Constitutional institution
Office of the Advocate General
Independent prosecution, lawful government, and protection of the public interest.
The Advocate General is the constitutional institution responsible for helping ensure that public power is exercised according to law. The Office combines independent public prosecution, candid legal advice to the State, professional representation of public institutions, constitutional compliance, protection of public assets, and promotion of the rule of law. Its loyalty is to the Constitution, justice, and the long-term public interest—not to any individual office-holder or political organization.
Constitutional Foundation
Article 54 of the 1997 Constitution provides that there shall be an Advocate General and states that the Office’s powers and duties are to be determined by law. That constitutional sentence establishes the institution; it does not itself enact the detailed mandate, structure, appointments, procedures, or safeguards described below.
The draft Advocate General of Eritrea Act, 2026 is proposed legislation prepared for institutional design and public review. It has not been enacted and must not be treated as present law. It proposes a comprehensive independent Office and expressly requires harmonization of related criminal-procedure, police, professional, public-finance, asset-recovery, witness-protection, and transitional-justice laws before enactment.
Why the Office Matters
A democratic transition after prolonged repression requires a legal institution capable of confronting politically motivated prosecution, arbitrary detention, corruption, disregard of court orders, destruction or concealment of records, and the use of government lawyers to protect officials rather than the law. It also requires discipline against a different danger: using a new prosecution service as an instrument of revenge.
The proposed Office is designed to prevent both impunity and retaliatory justice. Responsibility must be individual and established through lawful investigation, reliable evidence, independent decision-making, fair trial, and due process. There must be no collective guilt, political purge, revenge prosecution, or protection of powerful officials from lawful accountability. Institutional change does not itself prove criminal responsibility, and former office, political association, family, region, ethnicity, or opinion cannot replace evidence.
Principal Functions Proposed in the Draft Act
Independent public prosecution
Individual-case decisions must be based on law, evidence, public-interest criteria, and fair-trial duties—not political direction.
State legal advice, compliance and mutual legal assistance
Provides candid legal advice, identifies constitutional and statutory risk, supports lawful compliance, and coordinates properly authorized mutual legal-assistance requests subject to judicial, treaty and human-rights safeguards.
Public representation, public-interest litigation and judgment compliance
Represents public institutions in authorized proceedings, may bring or join lawful public-interest cases, and supports compliance with judgments without intruding on judicial independence.
Protection and recovery of public assets
Asset tracing and recovery must use due process, judicial supervision, transparent accounting, and protection for lawful third-party interests.
Victim, witness and serious human-rights case support
Provides information and lawful support to victims and witnesses, and assists evidence-led work on serious human-rights and international crimes while preserving fair-trial and defence rights.
International legal cooperation and extradition
Cooperation must comply with treaty, human-rights, sovereignty, reciprocity, confidentiality, and judicial safeguards.
Legal-policy research and public education
Research, training, guidance, and accessible publication would strengthen professional capacity and public understanding of the rule of law.
Proposed Institutional Structure
The draft Act separates prosecution, government legal advice, civil representation, public-interest action, and internal professional discipline. Protected files, access controls, conflict screens, recusals, and independent decision routes are essential because the same lawyer or team must not advise a public authority in a matter and then control a related criminal prosecution.
Advocate General
Constitutional head, guardian of institutional independence, and principal legal adviser to the State.
Director of Public Prosecutions and National Public Prosecution Service
Provides independent professional direction and conducts public prosecutions subject to constitutional rights and statutory safeguards.
Solicitor-General and Government Legal Service
Provides candid advice, drafting support, transaction review, and authorized civil and constitutional representation.
Public Interest, Constitutional Compliance and Victim Support Service
Reviews legality, supports lawful public-interest action, and coordinates accessible information and assistance for victims and witnesses.
International Cooperation and Asset Recovery Service
Handles extradition, mutual legal assistance, international claims, and lawful recovery of public assets.
Professional Standards, Research and Training Directorate
Combines professional inspection, ethics, policy research, induction, continuing education, and leadership development.
The Office is not a court, police service, detention authority, intelligence body, or political ministry. It cannot determine guilt, issue punishment, operate detention, issue warrants, or exercise general police or intelligence command. Courts decide cases; investigators exercise only powers given by law; prosecutors decide whether a case should be brought or continued.
Independence and Accountability Proposed in the Draft
Independence safeguards
- Independent, public, merit-based selection process
- Appointment by the President after National Assembly approval
- One nonrenewable eight-year term
- Removal only for defined grounds through an independent tribunal
- No political direction in individual cases
- Separately identified institutional budget
- Professional merit-based recruitment and protected functional separation
Public accountability safeguards
- Published prosecution policies and recorded reasons
- Independent professional inspection and financial audit
- Annual reports and appropriate appearances before the National Assembly
- Judicial review of unlawful action
- Conflict, recusal, disclosure, and whistleblower safeguards
- Accessible complaint and review procedures
- Proactive publication of verified aggregate information
Accountability does not authorize politicians to dictate a prosecution decision, demand privileged advice, expose protected information, or compromise a pending case. The Office would remain accountable for legality, stewardship, policy, administration, and aggregate performance.
