Draft Establishment Proclamation
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 Establishment Proclamation 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.
Read Article 54View the draft proclamation pageDownload the draft proclamation (DOCX)
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 Proclamation
Independent public prosecution
Individual-case decisions must be based on law, evidence, public-interest criteria, and fair-trial duties—not political direction.
Legal advice to the State
Advice must be candid, identify constitutional and legal risk, and propose lawful alternatives rather than manufacture a justification for a predetermined political decision.
Representation of public institutions
The Government Legal Service would represent lawful institutional interests in civil, constitutional, administrative, and international proceedings.
Constitutional and legal compliance
The proposed Office would identify unlawful public action, support compliance, and preserve the distinct adjudicative role of the courts.
Public-interest litigation
The proposed service could bring or join authorized proceedings to defend constitutional government and the public interest.
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 and witness support
A dedicated service would provide information, facilitate participation, and coordinate lawful assistance without coaching testimony or compromising defence rights.
International legal cooperation and extradition
Cooperation must comply with treaty, human-rights, sovereignty, reciprocity, confidentiality, and judicial safeguards.
Mutual legal assistance
Requests and responses would be recorded, reviewed for legality, and separated from political or intelligence direction.
Serious human-rights and international-crimes work
Case selection must be evidence-led, individual, impartial, and compatible with fair trial; collective guilt and retaliatory justice are prohibited.
Judgment compliance
The proposed Office would monitor and report lawful government compliance with judgments without intruding on judicial independence.
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 proclamation 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
Independent professional head controlling individual prosecution decisions.
National Public Prosecution Service
Institutes and conducts public prosecutions, subject to constitutional rights and the proposed statutory safeguards.
Solicitor-General
Professional head of the noncriminal Government Legal Service.
Government Legal Service
Provides candid advice, drafting support, transaction review, and civil representation.
Public Interest and Constitutional Compliance Service
Reviews legality, issues proposed compliance opinions, and may pursue authorized public-interest action.
International Cooperation and Asset Recovery Service
Handles extradition, mutual legal assistance, international claims, and lawful recovery of public assets.
Victim and Witness Support Service
Coordinates information, participation, protection assessment, and lawful assistance.
Professional Responsibility and Inspection Directorate
Independently inspects systems, investigates misconduct, audits compliance, and protects whistleblowers.
Legal Policy, Research and Training Institute
Supports induction, continuing education, prosecution policy, ethics, research, and leadership development.
Regional offices
Proposed regional access points would support equal access, continuity, relevant languages, and disability access.
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.
Preservation and review of prosecution and detention records
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
- Preservation framework
- Next action
- Prepare lawful preservation, custody, access, and audit protocols.
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 serious human-rights violations unit
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
- Unit design
- Next action
- Define jurisdiction, screening, independence, victim safeguards, and evidence standards.
Design of the public-assets recovery framework
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- International Cooperation and Asset Recovery Service
- Current stage
- Framework design
- Next action
- Develop due-process, tracing, freezing, recovery, accounting, and return 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.
Preparation of victim, witness, and complainant service standards
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Victim and Witness Support Service
- Current stage
- Standards design
- Next action
- Prepare trauma-informed, accessible, confidential, and fair-trial-compatible standards.
Development of professional recruitment and training standards
Proposed
This editable workstream records proposed institution-building activity. No completed action, date, office-holder, or legal authorization is implied.
- Responsible service
- Legal Policy, Research and Training Institute
- Current stage
- Standards design
- Next action
- Prepare merit, ethics, independence, competence, and continuing-education standards.
Public Services and Secure Digital Tools
The protected text-submission workflow below is active for project testing and issues receipts and tracking references. It does not create an official filing. Identity verification beyond email, secure document uploads, staff case-management functions, and privileged advice portals remain under development until appropriate authority, identity assurance, malware scanning, retention, encryption-key governance, conflict screening, and protected storage are in place.
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.
Authorized public institutions’ legal-advice portal
Under Development
The proposed role and access model is prepared, but no identity provider, client authorization process, privilege controls, or advice-file system has been commissioned. No login is published.
Prosecutor and state-counsel secure login
Under Development
Dedicated roles are prepared, but no production case-management environment, multifactor authentication, device assurance, or security authorization exists. No login is published.
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 proclamation 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.