On September 21, 2024, at 4:00 p.m., a march for the human rights of the Eritrean people will be held in Bologna, an awareness-raising event that aims to bring serious human rights violations in Eritrea to international attention. The march will start from the historic Church of San Luca and will pass through the city’s porticoes to end in Piazza Nettuno at 6:30 p.m.
The protagonists of the initiative will be young Eritreans who, along the route, will share stories and testimonies of journalists who are prisoners of conscience, illegally detained in Eritrean prisons for over twenty years. These media professionals, arrested in 2001 for exercising their right to freedom of expression, were unjustly accused of conspiracy with Ethiopia and treason, without ever having been formally tried.
Among the detained journalists are internationally renowned figures such as Dawit Isaak, awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom in 2011 and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 2017, and Amanuel Asrat, recently awarded the International Courageous Writer Award.
The main purpose of this march is to raise awareness among institutions and the public about the dramatic state of human rights in Eritrea, a country where there are no independent media and where freedom of speech is violently repressed. The demonstration aims to urge the intervention of international organizations to put an end to these serious violations and to obtain the immediate release of prisoners of conscience.
The event will see the participation of various city entities and illustrious guests, united in the common goal of giving voice to those who, for too long, have been forced into silence.
About the organizer
The event is organized by the Eritrean Provisional Committee for Freedom and Justice, an organization committed to defending human rights and promoting freedom of expression in Eritrea and around the world.
For more information