Latest news with #YouWillNeverBeAbletoGiveBirth
Scoop
01-08-2025
- Health
- Scoop
515 Medical Records + 657 Health Workers Reveal 'Systematic, Deliberate, Ongoing" Reproductive Violence In Ethiopia
July 31, 2025 Combatants in Ethiopia have perpetrated widespread, systematic, and deliberate acts of conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence, according to a new report published today by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH). The new report ('You Will Never Be Able to Give Birth': Conflict-Related Sexual and Reproductive Violence in Ethiopia) is the most comprehensive study to date utilising medical evidence to understand the intent of perpetrators in the Tigray region – documenting how Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces aimed to prevent future Tigrayan births and exterminate the ethnic group – and how impunity for sexual and reproductive violence is enabling further attacks in Amhara and Afar. PHR and OJAH call on all parties to the conflict to adhere to international law and facilitate rehabilitation of survivors of conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence. The international community must ensure credible, independent documentation of crimes in Ethiopia and advance full accountability for perpetrators. Researchers analysed an unprecedented scale of data from across the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia, including 515 medical records of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence; 602 survey responses from health workers who have treated survivors; and 40 in-depth interviews with health workers and four focus groups with professionals who provided care to survivors. 'After triangulating medical records with survey data and interviews of health professionals, we have documented the intent that perpetrators expressed to survivors, including the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries, to eradicate the Tigrayan ethnic group. The ongoing impunity for years of conflict-related sexual violence in Tigray – enabled by the Ethiopian government and the inaction of United Nations member states – has contributed to conflict-related sexual violence spreading to other regions of the country, including Afar and Amhara,' said Lindsey Green, report co-author and deputy director of research at PHR. 'The crimes we've documented are harrowing and demand accountability: Perpetrators raping women and holding them in captivity until giving birth; rape by a median of three perpetrators at a time; foreign objects – including stones, nails, hand-written letters – inserted inside of survivors' vaginas.' 'In the absence of any meaningful forms of justice and accountability, impunity for conflict-related sexual violence is fueling a vicious cycle of lawlessness and recurring conflict in Ethiopia. When perpetrators face no consequences, violence is normalised, survivors are silenced, and peace remains fragile. With conflict currently escalating in Amhara and tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea rising, breaking this cycle is vital not only for survivors, but for the future of Ethiopia and sustainable peace in the Horn of Africa,' said a report co-author at OJAH (identity not disclosed due to security threats). Key findings include: Intent to destroy reproductive capacity: 73 percent of surveyed health care workers in Tigray treated survivors who reported that perpetrators used language expressing intent to destroy their ability to reproduce or have children. Multiple-perpetrator rape: In Tigray: 91 percent of surveyed health workers reported seeing patients who had experienced multiple perpetrator rape; medical records showed a median of three perpetrators per incident. In Amhara: 47 percent of health care workers surveyed reported treating survivors who had experienced sexual violence committed by multiple perpetrators. Unwanted pregnancies from CRSV: 90 percent of surveyed health workers in Tigray saw at least a few patients with unwanted pregnancy from conflict-related sexual violence. One survivor had a contraceptive implant forcibly removed before sexual violence with the intent to impregnate. Foreign objects and CRSV: Medical records and interviews reveal that perpetrators in Tigray inserted objects – stones, nails, hand-written letters with revenge plans citing previous wars – inside of survivors' vaginas. Perpetrator identification: In Tigray: 84 percent of health workers surveyed indicated survivors identified members of Eritrean military as perpetrators. 73 percent of health workers surveyed indicated survivors identified members of Ethiopian military as perpetrators; 51 percent indicated Amhara militias and Fano. In Amhara: 79 percent of health care workers who were surveyed indicated survivors identified Tigray Forces as perpetrators. 35 percent indicated Ethiopian military and 24 percent indicated Amhara Special Forces. In Afar: 33 percent of health care workers who were surveyed indicated survivors identified Tigray Forces as perpetrators; 9.5 percent indicated Eritrean militias. Transmission of sexually transmitted infections: Within the medical records reviewed in Tigray, 50 percent of patients tested were positive for STIs and 17 percent were positive for HIV, while the national HIV prevalence rate in Ethiopia is 0.09 percent. The conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia started in November 2020 between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), with involvement from Eritrean military forces who were called in to support Ethiopian armed forces, and numerous ethno-regional militia groups notably from the Amhara and Afar regions of Ethiopia. The conflict was marked by widespread and severe forms of conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence as well as other human rights violations by all parties, some of which amount to crimes under international law. Following the signature of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in November 2022 by the government of Ethiopia and the TPLF, violence continued, including widespread and severe sexual and reproductive violence along ethnic-political lines across regions by military actors. As the conflict unfolded, both the United Nations and the African Union established independent investigative mechanisms to document atrocities and preserve evidence for future justice and accountability processes. However, both mechanisms were prematurely shuttered in October 2024, without investigators even being allowed into the country, after successful lobbying by the Ethiopian government to defer to national mechanisms, including the transitional justice process outlined in the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement. The governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea failed to respond to letters sharing the findings of the report and seeking further information about the governments' efforts to ensure justice and accountability. The report confirms that impunity for conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence in Tigray has contributed to further violence in Amhara and Afar, where the data shows such acts constitute war crimes, breaches of international humanitarian law, and human rights violations. Survivors identified perpetrators from military groups including the TPLF, who expressed intent when committing sexual and reproductive violence related to revenge for Amhara and Afar forces actions in the conflict in Tigray. 'Buckling to pressure from the Ethiopian government, the UN decision to prematurely shut down its justice mechanism emboldened perpetrators to act with impunity – and allowed conflict-related sexual violence to continue and spread across Ethiopia,' said Payal Shah, JD, report co-author and director of research, legal, and advocacy for PHR. 'Ethiopians are facing a crisis: A health system still in tatters from war; threats of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea; federal government crackdowns on civil society; U.S. aid cuts exacerbating public health crises. Survivors of sexual and reproductive violence and the brave clinicians who care for them have been sidelined and neglected. All parties to the conflict and UN member states must finally prioritize healing, accountability, and justice for sexual violence and forced pregnancy before impunity turns to violence yet again.'