Current Institutional Work
These editable workstreams describe proposed institution-building tasks. They do not imply that the Office is operational, that legislation has been enacted, or that an office-holder has been appointed. Blank dates are intentional where no verified date exists.
Public consultation on the draft Advocate General Establishment Proclamation
In Preparation
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Public Interest and Constitutional Compliance Service
- Current stage
- Consultation design
- Next action
- Publish the consultation notice and approved submission period.
Establishment of the independent selection process
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Institutional Establishment Team
- Current stage
- Proposed framework
- Next action
- Constitute the independent selection panel only after lawful authorization.
Development of the first national prosecution policy
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- National Public Prosecution Service
- Current stage
- Policy scoping
- Next action
- Prepare a rights-based drafting and consultation plan.
Design of the Government Legal Service
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Government Legal Service
- Current stage
- Institutional design
- Next action
- Map advisory, drafting, transaction-review, and representation functions.
Development of the public-interest and constitutional-compliance procedure
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Public Interest and Constitutional Compliance Service
- Current stage
- Procedure design
- Next action
- Define lawful intake, review, intervention, and publication safeguards.
Preparation of a legacy-case review framework
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- National Public Prosecution Service
- Current stage
- Framework design
- Next action
- Develop independent review criteria, remedies, and due-process safeguards.
Development of the secure digital case-management system
In Preparation
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Office Administration
- Current stage
- Security requirements
- Next action
- Complete privacy, access-control, encryption, retention, audit, and threat requirements before procurement.
Public Services and Secure Digital Tools
Use “Request Services” to open the secure test form and select the appropriate service type. The form issues a receipt and tracking reference but does not create an official filing. Supporting-document uploads and production identity verification remain unavailable until required security and legal controls are commissioned.
This form tests the proposed workflow; it is not an operational government filing system. Do not submit classified material, urgent threats, evidence requiring immediate preservation, or documents. Contact an appropriate existing authority or qualified lawyer where immediate action is required.
Track a Test-Workflow Submission
Publications and Official Record
Only records deliberately published through the public publication workflow appear here. Confidential, privileged, personnel, victim, witness, prosecution, advice, and litigation material is excluded. A redacted document must be identified as redacted; version and accessibility information are retained with each record.
The draft Act is available separately. No prosecution policy, legal opinion, report, statistic, or notice is treated as official merely because this platform is under development.
Public Accountability Dashboard
The dashboard is prepared to report verified aggregate information about matters received, decisions, processing time, pending matters, complaints, victim services, legal opinions, public-interest proceedings, judgment compliance, assets, regional distribution, case age, and professional-responsibility outcomes.
Figures will remain blank until an authorized source, reporting period, definition, and last-updated date are recorded. Conviction rates, detention rates, charge totals, and money recovered will not be used as simplistic performance measures.
Public Guidance
What the Advocate General can and cannot do
Under the proposed legislation, the Office could prosecute, advise and represent the State, bring authorized public-interest action, support victims and witnesses, and coordinate lawful international cooperation. It could not decide guilt, punish, detain, issue warrants, exercise general police powers, give private legal advice, or act for a personal or partisan interest.
How prosecution decisions are made
A prosecutor must assess law, admissible evidence, reliability, public-interest criteria, rights, available defences, proportionality, and fair-trial duties. A public demand, political instruction, allegation, arrest, investigation, or application does not itself justify a charge.
Rights of suspects and accused persons
Every person retains dignity, liberty, counsel, silence, disclosure, timely judicial review, presumption of innocence, fair hearing, and other constitutional and legal protections. The prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, disclose as law requires, correct error, and discontinue an unsustainable case.
Rights and participation of victims
Victims should receive accessible information, respectful treatment, appropriate participation, safety assessment, referral, and review opportunities without displacing the prosecutor’s independent duty or the accused person’s fair-trial rights.
Review, interference, and misconduct
The proposed system provides reasoned internal review by an uninvolved officer, complaints to professional responsibility, reporting of attempted interference, and judicial review where law permits. A complaint is not proof; the subject must receive fair process.
When the Office may act in the public interest
Action must have a lawful basis, protect constitutional government or a substantial public interest, respect the mandates of other institutions, avoid duplicating adjudication or investigation, and remain subject to court oversight where required.
When to contact another institution
Contact a court for judicial remedies and urgent orders; an existing police service for immediate danger or crime reporting; a private lawyer or legal-aid service for personal advice; the JSC for judicial recruitment and service matters; the Auditor General for public audit; the Electoral Commission for election administration; the Civil Service Administration for public-service administration; or another body whose legal mandate directly governs the issue.
Submitting information does not automatically commence an investigation or prosecution, create an attorney-client relationship, stop a limitation period, preserve evidence, provide emergency protection, or guarantee that the requested action will be taken.
Careers and Merit-Based Recruitment
Future notices must state the legal authority, criteria, process, closing date, accommodations, integrity requirements, and secure application route. Employment cannot be promised before lawful institutional establishment.