Amnesty International

EMAIL PRIME MINISTER ABIY AHMED

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Prime Minister

Abiy

Ahmed

Ethiopia

Dear Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed,

During the conflict that began on 4 November 2020 in Tigray, troops fighting in support of the federal government have committed widespread rape against ethnic Tigrayan women and girls. The perpetrators include members of the Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF), the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), the Amhara Regional Police Special Forces (ASF), and Fano, an informal Amhara militia group. Given the context, scale, and gravity of the sexual violence committed against women and girls in Tigray, the violations amount to war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity.

Shocking levels of brutality, including beatings, death threats, and ethnic slurs accompanied the sexual violence that Amnesty International has documented. Some of the victims were held in captivity by the perpetrators for days and weeks, in circumstances constituting sexual slavery. In many cases, the perpetrators raped their victims in front of their children and other family members.

While many, possibly most, survivors of sexual violence have not been able to access medical care during the conflict, health facilities in Tigray registered 1,288 cases of sexual violence from February to April 2021. Doctors indicated that this was higher than in previous years, and the overwhelming majority of cases they treated were conflict-related. Just one of these facilities recorded 376 cases of rape committed from the beginning of the conflict to 9 June 2021. Yet many of the survivors that Amnesty International interviewed had not visited any health facilities at all, suggesting that these figures are likely to represent a small fraction of the total number of rapes committed.

I am calling on you to end the use of sexual violence in the Tigray conflict and provide justice to the survivors and their families.

I urge you to ensure that allegations of sexual violence perpetrated since the outbreak of the conflict in the Tigray region are promptly, effectively, independently, and impartially investigated. Those suspected of criminal responsibility must be brought to justice in open, accessible civilian courts in full compliance with international standards for fair trial without recourse to the death penalty.

I believe it is important that the Ethiopian authorities extend an invitation to visit Tigray to special procedures mandate holders of the UN Human Rights Council and African Commission.

Please, read and consider the recommendations of Amnesty International consigned in their recent report "RAPE AND OTHER SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE CONFLICT IN TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA"

Yours sincerely,

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