A/HRC/41/53 (e) Adopt and implement the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules); 11 (f) Promptly and impartially investigate cases of enforced disappearance and hold perpetrators to account; (g) Ensure that relatives are informed about the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones and are provided reparations, where appropriate. 24. She further recommends that the Government sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and incorporate its provisions into domestic law. 25. By respecting due process standards and immediately releasing those unlawfully and arbitrarily detained, the Government will send a clear signal of its commitment to upholding human rights. B. Reforming national/military service 26. The recent developments in regional peace and security were expected to lead to the introduction of reforms to the national/military service and to the demobilization of conscripts in Eritrea. However, to date, there have been no official announcements of a reduction in the duration of the national/military service or of any demobilization plans. 27. Eritrean officials maintain that the national/military service has been misrepresented and misunderstood, and claim that it is a system for providing a new generation of young people with equality in education.12 However, the accounts of former and current conscripts paint a different picture. 28. The national/military service continues to be involuntary in nature and of openended duration. Although the statutory duration of the national/military service is 18 months, 13 in practice, many Eritreans remain conscripted well beyond that period. 14 Students continue to be required to carry out their final year of secondary education at Sawa military training camp and must participate in mandatory military training. 15 Those allowed to pursue higher education after their military training are tasked with performing national service duties after graduation. Others are assigned directly from military training to national service duties. Conscripts carry out their national service duties in all sectors of Eritrean society, including public institutions such as schools and hospitals, as well as in construction, mining 16 and the private sector. The wages they receive are insufficient to cover basic living costs or support their families, 17 and conscripts are not provided adequate housing. Some are forced to work without pay. There are reports that national/military service conscripts are subjected to abuse and ill-treatment. Evading conscription can lead to 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 General Assembly resolution 70/175, annex. Meeting with the delegation of Eritrea held in Geneva in March 2019. Proclamation of National Service (No. 82/1995), arts. 2 (7) and 8. During the reporting period, the Special Rapporteur received various testimonies of Eritreans whose relatives were still national/military service conscripts after more than two decades. In January 2017, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child noted reports of forced conscription of children into the army in Eritrea and recommended that the educational system not be used for the military training of children prior to full military service “Concluding recommendations by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on the State of Eritrea’s report on the status of implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child” (Addis Ababa, 2017), para. 22. A case against Nevsun Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining company based in British Columbia, is currently pending before the Supreme Court of Canada. A group of Eritreans have filed a lawsuit against the company alleging it was complicit in forced labour, slavery and torture at Bisha mine in Eritrea. They claim that they were forced to work in the mine as part of their national/military service programme. The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to decide on whether the Canadian courts have jurisdiction to hear this case. Several Eritreans in the diaspora have recounted that they routinely send remittances to relatives conscripted in the national/military service, as they are unable to support themselves. 7