Ethiopia: Tigray conflict has left more than 10,000 survivors of sexual violence

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The UN-backed international commission of human rights experts on Ethiopia reported this week that the recent conflict in the country’s Tigray region has left at least 10,000 survivors of rape and sexual violence, the Associated Press reports. The commission added that all sides in the war had committed atrocities, including mass killings, rape, starvation, and destruction of schools and medical facilities.

In a statement, the chairman of the commission, Mohamed Chande Othman, said the situation in Ethiopia remains “extremely grave” despite a peace accord signed in November, AP reports. ”While the signing of the agreement may have mostly silenced the guns, it has not resolved the conflict in the north of the country, particularly in Tigray, nor has it brought about any comprehensive peace,” Othman said. “Violent confrontations are now at a near-national scale, with alarming reports of violations against civilians in the Amhara region and on-going atrocities in Tigray.”

Notably, the commission referenced consolidated estimates from seven health centers in Tigray alone, which reported that more than 10,000 survivors of sexual violence had come for treatment between the start of the conflict in November 2020 and July this year.

According to the report, most of the sexual violence was committed against women and girls by Eritrean military forces and members of Ethiopia’s Amhara militia, AP reports. The perpetrators had engaged in the “systematic rape and sexual violence of women and girls,” the commission report said.

Citing the lack of accountability for these crimes, Commissioner Radhika Coomaraswamy said Eritrean troops (considered the worst offenders) in Ethiopia showed not only “an entrenched policy of impunity, but also continued support for and tolerance of such violations by the federal government.”

The commission reported that, as far as it is aware, there have been only 13 completed and 16 pending military court cases addressing the mass sexual violence committed during the conflict, AP reports.

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