Ethiopia: New wave of atrocities in Western Tigray

Amhara security forces are responsible for a surge of mass detentions, killings and forced expulsions of ethnic Tigrayans in the Western Tigray territory of northern Ethiopia, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. Tigrayan civilians attempting to escape the new wave of violence have been attacked and killed. Scores in detention face life-threatening conditions …

Ethiopia: Survivors of TPLF attack in Amhara describe gang rape, looting and physical assaults

Women raped at gunpoint, robbed and assaulted Lack of medical care after TPLF fighters damaged and looted hospital Abuses committed as Tigray conflict has spilled over into Amhara region Sixteen women from the town of Nifas Mewcha in Ethiopia’s Amhara region told Amnesty International they were raped by fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during the group’s …

Ethiopia: Sweeping emergency powers and alarming rise in online hate speech as Tigray conflict escalates

Ethiopia is teetering on the brink of a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe, Amnesty International warned today, amid worrying developments linked to the escalating Tigray conflict. On 4 November the Ethiopian government granted itself sweeping new emergency powers which arbitrarily restrict human rights and threaten the independence of the judiciary. Meanwhile there has been an …

Tigray diaspora meets with Human Rights Committee on anniversary of conflict

Members of the Australian Tigrayan diaspora, accompanied by Amnesty International campaigners, will appear before an inquiry by the parliamentary Human Rights Sub-Committee on November 10 to discuss the crisis in the northern province of Ethiopia one year since it began. The joint delegation will meet MPs from all sides of politics and urge the Australian …

Ethiopia: Troops and militia rape, abduct women and girls in Tigray conflict – new report

Forces aligned to the Ethiopian government subjected hundreds of women and girls to sexual violence Rape and sexual slavery constitute war crimes, and may amount to crimes against humanity Women and girls in Tigray were targeted for rape and other sexual violence by fighting forces aligned to the Ethiopian government, Amnesty International said today in …

Ethiopia: End arbitrary detentions of Tigrayans, activists and journalists in Addis Ababa and reveal whereabouts of unaccounted detainees

Police in Addis Ababa have arbitrarily arrested and detained dozens of Tigrayans without due process, following the recapture of the Tigray region’s capital, Mekelle, by forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that also calls itself Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) on 28 June, Amnesty International said today. The arrests appear to be ethnically motivated, with former detainees, witnesses and lawyers …

Ethiopia: As Mekelle changes hands, civilians remain in urgent need of protection

Commenting after regional forces took control of Mekelle, the regional capital of Tigray, from Ethiopian government forces yesterday, Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, said: “Amnesty International remains deeply concerned about the safety of civilians in Tigray, who have endured months of fighting and serious …

Australia must push for a full-blown investigation into potential war crimes in Tigray region

The human rights violations perpetrated by Eritrean armed forces in the city of Axum, Ethiopia, against its civilian population must be scrutinised by the international community. Amnesty International has released a report into widespread looting, deadly indiscriminate shelling of the city, and wanton killing of its civilian population by Eritrean and Ethiopian forces. The UN …