A/HRC/29/41 February 2015. Eritrea was commended for undertaking legislative reforms, in particular the adoption of Proclamation No. 158/2007 to abolish female genital mutilation/cutting. On the other hand, the Committee highlighted that it considered the indefinite period of national service, the ineffective implementation of the Constitution of 1997 and the suspension of the National Assembly as having contributed to the deterioration of the rule of law and a serious refugee crisis, which posed a challenge to the implementation of the Convention. The Committee recommended, among other things, the discontinuation of the indefinite period of national service and the forced enrolment at the Sawa Military Training Centre, and recognition of the right to conscientious objection (see , paras. 4, 6 and 9). D. Review of Eritrea by the Committee on the Rights of the Child 22. The Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed the fourth periodic report of Eritrea (CRC/C/ERI/4) at its sixty-ninth session, in May 2015. The Committee welcomed the adoption of the new civil procedure and penal procedure code, the formulation of a new national policy on children and a comprehensive policy on disabilities, the criminalization of female genital mutilation, and progress in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals. The Committee was, however, concerned about the absence of data and systematic child impact assessments in the formulation of laws and policies, the absence of an independent monitoring body, the prevalence of early child marriage and teenage pregnancies as ways to avoid conscription into military service, the shoot-to-kill policy at the border for persons, including children, who cross illegally, the torture and detention faced by unsuccessful child asylum seekers and other child returnees, and the impediments affecting access to birth registration. E. Refugees and migrants 23. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that in the first 10 months of 2014, the number of Eritrean asylum seekers arriving in Europe nearly tripled, from 13,000 the previous year to 37,000.6 It has also noted that in 2015, by April, 5,388 Eritreans, including 604 unaccompanied minors, 157 accompanied minors and 1,105 women, had arrived in Italy by boat, surviving the dangerous journey across the Sahara desert and then across the Mediterranean Sea. In 2014, Eritreans were the second largest group, after Syrians, apprehended at European Union external borders trying to enter in an irregular manner and the second largest group of asylum seekers in the European Union.7 The number of Eritrean refugees in the Sudan and Ethiopia transiting southwards towards South Sudan or westwards towards Libya has been increasing. Fatalities in the Mediterranean continue, and UNHCR estimates that there have already been over 1,800 fatalities in 2015. The deadliest incident recorded to date occurred on 19 April 2015, when more than 800 people died, including about 350 Eritrean migrants and refugees;8 there was a total of 3,500 deaths in 2014.9 These figures have grown 6 7 8 9 UNHCR, “Sharp increase in number of Eritrean refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe, Ethiopia and Sudan,” Briefing Notes, 14 November 2014. Available from www.unhcr.org/5465fea1381.html. European Commission, Questions and Answers: Smuggling of Migrants in Europe and the EU Response, fact sheet. Available from http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-3261_en.htm. UNHCR, “Mediterranean boat capsizing: deadliest incident on record”, Briefing Notes, 21 April 2015. Available from www.unhcr.org/553652699.html. UNHCR, Central Mediterranean Sea Initiative Action Plan. Available from www.unhcr.org/531990199.pdf. 7