DANKALIA DECLARATION

JUNE 29, 2024

Resolution of Eritrean Afar Nation (Presented at the EANC conference in Ottawa, Canada)[i]

WE, the Indigenous Afar People of Eritrea, including Afar political leadership, traditional elders, women, refugees’ groups, youth and civic entities assembled together in Conference entitled “Autonomous Dankalia Within a United Eritrea”, at the City of Ottawa, Canada, declare to the World the solemn will of the Eritrean Afar People as follows:

WHEREAS, the Afar nation, are an ancient Indigenous people bound by blood ties, customary laws and traditions, clan relationships, language, a unique cultural identity and a defined homeland territory having pre-colonial geographical borders;

AND WHEREAS, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea found that the Government of the State of Eritrea as well as Eritrean officials have engaged in an “intentional act to dispossess [Indigenous Afar People] of their ancestral lands, their livelihood and their culture” through violent means that include disappearances, rapes, and mass murders since 1991 until today; ^[ii]

AND WHEREAS, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea has confirmed that the actions of the Eritrean Government and Eritrean officials against Indigenous Afar People constitute the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity; ^[iii]

AND WHEREAS, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, noted: “The Afar are one of the most disenfranchised communities in Eritrea. For several decades, they have been subjected to discrimination, harassment, arbitrary arrests, disappearances, violence, and widespread persecution”. ^[iv]

ACKNOWLEDGING, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples recognizes that Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination and that in exercising their right to self-determination, Indigenous Peoples have the right to autonomy or self-government in matters relating to their internal and local affairs; ^[v]

ACKNOWLEDGING, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Banjul Charter of 1986) recognizes that all peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policies that they have freely chosen.^[vi]

TROUBLED by more than three decades of systematic policies of ethnic persecution, violence, cultural assimilation, and political and economic marginalization carried out consistently against the Afar nation in Dankalia by the Eritrean government;

CONDEMNING the ethnic persecution, genocide, crimes against humanity and other forms of violence committed against the Afar people by the Government of Eritrea and by its officials;

DEDICATING ourselves to uniting our hands and resources to liberate our people from ethnic discrimination, historical marginalization, and the expulsion of the Afar nation from Dankalia, their traditional homeland in Eritrea. We are now more than ever before committed to joining forces with all available means for this cause;

DETERMINED together to establish a democratic system of governance in Dankalia, as the regional state of the Afar nation of Eritrea, and thus establishing a parliament of Dankalia in exile, in accordance with our people’s authority to exercise our democratic rights to internal autonomy and self-determination;

NOW THEREFORE the Afar Nation of Eritrea, represented by the political organizations and Afar traditional leadership, have mutually acknowledged and agreed to call for the restoration of our Afar nation rights in Eritrea to internal self-determination and autonomous rule of Dankalia within a united Eritrea.

WE NOW DECLARE that it is the solemn will of the Eritrean Afar nation to work together in a collaborative and concerted effort to bring about the establishment of an autonomous, democratic government of Dankalia within a united, democratic Eritrea on the basis of the following principles:

AN AUTONOMOUS DANKALIA

AFAR AUTONOMY AND SELF-GOVERNMENT IN DANKALIA

1. to work together to form an Indigenous Parliament of Dankalia, representing autonomous Dankalia in exile;
2. to advocate for the recognition of an autonomous Dankalia that conforms to the principles of the African Charter and UN human rights instruments; and
3. to dedicate ourselves to promote Afar autonomy in Dankalia with the international community, regional governments, and stakeholders for the democratization of Eritrea.

THE DEMOCRATIZATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE OF ERITREA

1. to establish a decentralized federal democratic Eritrean government to preserve our national unity and the rule of law in Eritrea;
2. to collaborate to establish a power-sharing constitution that distributes power between Eritrea’s central government and Eritrea’s eight (8) provinces (states) (Akale-Guzai, Barka, Dankalia, Hamasien, Sahel, Semhar, Serae, Senhit); and
3. to promote an all-inclusive peaceful dialogue between opposition groups and diverse nationalities to envision Eritrea’s democratic future, and discuss the resolution for a post-authoritarian Eritrea, on multinational constitutional governance and the securing rights of autonomous self-determination of all Eritrean peoples, regions and ethnic nationalities.

We, by our names, signatures, and marks as set out below, pledge our commitment and resolve to these solemn principles.

[i] The Eritrean Afar National Congress (EANC) is an exiled Afar political organization dedicated to self-determination and self-rule of the Eritrean Afar people in their coastal homeland of Dankalia, Eritrea, where the indigenous Afar are subjected to marginalization, persecution and ethnic cleansing at the hands of the current Eritrean government. EANC is the voice of the Eritrean Afar people. EANC draws its mandate from the political and traditional Afar leaders, the leadership of Afar women and youth groups, the Eritrean Afar Diaspora and Eritrean-Afar refugees.

Autonomous-Dankalia-Within-United-Eritrea-Conference-June-2024.pdf

[ii] “The Commission received information verifying that the Afar people have been subjected to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearance by the Eritrean Government since 2000. These killings have also triggered their displacement from their lands within the country and across borders to Ethiopia and Djibouti. This has posed great difficulty to their livelihoods as they depend on their traditional lands for the sustenance as an indigenous ethnic group;” Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (2016), para 1121, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoIEritrea/A_HRC_29_CRP-1_Chapter_VI.pdf

[iii] Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (2015), paras 295-6: “the Commission finds that Eritrean officials have committed the crime of persecution [against the Afar and Kunama], a crime against humanity, in a large-scale and routine manner since May 1991,” Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (2016), paras 88, 112 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G16/093/42/PDF/G1609342.pdf?OpenElement “The Afar and Kunama ethnic groups were particularly targeted in the period from 1998 to 2001. Persecution has been an integral part of the Government’s efforts to maintain its authority in a manner contrary to international law. The commission therefore finds that Eritrean officials have committed the crime of persecution, a crime against humanity, in a widespread and systematic manner since May 1991.”

[iv]UN Report by SR on May 2023, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Eritrea, Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker noted: “The Afar are one of the most disenfranchised communities in Eritrea. For several decades, they have been subjected to discrimination, harassment, arbitrary arrests, disappearance, violence, and widespread persecution.”

[v]United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, arts 3,4

[vi]  African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Banjul Charter of 1986), article 20(1), All peoples shall have the right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self- determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policies they have freely chosen. https://www.oas.org/en/sla/dil/docs/African_Charter_Human_Peoples_Rights.pdf