A/HRC/44/23 49. Other church-based organizations have also faced restrictions. For example, in January 2020, Finn Church Aid, a development non-governmental organization, ceased its operations in Eritrea. It was supporting a programme aimed at building teacher capacity, which is now on hold due to the lack of necessary support from the authorities and slow implementation. 50. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government of Eritrea to take the measures necessary, pursuant to its international obligations, 23 to improve the protection of religious and faith-based communities and ensure their protection by ending interference in religious practice and releasing all prisoners detained for their religious convictions and religious practices. The Special Rapporteur also calls on the Government to ease the restrictions for charity and church-based organizations to operate in the country, allowing them to resume their development activities. The Special Rapporteur further urges the Government to provide viable options for religious communities that do not have a recognized status and ensure that these communities are able to register and practice their faith without discrimination. 2. Curtailment of the freedoms of association, of expression and of the press 51. There has been no improvement in the working environment for independent human rights defenders, members of the political opposition and independent journalists. There is no space for independent civil society in Eritrea. 52. Since May 2019, the Eritrean authorities have tightened their restrictions on the right to assembly. The wave of arrests of non-recognized Christian congregations during prayer gatherings, described above, illustrates this. These individuals were arrested not only because of their faith but also because they gathered without government authorization. Persons arrested for assembling without government approval often face prolonged detention. For example, many Muslims arrested in March 2018 at the funeral of Haji Musa Mohamednur, the former chairman of Al-Diaa Islamic School in Asmara, remain in prison. Some have died in custody.24 In mid-June 2019, Said Mohammed, a Muslim man in his thirties who was arrested at this funeral, died in prison after he was reportedly tortured and denied proper medical attention. 53. The Special Rapporteur urges the Government to take concrete measures to ensure full respect for the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association in practice, as well as for the freedoms of the press and the media. She also urges the Government to allow for a safe and enabling environment for independent journalists and human rights defenders. 3. Marginalization of Afar communities 54. The subsistence and livelihood of Afar communities remain under threat in the Dankalia region. The Special Rapporteur has received reports of harassment, arbitrary arrest and disappearance of members of Afar communities. In one incident in November 2019, a naval commander from Marsa Fatuma reportedly instructed the Afar elders of the island communities of Baka, Hawakil, Aluli and their environs, south of Massawa, to gather their belongings and vacate the area because the navy needed to conduct training exercises there. After the elders refused to comply, the naval commander’s men reportedly destroyed several fishing boats and arrested five local Afar fishermen, who have since been missing. Around mid-March 2020, naval troops reportedly arrested at least five Afar fishermen who were selling their fish in the port of Massawa, seizing three of their boats. These men are missing. Additionally, over 20 Afar fishermen who went missing in separate incidents in February 2018 and February 2019 remain unaccounted for (A/HRC/41/53, para. 51). These reiterated acts of harassment have instilled fear in coastal Afar communities, prompting many to flee. 23 24 See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 18, and African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, arts. 8 and 11. For example, in January 2019, Haji Ibrahim Younis, a community elder in his seventies, died in prison. 11