The Tigray People's Liberation Front, the ruling party of the Tigray region in Ethiopia, was attacked in November 2020 by military operations led by the Ethiopian government. Eritrean army troops and federal forces from Ethiopia shelled, plundered, and destroyed civilian buildings in Tigray towns, including hospitals, schools, industries, and businesses. More than two million people were forced to evacuate their homes as a result of the conflict and ongoing limitations on humanitarian access, with thousands of them making their way into Sudan. This left at least 2.3 million people in need of aid. 

    Not only that. but rape is being used as a war weapon against the women of Tigray. According to Amnesty International, the pattern of sexual attacks, with numerous survivors also seeing other women being raped—indicates that sexual violence was pervasive and meant to terrify and degrade the victims and create shame over the ethnic group they were part of. 

    “Three men came into the room where I was. It was evening and already dark… I did not scream; they gestured to me not to make any noise or they would kill me. They raped me one after the other… I was four months pregnant; I don’t know if they realized I was pregnant. I don’t know if they realized I was a person.”

Letay, a 20-year-old woman from Baaker

    This violence targets sexual and reproductive organs, frequently leading to permanent harm and reproductive handicap or incapacity. Survivors, eyewitnesses, and first responders have reported that the ENDF, the EDF, the Amhara regional militia, and special forces have used rape and other sexual abuse, sexual mutilation, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, sexual torture, and preventing mothers from breastfeeding their infants against Tigrayans.

    “Three of them raped me in front of my child. There was an eight-months pregnant lady with us, they raped her too… They gathered like a hyena that saw something to eat… They raped the women and slaughtered the men.”

Nigist, a 35-year-old mother-of-two from Humera

    The EDF, ENDF, Amhara regional militia, and special forces routinely rape and sexually assault villagers in Tigray, which is comparable to acts of possible genocide with the aim of wiping out the entire ethnicity. While this may seem like the worst of the atrocities committed, communication with the region is minimal. Most Tigrayan women don’t have the opportunity to share their stories and get justice for the heinous acts they’ve endured in the past years. 

Works Cited

“Ethiopia: Troops and militia rape, abduct women and girls in Tigray conflict – new report.” Amnesty International, 10 August 2021, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/ethiopia-troops-and-militia-rape-abduct-women-and-girls-in-tigray-conflict-new-report/. Accessed 14 October 2022.

Mazurana, Dyan. “What 'Rape as a Weapon of War' in Tigray Really Means - Reinventing Peace.” Tufts, 10 August 2021, https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2021/08/10/what-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-tigray-really-means/. Accessed 14 October 2022.

Roth, Kenneth. “Tigray Conflict.” Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/tag/tigray-conflict. Accessed 14 October 2022.