While Andrew Stroehlein and the rest of the regular Daily Brief team take a well-deserved break, I'll be stepping in to share an article from HRW's weekly newsletter the Week in Rights. - Paul Aufiero

Saudi border guards have killed hundreds of Ethiopians who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023, new Human Rights Watch research has revealed. These killings are continuing.

Border guards have used explosive weapons to kill many Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers and shot others – including women and children – at close range. Survivors interviewed described scenes of horror: the bodies of women, men, and children strewn across the mountainous landscape, severely injured or already dead. 

A 17-year-old boy said border guards forced him and others to rape two girls after the guards had executed another migrant who refused to rape another survivor. In some instances, Saudi border guards asked survivors which limb they preferred to be shot, before shooting them. 

It's possible these atrocities could be crimes against humanity. 

For this report, we interviewed 42 Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the border, and friends and relatives of those who tried. We analyzed more than 350 videos and photographs, along with satellite imagery. These showed dead and wounded migrants on trails, in camps and medical facilities, along with growing burial sites near migrant camps and expanding Saudi Arabian border security infrastructure.

Roughly 750,000 Ethiopians are estimated to live and work in Saudi Arabia. While many migrate for economic reasons, a number have fled because of serious human rights abuses by their government, including the recent armed conflict in northern Ethiopia.

For decades, Ethiopians have attempted the migration route from Djibouti across the Gulf of Aden, through Yemen and into Saudi Arabia. The route is rife with danger, controlled by a network of smugglers and traffickers.

Once in Yemen, Yemeni smugglers take the migrants to the Saada governorate, which is controlled by the Houthi armed group and on the Saudi border. Migrants are placed in what they call “detention centers” where people are abused until they can pay an “exit fee.”

At which point they attempt to cross the Saudi border, often in groups of up to 200. Then, they face the Saudi border guards.

As the Saudi border guards continue their killing of Africans, the Saudi government is spending billions buying up professional golf, football clubs, and major entertainment events to buff up Saudi’s tarnished image.

This blatant sports-washing should not deflect attention from these horrendous crimes.

Read the latest edition of the Week in Rights here.