News Rights group sheds light on Sudanese refugee abuse in Ethiopia
October 19, 2024
A report published this week by Human Rights Watch reveals that Sudanese refugees taking shelter in the Amhara region are being subjected to abuse.
Titled ‘Fighting, Abuses Putting Sudanese Refugees at Risk’, the report details that thousands of refugees who fled the ongoing war in Sudan are facing dangers arising from the unrest in the Amhara region, where militias and government security forces have been locked in conflict since August 2023.
The rights group says it conducted phone interviews with 20 Sudanese refugees from three refugee camps and a transit center in the Amhara region who say they find themselves increasingly vulnerable to violence.
The reports were corroborated by Sudanese activists and aid workers, analysis of satellite imagery of the camps and the transit center, as well as videos and photographs shared with researchers or posted online.
The advocacy group reports that the abuses have included “killings, beatings, abductions for ransom, and forced labor, carried out by local gunmen, militias, and more recently, government forces”.
“Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia have been targets of abuses for more than a year from various armed actors,” reads a section authored by Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These refugees have fled horrific abuses back home and urgently need protection, not further threats to their lives.”
Sudanese refugees began arriving in Ethiopia following the start of a deadly conflict in their country in April 2023. The report indicates the refugees initially settled in two camps in the Amhara region, but it states that the camps have been “sites of recurring violence for over a year”.
“Unidentified armed groups and militias targeted the camps, carrying out several violent acts against the refugees,” reads the rights report, which criticizes the Ethiopian government for providing inadequate security “despite setting up the camps in areas already experiencing local skirmishes.”
In May 2024, after months of violent incidents, over 1,000 refugees attempted to protest the conditions by leaving the camps and heading toward the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Gonder, however police blocked their movement, forcing the refugees to take shelter in nearby forested areas, according to the report.
“Many refugees endured further hardship and violence while seeking safety outside the camps,” reads the report.
It states that in July, Ethiopian authorities and UN officials relocated 2,000 refugees to a newly established site in the West Gonder Zone in response to the ongoing violence. However, many of the refugees refused to move to the new site, fearing further attacks.
“Refugees who remained behind faced continuous assaults by gunmen, forcing them to leave the forest in early August and move toward Metemma, a town near the Sudanese border,” states the report.
The refugees who reached Metemma were initially allowed to set up temporary shelters along the roadside. However, on August 21, Ethiopian security forces ordered them to relocate to the nearby Metemma transit center. According to the report, those who refused, citing safety concerns, had their makeshift shelters destroyed while some were the victims of assault.
“I got beaten on my right ribs five times,” said a 45-year-old refugee. “My kids were crying. Someone asked the military and police to stop beating me in front of my kids. They started insulting us, saying if we didn’t want to stay in Ethiopia, then we should go back to our country, to Sudan.”
The Rights group also reported instances of forced returns of refugees. It added that some refugees alleged that Ethiopian security forces compelled them to return to Sudan, often separating families in the process.
Human Rights Watch urged the government to fulfil its responsibilities to protect refugees and prevent any form of forced return.
“The Ethiopian government should uphold its obligations to protect refugees in its territory and relocate them as possible, away from the war zone,” reads the report. “Ethiopia’s international partners should be increasing support for these refugees so that they receive medical care, food, shelter, and other emergency assistance.”
Ethiopia currently hosts over 90,000 Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers, including more than 38,000 who fled following the outbreak of armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.