Search Results

Sort by
News

Ethiopia: Blocking Tigray Aid Harms Rape Survivors

Urgently Allow Entry of Food, Medicine; Support International Investigations

The Ethiopian government’s blocking of aid with health facilities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region destroyed is preventing sexual violence survivors from getting post-rape care.   The government’s effective siege of Tigray since June is…
Two women stand facing away from the camera
Report

“I Always Remember That Day”

Summary I have anxiety…. I feel stress, I am affected mentally…. That moment comes to my mind every day….  I always remember that day. —Tirhas S. (not her real name), 44-year-old sexual violence survivor, Tigray, March 16, 2021[1] The…
News

Ethiopia: International Action Needed to Prevent Atrocities

Inciting Rhetoric, Sweeping Emergency Regulations Fuel Abuses

(New York) – The African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council should move beyond discussions and act to avert further atrocities in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said.   On November 4, 2021, the Ethiopian…
Members of the House of People's Representatives attend a session to approve the state of emergency declared by the prime minister, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
News

International Investigation Needed into Abuses in Ethiopia

Joint Report Calls for Further Accountability in Widening Tigray Conflict

On Wednesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a much-anticipated joint report into abuses committed in the first nine months of the conflict in Ethiopia’s northern…
Tigray crisis
News

Millions at Risk as Ethiopia Expels UN Officials

Challenge Chokehold on Desperately Needed Humanitarian Aid, Call for Independent Inquiry

The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today to consider its response to yesterday’s decision by Ethiopia’s federal government to declare seven senior UN officials as “persona non grata,” unwelcome in the country. The…
An organizer asks displaced Tigrayans to queue as they wait to receive food at a school in Mekele, in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, May 5, 2021.
News

US Authorizes Sanctions in Ethiopia’s Tigray Conflict

UN Security Council, Regional Bodies, Other Countries Should Also Target Rights Abusers

Today, United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allows the US government to impose sanctions against those responsible for a range of serious human rights abuses in northern Ethiopia. The order establishes a sanctions regime…
Tigrayan men sit atop a hill overlooking part of the Umm Rakouba refugee camp, in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, on December 14, 2020. 
News

Ethiopia: Eritrean Refugees Targeted in Tigray

Need for Urgent Protection, Assistance; Thousands Still Missing

(Nairobi) – Eritrean government forces and Tigrayan militias have committed killings, rape, and other grave abuses against Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Human Rights Watch said today. All warring parties should cease attacks against…
Aerial satellite graphic
Video

Shimelba Refugee Camp

Satellite imagery collected on December 16, 17 and 18 show the progressive expansion of burn scars in Shimelba refugee camp, specifically in the DICAC [Development and Inter-Church Aid Commission] schoolyard, located on the eastern side of the image.…
News

UN Rights Body Should Maintain Scrutiny on Tigray

Oral Statement at HRC48

Today’s Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on Tigray – 10 months into a devastating conflict – is a welcome if belated step towards international scrutiny and accountability. Ethiopia’s federal government continues its de facto blockade of the Tigray region…
Tigrinyan refugee women prepare bread for their family in Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan on December 11, 2020 
News

Ethiopia: Ethnic Tigrayans Forcibly Disappeared

Discriminatory Arrests, Detentions, Business Closures in Addis Ababa

(Nairobi) – Ethiopian authorities since late June 2021 have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, and committed other abuses against ethnic Tigrayans in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. The authorities should immediately account for Tigrayans’…
Exterior of a building with the words "Federal Police HQ" on it
News

The Latest on the Crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region

Fighting in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is entering its ninth month, and it may intensify after leaders in several of Ethiopia’s regions as well as its capital, Addis Ababa, called on residents, including youth, to mobilize against the Tigray…
Tigrayans who fled the conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region stand on a hilltop overlooking Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan, November 26, 2020
News

UN Rights Body Needs to Act on Ethiopia

Human Rights Council Should Adopt Resolution on Abuses in Tigray

As reports of grave rights abuses continue to emerge from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the United Nations Human Rights Council is considering a resolution to add Tigray to its agenda. It should do so immediately. Communities in Tigray have…
Tigrinyan refugee women prepare bread for their family in Umm Rakouba refugee camp in Qadarif, eastern Sudan on December 11, 2020 
News

UN Security Council: End Inaction on Ethiopia

Secretary-General Should Press for a Sustained Crisis Response

(New York) – The United Nations Security Council should urgently act to address the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, Human Rights Watch said today. Secretary-General António Guterres should press the…
Tigray crisis
News

UN Rights Council needs to address China, Ethiopia, systemic racism and climate change

Item 2: Interactive Dialogue on High Commissioner’s annual report

High Commissioner, last session you underlined the importance of an “independent and comprehensive assessment of the rights situation” in Xinjiang, and indicated your Office was assessing reports of “arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and sexual…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

G7 Leaders Can’t Ignore Ethiopia’s Looming Famine

UN Says 350,000 People in Tigray Starving, Millions More at Risk

G7 leaders meeting this week should galvanize an immediate global response to the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Yesterday, the United Nations and other aid agencies warned that some 350,000 people are already…
People walk from a rural area towards a food distribution site near the town of Agula, in Tigray, Ethiopia
News

NGOs Call for UN Human Rights Council Resolution on Tigray

To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council (Geneva, Switzerland) Your Excellency, We, the undersigned human rights non-governmental organizations, strongly urge the UN Human Rights…
Delegates sit at the opening of the 41th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2019.
News

Ethiopia: Boy Publicly Executed in Oromia

Hold Abusive Officials, Security Forces Accountable

(Nairobi) – Ethiopian government forces summarily executed a 17-year-old boy in Ethiopia’s Oromia region in broad daylight, Human Rights Watch said today. The public execution of Amanuel Wondimu Kebede underscores the lack of accountability…
Roundabout at site of Amanuel Wondimu's execution on May 11, 2021, in Dembi Dollo town, Oromia, Ethiopia.
News

Ethiopia: Tigray Schools Occupied, Looted

Protect Students, Teachers in Region; Endorse Safe Schools Declaration

(Nairobi) – All warring parties in Tigray have been implicated in the attacking, pillaging, and occupying of schools since the conflict started, Human Rights Watch said today. On just one example, government forces used the historic Atse Yohannes…
Children look at books in an elementary school in the village of Bisober, Tigray on December 9, 2020. The school was occupied by Tigray Special Forces and also damaged after fighting broke out between Ethiopian and Tigray forces in November 2020.