Each year, thousands of Eritreans flee to refugee camps in northern Ethiopia to escape forced military inscription, persecution, and torture. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently announced that Ethiopia is now the largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. According to UNHCR, Ethiopia is host to 629,718 refugees. The largest refugee population is South Sudanese (247,000), followed by Somalis (245,000), and Eritreans (99,000). UNHCR says that, over the past seven months, almost 15,000 Eritreans arrived in Ethiopia.As the Eritrean government targets the families of young men who flee the country to avoid forced conscription, more women and children have also fled Eritrea seeking refuge in Ethiopia.

Paul Linnell, the Humphrey Fellow for CVT in our Washington DC office, provides an informative and useful summary of our recent expert briefing on Fighting Impunity: Combating Torture & Human Trafficking.

Each year, CVT presents the Eclipse Award around June 26 – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – to an individual or organization that has played a crucial role in the prevention of torture or treatment of torture survivors. The 2014 recipient is Professor David M. Crane, who is being honored for his extraordinary efforts in fighting impunity for torture.