Societal discrimination continued against Roma and members of other ethnic and linguistic minorities. Small demonstrations and isolated incidents of xenophobic hate speech and violence accompanied the arrival of large numbers of asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. Domestic abuse and other violence against women and children continued to be a problem. Other human rights problems included inadequate medical services in detention centers; poor sanitation in some prison cells; excessive delay in moving detainees from police holding cells to remand prisons; excessive delays in...

The leading human rights problems included police and military abuse of persons in custody; restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly, and movement; and restrictions on trade union and collective bargaining rights as well as strict limitations on the ability of workers in certain sectors to strike. Other human rights problems included prison conditions, government corruption, violence and discrimination against women, sexual exploitation of children, and deep ethnic divisions. The government failed to prosecute or punish some security forces officials who committed abuses, but it...

The most significant human rights problems included harassment and intimidation of opposition members and supporters and journalists; alleged torture, beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees by security forces; and politically motivated trials. Other human rights problems included alleged arbitrary killings; harsh and at times life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; a weak, overburdened judiciary subject to political influence; infringement on citizens' privacy rights, including illegal searches;...

According to the June 5 report of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in Eritrea, which covered from 1991 to June 2015, the COI found "systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Government of Eritrea." The COI also reported "the violations in the areas of extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), national service, and forced labor may constitute crimes against humanity." The COI's findings relied primarily on testimony from victims and witnesses (Eritrean refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and other...