A/HRC/29/42 3. Enforced disappearance 43. Since 1991, scores of people have been subjected to enforced disappearance, for known and unknown reasons. Information is hardly ever officially provided on the whereabouts of and charges against those detained. Detainees are usually not brought before a court, and are thus placed outside the protection of the law. When relatives enquire after detainees, they are informed by prison authorities that they have no information on the person arrested and warn them to cease their enquires or risk facing a similar fate. In certain cases, relatives may subsequently receive unofficial information from inmates who have been released or from bribed guards; in most cases, however, they are still prevented from visiting their detained relatives. The commission finds that most of the countless people arrested in Eritrea are indeed victims of enforced disappearance, which is a widespread and systematically employed practice. 44. While the exact number of people subjected to enforced disappearance remains unknown, the commission finds that specific targets of the Government include political dissidents, in particular former freedom fighters belonging to the Eritrean Liberation Front, journalists, religious leaders and adherents (in particular Muslim scholars and businessmen), and leaders and members of the Afar ethnic group. The commission considers that all those who have been victims of enforced disappearance suffered a violation of their right to life, their right not to be subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, their right to be treated with humanity and with respect for dignity in the context of detention, their right to be recognized as a person before the law, and their right to liberty. In addition, in the light of the anxiety and suffering that enforced disappearances cause families for extended periods, the commission finds that the right of family members not to be subject to torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is also violated. 4. Arbitrary deprivation of life 45. Since independence, extrajudicial executions and arbitrary killings have been widely perpetrated. Before 1998, punishment in the form of summary executions or extrajudicial killings was meted out against war veterans with disabilities and political opponents, and particularly targeted Muslims scholars. Eritrean soldiers accused of cowardice or desertion during the 1998-2000 war with Ethiopia were systematically executed. This also includes Eritreans and Ethiopians suspected of being “collaborators of the enemy” after the war, in particular Kunamas accused of having supported the Government of Ethiopia. Thereafter, extrajudicial executions have been carried out by the Eritrean authorities, publicly or secretly, to punish perceived critics, as well as suspected smugglers and ordinary citizens for arbitrary reasons. Mass killings have also been perpetrated against ethnic groups. 46. Eritreans who attempt to leave the country are seen as traitors. For a considerable period of time, the Government has implemented a shoot-to-kill policy in border areas to prevent people from fleeing. The policy has largely been implemented by the military, particularly the border surveillance division. Numerous testimonies indicated that the policy, which was publicly announced in 2004, might have been revised in later years. Nevertheless, since people were still being shot at while trying to cross the border as late as 2014, the commission is not in a position to conclude that the policy has been officially abolished. The commission recalls that the right to leave one’s country is a fundamental freedom recognized under international human rights law. The use of lethal force to prevent individuals from leaving Eritrea, even if illegally, is a violation of the right to life. 47. Some of the killings and executions reported might have resulted from personal initiatives or excessive use of force by officials. By not investigating, prosecuting and punishing the authors of such killings, the Government breaches its due diligence obligation; as a result, these killings are imputable to it. The commission is concerned that 10