Forbes
31-07-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Ethiopia: Brutal Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Continues To This Day
A woman poses for a photograph in an undisclosed location on October 11, 2024. She told AFP that at the beginning of the conflict in Tigray in November 2020, she had been beaten, tortured and raped by seven men with different military uniforms, Ethiopian and two-year war in Ethiopia's Tigray region left hundreds of thousands people dead, more than one million still displaced and cost more than $20 billion in damage, until a peace deal in November 2022 ended the bloodshed. Among the many barbaric acts inflicted on civilians during the two-year conflict in Ethiopia's northernmost region of Tigray, rape and sexual violence were "systematic" and used as a weapon of war, according to a study published in 2023 by the scientific journal BMC Women's Health. Estimates of the number of rapes committed vary widely — up to as many as 120,000 — according to data compiled by the researchers, with many reluctant to report the attacks. The victims reported that most of the perpetrators were Ethiopian or Eritrean soldiers, but also militiamen from the neighbouring Amhara region. (Photo credit: MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images On July 31, 2025, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH), both non-governmental organizations, published the results of an investigation into conflict-related sexual and reproductive violence (CRSV) in Ethiopia, focusing on the Afar, Amhara, and Tigray regions. The new report, entitled ''You Will Never Be Able to Give Birth': Conflict-Related Sexual and Reproductive Violence in Ethiopia', is the first publication to comprehensively analyze patterns of perpetration of CRSV in the Tigray, Amhara, and Afar regions. The report shows widespread, systematic, and deliberate acts of CRSV which continue to this day. The report makes several concerning findings in relation to the nature and scale of the use of CRSV in Ethiopia. The report, based on 515 medical records of survivors of CRSV, 602 survey responses from health workers who have treated survivors of CRSV, and 39 in-depth interviews with health workers and four focus groups with professionals who provided care to survivors, found that: - 91% of surveyed health workers reported seeing patients who had experienced multiple perpetrator rape; medical records showed a median of three perpetrators per incident. - 90% of surveyed health workers saw at least a few patients with unwanted pregnancy from CRSV. - Medical records and interviews reveal that perpetrators inserted objects – stones, nails, hand-written letters with revenge plans citing previous wars – inside of survivors' vaginas. - 84% of health workers surveyed indicated survivors identified members of the Eritrean military as perpetrators. 73% of health workers surveyed indicated survivors identified members of the Ethiopian military as perpetrators; 51% indicated Amhara militias and Fano. The report is the first to identify the use of the crime of forced pregnancy while in captivity, with survivors held in captivity by their perpetrators until giving birth. The report is further the most comprehensive documentation of the intent of perpetrators behind the atrocities in Tigray – the first time evidence of intent has been triangulated between medical records, health worker surveys, and interviews. According to this in-depth study, perpetrators expressed intent to prevent future Tigrayan births and exterminate the ethnic group. Many of the perpetrators were quoted to say: 'Tigrayans have to be eradicated' as they were committing CRSV. The report is also the first to capture data on CRSV in Amhara and Afar, including a temporal analysis showing how the lack of atrocity prevention in Tigray led to the spread of CRSV in other parts of the country. The report documents several heartbreaking testimonies. As a coordinator for a women's group in Tigray was quoted in the report: 'There are women here who have scars left on their bodies. There are those who have given birth unexpectedly. There are those who got pregnant unexpectedly. There was a woman whose husband [a former soldier] was not present during the war, the perpetrator, an Ethiopian soldier who knew her husband, came to her house and forced her into marriage and even had their picture taken together and hung it in her house. He got her pregnant during that time and gave her his address [so that] his unborn child could find him when he left. So, this is something that the war has brought.' The findings of this report should trigger responses from the international community. However, as it stands, the situation is rarely making the headlines as the world is focused elsewhere. This is despite the fact that the situation in the region is deteriorating and raising concerns about a re-escalation of conflict in northern Ethiopia and surging geopolitical tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The situation is further exacerbated by the drastic foreign aid cuts, which have shuttered health clinics and led to preventable deaths in Ethiopia. As the dire situation continues, victims/survivors must be put first. This means assistance to all those suffering from the consequences of the horrific CRSV perpetrated over recent years. This means investigating and prosecuting all those responsible for the crimes. This also means investing in prevention, as no money in the world can comprehensively address CRSV once perpetrated.
