Editing Eritrean Defence Forces (section)

===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}}