A/HRC/29/42 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 26/24, the Human Rights Council established the commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea for a period of one year with the mandate to investigate all alleged violations of human rights in Eritrea, as outlined by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea in her reports (A/HRC/23/53 and A/HRC/26/45). 2. On 26 September 2014, the President of the Human Rights Council appointed Mike Smith as chairperson of the commission, and Victor Dankwa and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth, as its members. 3. The present report is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 26/24, in which the Council requested the commission to present a written report to the Council at its twentyninth session. In accordance with the decision of the Council, all reports of the commission, including document A/HRC/29/CRP.1, will be transmitted to all relevant bodies of the United Nations and to the Secretary-General for appropriate action. II. Mandate and methodology 4. In compliance with resolution 26/24, the commission of inquiry investigated the human rights violations described by the Special Rapporteur in her reports, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and incommunicado detention, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, violations committed during compulsory national service, including those affecting children’s rights, and restrictions to the freedoms of expression and opinion, assembly, association, religious belief and movement. 5. The commission paid specific attention to gender-based violations, particularly violence against women, and the impact of violations on particular groups, including women and children. 6. Human Rights Council resolution 26/24 does not limit the temporal scope of the inquiry. As part of the definition of its methods of work, the commission decided to focus the temporal scope of the investigation from the independence of Eritrea until present day. 7. With regard to its geographic scope, the commission conducted its investigation on violations allegedly committed on the territory of Eritrea. 8. While other commissions of inquiry established by the Human Rights Council were specifically requested to investigate human rights violations and related crimes in a specific country or territory, the present commission was mandated only to investigate violations of human rights; it therefore interpreted its mandate as not including the investigation of international crimes. Nevertheless, the commission was not of the view that this prevented it, on the basis of the body of information collected by the end of its investigation, from reaching a conclusion on the possibility that such crimes may have been committed and from recommending further investigations. A. Non-cooperation by Eritrea 9. In Human Rights Council resolution 26/25, the Council called upon the Government of Eritrea to cooperate fully with the commission, to permit unrestricted access to visit and to provide the information necessary for the fulfilment of the mandate. 10. The Government did not respond to the commission’s repeated calls for access and for information related to the human rights situation. During the commission’s oral update to the Council at its twenty-eighth session, the Government stated that “country-specific 3