Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested Western Tigray Zone are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Tigrayans and severely restricting their movements, employment, and access to services.
The authorities’ unrelenting abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, have forced Tigrayans to flee the area nearly four years after a truce for the 2020-2022 conflict in northern Ethiopia.
Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans forcibly expelled from the Zone during the conflict remain in dire conditions in displaced persons camps in central Tigray, unable to return as the territory remains in unresolved status.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 40 people between January and February 2026, including current residents of Western Tigray and 17 who fled there since December 2025.
>> Read the report: “We move only if there’s no choice”
Many Tigrayan interviewees in the Zone, who lost their homes, businesses, and land during the conflict, said they were experiencing ongoing harassment, restrictions, and abuse from local residents and authorities.
One resident told us: “Most of the time we feel uncomfortable moving, there is constant worry to do so. If the [security forces] find you, they beat you so badly.... We don’t move freely, we move only if there’s no choice.”
The longer the Ethiopian government and regional authorities take advantage of the continued unresolved status of the Western Tigray Zone, the longer hundreds of thousands pf peoples’ lives will remain in limbo.
