Ethiopia: Persecution of Tigrayans Unrelenting

Click to expand Image Internally displaced people carry food parcels during a distribution at Seba Care displaced persons camp in Mekelle, Tigray region, Ethiopia, July 19, 2024. © 2024 MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested Western Tigray Zone are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Tigrayans and severely restricting their movements, employment, and access to services.The Ethiopian government and their international partners seem determined to ignore the treatment of Tigrayans as effectively second-class citizens.The Ethiopian government should end the discriminatory system in Western Tigray and commit to suspend, investigate, and hold accountable interim authorities implicated in serious abuses.(Nairobi) – Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested Western Tigray Zone are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Tigrayans and imposing a discriminatory system that severely restricts their movements, employment, and access to services, Human Rights Watch said today.The authorities’ unrelenting abuses have forced Tigrayans to flee the area nearly four years after a truce for the 2020-2022 conflict in northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans forcibly expelled from the Zone during the conflict remain in dire conditions in displaced persons camps in central Tigray. Their inability to return, and the unresolved status of the territory to which both Amhara and Tigrayan regional authorities lay claim, have also escalated tensions between the federal government and Tigrayan authorities.“Tigrayans in Western Tigray Zone are facing severe and dehumanizing restrictions on all aspects of their lives,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The Ethiopian authorities and their partners seem determined to ignore the treatment of Tigrayans as effectively second-class citizens.”Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 40 people between January and February 2026, including current residents of Western Tigray and 17 who fled there since December 2025. Human Rights Watch also spoke with eight aid agency staff, diplomats, and other experts. On March 20, Human Rights Watch provided the Ethiopian government a summary of its preliminary findings but received no response.Many Tigrayan interviewees in the Zone, who lost their homes, businesses, and land during the 2020-2022 conflict, said they were experiencing ongoing harassment, restrictions, and abuse from local residents and authorities.“We are denied IDs,” said a Tigrayan man. “This means we can’t access our bank accounts, we can’t access our land. Tigrayans are only allowed to work as day laborers. Even then, we are insulted, beaten, and treated badly.”A 20-year-old resident added: “Most of the time we feel uncomfortable moving, there is constant worry to do so. If the [security forces] find you, they beat you so badly.... We don’t move freely, we move only if there’s no choice.”The authorities require Tigrayans to obtain a temporary permit from the ward office to leave their towns. Residents said the permits are difficult to obtain, with local officials typically only granting them for medical reasons or to assist older family members. Those who obtained permits and were able to flee now join over 740,000 internally displaced people from the area. The International Office of Migration reported in 2025 that most of the displaced living in precarious conditions in central Tigray originate from Western Tigray.In an April 2022 report, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International found that new authorities in Western Tigray and Amhara security forces, with the complicity of Ethiopian federal forces, committed an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Tigrayan civilian population amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity. To the extent that grave abuses continue against Tigrayans, including unlawful imprisonment, forcible transfer, and persecution, these would amount to crimes against humanity.Forcible transfer or displacement can be a war crime or crime against humanity if the displacement is due to threats, violence, coercion, or duress that leaves victims with no choice but to leave. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines the crime of persecution as the “intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity.”The Ethiopian government and regional Amhara and Tigrayan authorities are taking advantage of the unresolved status of the West Tigray Zone to advance their own interests at the expense of hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose lives are left in limbo, Human Rights Watch said.The Ethiopian government asserts that the displaced should return to Western Tigray and a referendum should be held to determine the territory’s governance, but has taken no steps to end the persecution of Tigrayans or improve return conditions.Authorities in Western Tigray say they support the return of displaced people so long as they return under a recognized Amhara administration, and that individuals accused of the 2020 massacre in Mai Kadra town and other serious crimes are excluded from the process. Tigrayan authorities have insisted the territory return to Tigray’s administration, and that all displaced people be allowed to return home before a referendum.A 37-year-old man, forcibly displaced from the area three years earlier said: “People are still arriving here from Western Tigray.… They expected a solution after all this time, but they couldn’t cope anymore. The same people doing this, that forced me to leave my home, are still abusing others there. So, we don’t feel safe and won’t go back if those individuals are still administering the area.”The Ethiopian government should act in accordance with the African Union Convention on Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention), to which its party, and demonstrate its commitment to lawful returns by suspending, investigating, and holding accountable interim authorities implicated in serious abuses, including Col. Demeke Zewde, head of security and deputy administrator of the Zone, who was previously identified in Human Rights Watch reports.The Ethiopian government should also urgently end the discriminatory system in Western Tigray and allow access to independent rights monitors to the region, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, who has made numerous visit requests. The government should also work with displaced communities and relevant UN agencies and human rights monitors to ensure that returns are safe, voluntary, well-informed, and dignified.Ethiopia’s partners should make clear that conditions for safe returns to Western Tigray currently do not exist amid ongoing abuses in the Zone and without progress toward accountability. They should support a robust African union and UN monitoring presence in the Zone that can report on the rights situation and press the government to address protection risks prior to initiating returns. They should impose targeted sanctions on officials responsible for serious abuses during the conflict in northern Ethiopia and since the truce, including Colonel Demeke.The multiple AU, UN, EU, and other envoys to the Horn region should ensure that human rights concerns, including accountability for abuses, are central to their talks with the parties. The AU Peace and Security Council should also request regular briefings on the situation.