October 25, 2013 - A United Nations investigator on human rights in Eritrea says
``alarming'' abuses in the east African nation are spurring between 2,000 and 3,000
people to flee the country every month, despite a ``shoot-to-kill policy'' targeting
those attempting to leave. Sheila Keetharuth told the General Assembly's human rights
committee on Thursday that the U.N. refugee agency was concerned about 305,723 Eritreans
who have fled over the past decade. ``The most serious human rights violations are
being committed'' in Eritrea, Keetharuth said, including extrajudicial killings, enforced
disappearances, extended incommunicado detention, torture, indefinite national service,
and lack of freedom of expression, assembly, religious belief and movement. Eritrea's
U.N. Ambassador Arya Desta rejected the special rapporteur's report, saying human
rights issues are being used ``as a tool of political pressure.'' (Source: AP)