"Eritreans hopeful after ‘historic’ Canadian ruling"

Eritrean refugees have found rare hope in a Canadian Supreme Court ruling allowing them to continue with a lawsuit against a Canadian mining company allegedly complicit in human rights abuses and forced labour in Eritrea. “It was hard for me to believe at first,” said Abraham, 32, an Eritrean refugee who requested to use a pseudonym to protect his identity. “I felt so happy when I heard the news.”...“It still doesn’t feel real,” said Abraham, who was forced to work at the Bisha mine for four years. “I used to believe that there was no justice in this world. But, after waiting for a very long time, justice is slowly coming and I feel really, really happy.”...

While Eritrea’s compulsory national service programme legally lasts 18 months, in reality, many conscripts spend most of their working lives in the service and receive little pay. Conscripts who are caught attempting to escape their service “face imprisonment, torture, and other forms of human rights abuse”, Human Rights Watch has stated...

Australia’s South Boulder Mines still operates a mine in Eritrea; in 2015 the firm changed its name to Danakali Ltd. It operates the Colluli project, which mines potash in the Danakil Depression region. Colluli is a joint venture that is 50% owned by Danakali and 50% by Enamco. New Frame also asked Danakali for comment but did not receive a response. Thus far, Fiorante says, he has not encountered conscripts who had worked at the Sunridge or Danakali sites. “But that doesn’t mean that with the attention this case is getting now that people won’t come forward and find us,” he said. “The challenge, in this case, is that in order for the victims to seek justice they would have to flee Eritrea, and only then might they be in a position to come forward with a case.”