the national service, the army, rehabilitation centers, prisons, with the elderly left behind with no one to care for them. All this is making Eritrea a wasteland». There is also the question of prisoners - thousands of them, says Amnesty International, are jailed in Eritrea for political reasons and conscience: «Anyone who is arrested – write the bishops - should be treated with humanity and then, on the basis of the allegations made against him, must be brought into a court of law to discuss the case in a fair manner”.
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