A/HRC/29/41 engage with Eritrea should give due weight and emphasis to human rights, and continued efforts are required to address the root causes of human rights violations in the country. 73. The Special Rapporteur would like to urge the Government of Eritrea to strengthen efforts to increase the participation of all citizens in public life, in order to sustain fruitful and durable change in the human rights landscape. The Government would gain if it accorded priority to making participation open to all and guaranteeing that the human rights of all stakeholders, including women, children and other vulnerable groups, such as minorities, will not be violated in processes of participation. Public participation should be ensured at all levels; in particular, the involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision should be sought and facilitated in such a way that their participation is valued and can have an impact. Those affected by a decision have a right to be involved in the decisionmaking process, and not only at the implementation phase; additionally, participation should be voluntary, with no element of coercion. When people participate and express their views, their right to freedom of expression should be respected, without fear of reprisals. 74. With regard to the forced evictions, deprivation of shelter can have drastic impacts on individuals, families and communities, leading to the denial of multiple rights in addition to the right to housing, and to obstacles in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. While asserting that evictions should be the exception rather than the rule, the Special Rapporteur urges the Government of Eritrea to abide by its human rights obligations by prioritizing the requirement to engage in consultation with those facing eviction with a view to exploring alternatives, should evictions be inevitable. B. Recommendations 75. The bulk of the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur in her two previous reports remain valid,42 as Eritrea has implemented only two of them, namely those urging Eritrea to ratify the Convention against Torture and to seek technical assistance from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She therefore reiterates the recommendations in her two previous reports. In addition, she would like to make the recommendations below. 1. Right to adequate housing and protection from forced evictions 76. The Government of Eritrea should: (a) Put an immediate stop to the practice of forced evictions and demolition of houses by agreeing to a moratorium, to be maintained until the Government sets up an independent mechanism to assess the reasonableness and legality of any eviction, bearing in mind international human rights law and practice in this field; (b) Ensure that existing legislation and policies are aligned adequately with international law to prohibit forced evictions, and adopt legal provisions against forced evictions in conformity with international law and the relevant general comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 42 See A/HRC/23/53, paras. 107–108 and A/HRC/26/45, paras. 103–105. 19