A/HRC/29/42 Annexes [English only] Annex I Letter addressed to the President of Eritrea by the commission of inquiry United Nations COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN ERITREA 3 June 2015 Excellency, Further to my letter of 14 October 2014, I am writing to you again in my capacity as Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea. In June 2014, the Human Rights Council established the Commission with the mandate to investigate all alleged violations of human rights in Eritrea and to report to it at its twenty-ninth session, starting in Geneva on 15 June. The Commission undertook its investigation between the months of November 2014 and May 2015. I sincerely regret that in spite of repeated calls for access and for information related to the human rights situation, your Government decided not to engage with us and not to provide any cooperation. We are still ready to engage with you and your Government, should you wish to invite us to visit Eritrea and discuss the outcome of our investigation with you and your collaborators. On the basis of the body of evidence collected from more than 700 testimonies, the Commission has concluded that systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed in Eritrea under the authority of your Government. The enjoyment of rights and freedoms are severely curtailed in an overall context of a lack of rule of law. The Commission also finds that the violations in the areas of extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), national service and forced labour may constitute crimes against humanity. The commission emphasizes that its present findings should not be interpreted as a conclusion that international crimes have not occurred in other areas. The full report on the findings and conclusions of the recommendations, together with a shorter version of it are shared as annexes to this letter. They will be made public on 08 June 2015; and presented and discussed on 23 June, in the course of the Council’s twenty-ninth session. 24