Rape as a Weapon of War in Tigray

Photo Credit: Courthouse News Service

The recent violence in the Tigray region of Ethiopia along the country’s northern border with Eritrea has been disproportionately victimizing women and children. The Ethiopian government and regional forces are using rape as a weapon of war to demoralize and terrorize local civilians.^[1] Even once women flee to refugee camps in neighboring Sudan, they continue to be victimized by unjust and inefficient systems.

Ethiopia is divided into ten semi-autonomous regions that loosely represent the country’s various and distinct ethnic groups.^[2] Located in the North of the country, Tigray is a region governed by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).^[3] Though Tigrayans represent only 6% of Ethiopia’s population, the TPLF and its regional army have governed Ethiopia for almost 30 years.^[4] Their autocratic rule, followed by protests, opened the door for Nobel laureate Abiy Ahmed to become Ethiopia’s Prime Minister.^[5] Heralded for bringing peace to Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ahmed recently began launching a military campaign against the TPLF for attacking a government building, after the TPLF held elections that Ahmed called illegitimate.^[6] The military violence has provided an outlet for political clashes and ethnic grievances.^[7] Civilians fleeing the violence in Tigray witnessed bombings by government warplanes, shooting on the streets, and people being hacked to death with machetes.^[8] Amnesty International and the United Nations are now investigating these human rights abuses as war crimes.^[9]

The violence between the Ethiopian military and the TPLF unduly target women through the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. Several reports are surfacing that corroborate allegations of repeated sexual assault and rape of local women by military and rebel forces.^[10] Disturbing accounts have included claims of civilians being forced at gunpoint to rape members of their own family and women forced to have sex with soldiers in exchange for basic necessities.^[11] BBC reports that at least 200 girls under the age of 18 have reported to local hospitals after having been raped, and five to six women have come to the hospital each day seeking anti-HIV medication and emergency contraception relating to alleged rapes.^[12] According to Amnesty International, the abuses  were committed in a coordinated and systematic manner in order to terrorize the population into submission , and may amount to a crime against humanity.^[13] One woman interviewed by Al-Jazeera recounted the violent murder of her husband before pleading, “Tell the world we are dying.”^[14]

The violence in Ethiopia has forced many women – especially recent widows– to flee to refugee camps in neighboring Sudan, some carrying nothing more than their children and the clothes on their backs. After walking for days, refugees were forced to eat tree bark and go without food or water. Medics at the refugee camps in Sudan are reporting severe cases of malnutrition in the women and children who arrive and the Red Cross fears thousands could starve to death before the conflict is resolved.^[15] With the government-imposed media blackout, aid has been slow to arrive and even slower to be distributed.^[16] Displaced women and children face a higher risk of sexual abuse and exploitation, which is further exacerbated by weak or nonexistent infrastructures common in territorial disputes and refugee camps.^[17]

Separated from their families, widowed, and desperate for information, Ethiopian women find themselves victimized not only by the military and the rebels but also by a system too weak to support them. Sexual violence, rape, STDs, malnutrition, and starvation are risks disproportionately affecting women in times of conflict. Pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those with preexisting conditions all face unique challenges when fleeing violence. Mothers in refugee camps take their own and their children’s lives into their hands when they decide to leave their home country. Displaced and alone, women face insecurity at every turn. The international community and humanitarian aid organizations must tailor their aid packages to address the specific challenges faced by women during times of conflict. Humanitarian aid must be distributed quickly and efficiently to refugee camps, and aid should include items for babies, such as formula and diapers, and clothes and educational supplies for children, besides the standard requirements of food and medicine.

One possible ally the international community could unite with to achieve peace is President Sahle-Work Zewde, the first woman to hold the office in Ethiopia. President Sahle-Work Zewde acknowledged that significant delays still exist in distributing humanitarian aid to people in need. “‘The needs are tremendous, but we cannot pretend that we do not see or hear what is unfolding,’” she  said following a visit to Tigray.^[18] President Sahle-Work Zewde could also serve as a potential catalyst for dialogue in the future, because both the regional government in Tigray and the Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa recognize her as a legitimate leader.^[19]