Editing Eritrean Defence Forces (section)

==Manpower==
The Eritrean Defence Forces are considerably small when compared to the largest in Africa such as those of [[Egyptian Armed Forces|Egypt]], [[Military of Algeria|Algeria]], and [[Royal Moroccan Armed Forces|Morocco]]. The size of Eritrea's population is small, particularly when compared to its neighbors. During peacetime, the military of Eritrea numbers approximately 120,000,<ref name="EM">{{Cite web |title=2025 Eritrea Military Strength |url=https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=eritrea |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=www.globalfirepower.com |language=en-US}}</ref> with a reserve force of approximately 130,000.<ref name="EM" />
===National service===
{{Main|Conscription in Eritrea}}
Every able bodied man and woman is required to serve ostensibly for 18 months. In this time they receive six months of military training and the balance is spent working on national reconstruction projects. This program allegedly aims to compensate for Eritrea's lack of capital and to reduce dependence on foreign aid, while welding together an ethnically diverse society, half Christian and half Muslim, representing nine ethnic groups.<ref>{{cite web |last=Connell |first=Dan |date=September 1997 |title=Eritrea |url=http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n45eri_body.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918214106/http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n45eri_body.html |archive-date=18 September 2006 |access-date=19 September 2006}}</ref> This is outlined in both the Constitution of Eritrea and Proclamation 82 issued by the [[National Assembly of Eritrea|National Assembly]] on 1995-10-23.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=772 |title=Eritrea |access-date=13 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927040220/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=772 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> However, the period of enlistment may be extended during times of national crisis and the typical period of national service is considerably longer than the minimum. Since the 1990s, conscription has been effectively open-ended; this draft policy has been likened to "slavery" and has earned international condemnation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 20, 2019 |title=Issue 23: Open-Ended Conscription in Eritrea's National Military Service: Here is How to Improve the Policy |url=https://horninstitute.org/issue-23-open-ended-conscription-in-eritreas-national-military-service-here-is-how-to-improve-the-policy/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=horninstitute.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=2019-08-08 |title="They Are Making Us into Slaves, Not Educating Us": How Indefinite Conscription Restricts Young People's Rights, Access to Education in Eritrea |journal=Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/08/08/they-are-making-us-slaves-not-educating-us/how-indefinite-conscription-restricts |language=en|last1=Bader |first1=Laetitia }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-25 |title=Open-ended Conscription in Eritrea's National Military Service: Here is How to Improve the Policy |url=https://www.africaportal.org/publications/open-ended-conscription-eritreas-national-military-service-here-how-improve-policy/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Africa Portal}}</ref>

Military training is given at the [[Sawa Defence Training Centre]] and [[Kiloma Military Training Centre]]. Students, both male and female, are required to attend the Sawa Training Centre to complete the final year of their secondary education, which is integrated with their military service. If a student does not attend this period of training, he or she will not be allowed to attend university - many routes to employment also require proof of military training. However, they may be able to attend a vocational training centre, or to find work in the private sector. At the end of the 1½-year national service, a conscript can elect to stay on and become a career military officer. Conscripts who elect otherwise may, in theory, return to their civilian life but will continue to be reservists. In practice, graduates of military service are often chosen for further national service according to their vocation - for example, teachers may be compulsorily seconded for several years to schools in an unfamiliar region of the country. According to the Government of Eritrea, "The sole objective of the National Service program is thus to cultivate capable, hardworking, and alert individuals."<ref name="Conscripts">{{cite news|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-07-18-in-eritrea-youth-frustrated-by-long-service|title=In Eritrea, youth frustrated by long service|access-date=1 March 2007}}</ref>

Eritrean conscripts are used in non-military capacities as well. Soldiers are often used as supplemental manpower in the country's agricultural fields picking crops, though much of the harvested food is used to feed the military rather than the general population.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}{{Short description|Military force of Eritrea}}

=== People's Militia ===
In 2012 the government created People's Militia (known natively as the "Hizbawi Serawit"), to provide additional military training to civilians and assist in development work. Many elderly citizens have been forced to join. Its organizational structure is set up by profession and/or geographic. It serves as a form of national service.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Country Guidance on Eritrea|url=https://reflekt.ch/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/00443_ukut_iac_2016_mst_ors_eritrea_cg.pdf}}</ref> In 2013, it was led by Brigadier General Teklai Manjus.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eritrea - People's Army|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/eritrea/peoples-army.htm|access-date=2021-07-06|website=www.globalsecurity.org}}</ref>

=== Women ===

While men make up the majority of the Eritrean military women play a major role, with 30% of the EDF’s personnel being women. This can be attributed to the fact that all Eritrean’s regardless of gender are required to participate in mandatory military training at the Sawa Defense Training Centre. The only exception to this is students who pass the matriculation examination, which allows them admittance into university and complete National Service afterwards in a professional capacity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Riggan |first=Jennifer |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1kft8gz |title=The Struggling State: Nationalism, Militarism, and the Education of Eritrea |date=2016 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-4399-1270-6}}</ref> The women in the EDF are trained the same as the men and are given the same roles and responsibilities as the men as well. The historically high female participation in the Eritrean military has been one of the reasons for women's activism within the country.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bernal |first=Victoria |date=2000 |title=Equality to Die For?: Women Guerrilla Fighters and Eritrea's Cultural Revolution |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24497999 |journal=Political and Legal Anthropology Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=61–76 |issn=1081-6976}}</ref> Which has led to an increase in Eritrean women’s representation in the National Assembly, with 30% of the seats being officially reserved for women due to the efforts of the NUEW (National Union of Eritrean Women).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1983-01-01 |title=Women's movement in Eritrea: An interview |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056248308703556 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=10 |issue=27-28 |doi=10.1080/03056248308703556 |issn=0305-6244}}</ref> The rise in female activism is due to many former female combatants finding that women’s rights did not change after the war for independence even though gender equality was one of the leading ideals of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zerai |first=Worku |date=1994 |title=Organising Women within a National Liberation Struggle: Case of Eritrea |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4401967 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=29 |issue=44 |pages=WS63–WS68 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref> Even with some of the improvements to female representation within the Eritrean government, women are opposed to mandatory service due to being at risk of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, and the risk of HIV/AIDS infection. This fear of sexual assault comes from a history of sexual violence against female conscripts by military commanders in the Eritrean national Service.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kibreab |first=Gaim |date=2017-03-06 |title=Sexual Violence in the Eritrean National Service |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2017.5 |journal=African Studies Review |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=123–143 |doi=10.1017/asr.2017.5 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref> While women in the EDF are treated as equals in many aspects, there are still gender disparities that lead to protest and resentment towards the EDF.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burgess |first=Doris |date=1989-01-01 |title=Women and war: Eritrea |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056248908703832 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=16 |issue=45-46 |doi=10.1080/03056248908703832 |issn=0305-6244}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connell |first=Dan |date=1995 |title=Eritrea: starting from scratch |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056249508704167 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=22 |issue=66 |doi=10.1080/03056249508704167 |issn=0305-6244}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hale |first=Sondra |date=2001 |title=The State of the Women's Movement in Eritrea |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/nas.2006.0006 |journal=Northeast African Studies |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=155–177 |doi=10.1353/nas.2006.0006 |issn=1535-6574}}</ref>