A/HRC/29/41 I. Introduction 1. The present report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea — her third report under the mandate — is submitted to the Human Rights Council in accordance with Council resolution 26/24. 2. In the same resolution the Human Rights Council established, for a period of one year, a commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations of human rights in Eritrea, as outlined in the reports of the Special Rapporteur. The commission of inquiry is composed of three members: Mike Smith (Chair), Victor Dankwa and the Special Rapporteur. 3. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on providing an update on the activities she has undertaken since her previous report and on salient human rights issues, as the commission of inquiry will also be presenting its report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-ninth session (A/HRC/29/42). She also discusses forced evictions and the demolition of houses in Eritrea, while emphasizing that this is an area requiring further scrutiny, and reflects on the achievements she has made since taking up the mandate on 1 November 2012. Lastly, she provides conclusions and recommendations on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. 4. Although the Special Rapporteur would have preferred to collect first-hand information on the situation of human rights in country, she had no other option but to gather material through alternative means, as she still does not have access to the country. The Special Rapporteur conducted field visits, interviewed refugees, migrants and other stakeholders and analysed the submissions that she received in the preparation for the present report. 5. In the course of her work, the Special Rapporteur has come across numerous reports of human rights violations committed along migration routes against Eritrean victims and survivors who were on the move as migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. Those human rights violations form part of a broader continuum of violations that are committed within the country, as many Eritreans find themselves outside the country as a consequence of human rights violations they suffered in Eritrea. II. Challenges faced in the implementation of the mandate 6. During the period under review, the Special Rapporteur held two independent mandates of the Human Rights Council simultaneously: the special rapporteurship and membership in the commission of inquiry. In undertaking those mandates, the Special Rapporteur sought to ensure that the integrity of both was maintained; while she encountered practical challenges arising out of this delicate situation, nothing compromised one or the other. Furthermore, the Human Rights Council’s decision on the coexistence of both mandates ensured that a focus on the human rights situation in Eritrea was maintained despite the taxing workload burden placed upon the mandate holder. 7. During the current reporting period, the Special Rapporteur had one opportunity to meet with Eritrean diplomats for discussions. She would like to thank the Permanent Representative of Eritrea to the United Nations in New York, Girma Asmerom, for the exchanges they had on 29 October 2014. The Special Rapporteur agreed with Mr. Asmerom that constructive dialogue was indeed required to advance the human rights agenda in Eritrea. However, she stressed that Eritrea could not selectively pick and choose which United Nations human rights mechanisms it would cooperate with. The Special 3