As anyone who has read the authoritative reports for the UN Security Council will know, President Isaias keeps most of Eritrea’s wealth offshore, in a spiders-web of accounts around the world.
In 2011, the UN Somalia/Eritrea Monitoring Group (SMEG) reported that “Essentially, Eritrea manages two parallel economies: a formal economic sphere ostensibly managed by the State, and an opaque, largely offshore financial system controlled by elements of the ruling party and their supporters.”
The result is an unaccountable swamp of wealth that the people of Eritrea has no access to. Michelle Bachelet highlights the impact this can have:
“illicit financial flows pose a major challenge to many societies. By eroding the tax base, and discouraging public and private investment, they strip societies of vital and scarce resources, which are indispensable for the structural transformation, economic growth and sustainable development of all countries. They thus pose a direct threat to people’s ability to exercise their human rights, including the right to development.”
Source: UN OCHR
Intersessional seminar on the negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin on the enjoyment of human rights
Opening remarks by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
8 February 2022
Distinguished Chair,
Excellencies,
Dear Participants,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this Intersessional seminar on the negative impact of the non-repatriation of funds of illicit origin to the countries of origin on the enjoyment of human rights.
As the Secretary-General reminded us at the opening meeting of the most recent General Assembly session, we are facing the greatest cascade of crises in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 pandemic has supersized inequalities. We are witnessing dramatic setbacks to the achievement of economic, environmental and human rights commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as rising conflicts and severe social tensions.
Among the factors that restrict many countries’ capacity to take steps that can put their economies, societies and people on a more sound footing are high levels of capital flight, and illicit financial flows – including tax evasion and tax avoidance; money laundering; and the transfer of funds arising from bribery, corruption and criminal activities. UNCTAD has found that illicit financial flows (IFFs) could amount to billions of dollars every year.
Corruption and associated illicit financial flows pose a major challenge to many societies. By eroding the tax base, and discouraging public and private investment, they strip societies of vital and scarce resources, which are indispensable for the structural transformation, economic growth and sustainable development of all countries. They thus pose a direct threat to people’s ability to exercise their human rights, including the right to development.
On the positive side, it appears that efforts to trace freeze or seize stolen assets across borders have become significantly more effective in recent years. The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative run by the World Bank and UNODC found a marked increase between 2017 and 2021in cases where funds stolen by corruption were traced and recovered. The number of States pursuing cross-border asset recovery in corruption cases is also growing. Since 2010, US$ 9.7 billion in corruption proceeds have been either frozen, seized or confiscated in their destination country – or returned to the country where they were stolen.
Stepped up action is needed to fight corruption. Corruption and related financial flows do not only undermine States` ability to mobilise resources for financing sustainable development and for realizing human rights. They also weaken state institutions and undermine the rule of law and the functioning of the criminal justice systems.
But as we step up anti-corruption efforts and asset recovery processes, we must make sure that these efforts do not themselves infringe on human rights. Our Office will soon publish Recommended Principles on human rights and asset recovery, to further guide such efforts.
The Recommended Principles are intended to support international cooperation in the context of asset recovery. They outline a human rights-based approach to the recovery and return of proceeds of corruption, including by providing examples of best practices. This guidance will cover all phases of the process of asset recovery, including prevention and detection of corruption; tracing of proceeds of corruption; the preservation and confiscation of proceeds of corruption; and the return and allocation of stolen funds.
Distinguished Chair,
To recover from the pandemic’s profound setbacks to development and human rights we need to build economies that are people- and planet-centred and which work for everyone, everywhere. Together, we must create more robust systems for accountability, transparency and integrity without delay.
I wish you success with your deliberations.
HGDF or the gangs of Asmara are absolutely criminals all the way round ..They are the most corrupted group of criminals on the region or even worse globalwise..On behave of Eritrean people I deliver my free speech demanding all kind of our human right from those that had been stolen since ages ago until this second right now …
There has been a series of interviews with the former financial director acting more or less as the chief for the Eritrean national bank (Mr Kubrom Dahfla), in the web media Assena TV about the movements of financial activities in Eritrea. He asserts that every thing including the total wealth of the country is controlled and managed by one man and only him. He pretends as if he is poor and has nothing more than the common Eritreans, but in reality his children live in excessive luxury hidden from the mass.
I remember Kibrom Dafla in our Haile Selassie University days. He was born and raised in Addis Ababa of Eritrean origin. He betrayed Ethiopia that gave him wealth and education. He would not hesitate to betray Eritrea, a country he barely knows or understands. His older brother , Galab Dafla , fought against the DERG along with the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and died there. So Kibrom is part of the Eritrean cartel.
Stop killing and starving ALLLL civilians in Ethiopia & Tigray (NB:Tegaru & Tigray NomoreEthiopian!!!) Please reunite and ready to snap handcuffs around the wrists and legs of Abiy Ahmed Ali, and the rest of prosperity party elite members, and throw them behind bars. In doing so, you will successfully save ethiopia from the complete collapse as this heroic act ensure the removal of the shackles of modern day colonialism imposed by UAE, Turkey,& China. Prosperity party is a domestic agent of modern day colonialism and appointed to help foreign mercenaries dismantle Ethiopia by weakening the most powerful states and nations and steal their priceless relics and national riches. Stop civilian Oromos, Tegaru, Amhara , Gumuz, Agew, Irob, Kimant genocide Humanitarian corridor to all the people in need. Stop selling our precious and priceless heritages. Last but not least, you must stand against organized mafia calling itself Fanos , enemy of Amhara , Oromo and Tigray. Fanos are aimless except robbery and rape. Eskinder Nega (Original gangster,O.G) and jailbird) back to his shanty and cozy cottage , Hot one,juvie. This is not intended to call names, but just to describe him to others, and someone who wage war and famine on our children and elderly people, we want him to face justice not just scolding him. The rise of Abiy Amhed to the highest office in the country , whetted UAE’s and Shabias’s appetite to scramble for resources of Ethiopia and colonize its people famed for its Resistance against European Imperialism and ancient remarkable history of over 3000 years.For all these braveries act against past colonialist powers , Ethiopia is greatly indebted to the people of Tigray and Oromos along with the rest of nationalities. If you’re still curious to save Ethiopia and declare your self-governing statehood or remain in the unison, it is advisable to topple down the current Prosperity party working with the most powerful powers , TDF and OLA. Amhara’s elites should still sleep on this peaceful proposition and save your own people instead of endangering the people of Amhara and let Abiy massacre Amhara in the name of OLA and TDF. Amhara’s elites and merchants in Gonder (mafias) should stop waging war against Amhara to expand your territory at the expense of civilians displacement, massacre and starvation. https://thewillnigeria.com/news/opinion-the-emirates-widening-appetite-for-colonialism/ https://qz.com/911513/the-united-arab-emirates-has-a-plan-to-colonize-mars-in-the-next-100-years-and-the-oil-money-to-finance-it/ https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2022/01/21/UAE-Turkey-to-bolster-ties-with-new-agreements-renew-commitments-Report https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/02/09/uae-company-helps-launch-africas-largest-mangrove-reforestation-project-in-mozambique/ https://www.insightturkey.com/file/611/turkeys-foray-into-africa-a-new-humanitarian-power-fall-2011-vol13-no4 FREE Orthodox church from Prosperity party, Fanos(==terrorists), Shabia , and UAE sponsored satanic soldiers Stop killing, torturing, starving and robbing civilians based on their ethnic background!!! Dismantle Prosperity party and put all elite members behind bars and escort them to ICC.