“Ethiopian authorities and their international and regional partners should stop ignoring the Western Tigray crisis, central to ongoing tensions in the region,” Bader said. “They should emphasize that the individuals who orchestrated mass displacements shouldn’t define the terms of their return, but instead be removed from positions of power and finally held to account.”For additional details and accounts, please see below.The 2020-2022 ConflictDuring the 2020-2022 conflict in northern Ethiopia between the Ethiopian army and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, Amhara regional forces and Fano militias allied with the Ethiopian government and seized control of Western Tigray. As Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International reported, newly installed authorities and Amhara forces supported by the Ethiopian military forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans from Western Tigray in an ethnic cleansing campaign using unlawful killings, sexual violence, mass detentions, widespread pillage of livestock and farmland, and the discriminatory withholding of aid and services. These abuses amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity.The November 2022 African Union-brokered truce between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan authorities ended active fighting in Tigray and established an ultimately insufficient AU monitoring mechanism to oversee its implementation.Ethnic cleansing has continued against Tigrayans in the Western Tigray Zone, whose governance remained contested. Since late 2020, the Zone’s governance has administratively fallen under the Amhara region and has been unofficially renamed the “Welkait Tegede Setit Humera Zone,” after its four subdistricts.Since 2024, tensions haveescalated between the federal government and interim Tigrayan authorities, notably around the contested territories and the return of internally displaced people. On January 29, 2026, the Ethiopian army and Tigrayan forces clashed in Tigray, triggering fresh displacements. The fighting was reportedly driven by Tigrayan authorities’ efforts to break the impasse over the contested territories and return of displaced people.The fighting sparked demonstrations in Western Tigray towns, with interim authorities putting their militias on alert. Since 2024, authorities in the Zone, including Colonel Demeke, have been organizing and training militias known as “Tekeze Zeb,” to defend the territory.The Zone’s unresolved status has also become a flashpoint ahead of Ethiopia’s June national elections.Institutionalized DiscriminationDuring the 2020-2022 conflict, new authorities in the Zone have imposed discriminatory rules that selectively distributed identification cards to Tigrayan residents and prevented them from harvesting their crops and cultivating their land.In early 2026, Tigrayans interviewed said the authorities continued to impose severe restrictions, including denying Tigrayans documentation and restricting their movement and employment. Ethnic Amhara and Welkait (Tigrinya and Amharic-speaking people historically inhabiting the highland areas of Western Tigray) living in the Zone who were interviewed said they did not face such restrictions.Denial of Identification Tigrayans said local administrators were depriving them of vital documentation, with officials and local Amhara and Welkait residents working together to determine who should be issued identification cards. “The officials gather information from the community on who is Tigrayan,” said a man displaced from Humera. “So, if you try to get an ID card in the tabia (ward), they already have a list of who is and who isn’t.”Tigrayan residents said the approval process served as a barrier. “The [ID] is distributed from the tabia (ward), but to get it, you need three signatures from local officials,” said another man. “If you don’t get the three signatures, they won’t give it to you. Those three people know who is Tigrayan, who is Amhara.… You don’t get [an ID] if you are Tigrayan.”Without an ID, Tigrayans are prevented from exercising basic rights. A 50-year-old man said: “These restrictions are from the higher officials all the way down to the tabia level. The ID card controls everything, if you don’t have it, you can’t participate in any activities. When we went to the office and asked for ID cards, they refused. We went to the bank, we asked for services, they asked to see our ID card, when we told them we don’t have it, they said Tigrayans bank accounts are closed, and if we want to have an account, we need an ID. So, this treatment and these restrictions are open and visible.”One man who fled in late January 2026 said: “The officials are not trying to administer or help Tigrayans, they are just administering and providing services to Amhara and Welkait [people].”Welkait and Amhara interviewees said they did not face difficulties getting an ID. “I got a reference from the police, and I was able to get an ID from the ward office,” said a Welkait man in Humera. He believed that Tigrayans who had moved to the Zone more recently were the ones denied cards.The lack of identification exposes Tigrayans to further abuses. In January, local police and a militiaman stopped a young woman as she returned from school with her sister and a friend:They stopped and asked for ID. When we told them we didn’t have them, they ordered us to lie on the ground. They insulted our Tigrayan identity and cocked their guns; they wanted to kill us. They beat my sister and friend with the butt of their guns. My sister became unconscious. I started crying because I thought she was killed. We had to take her to the hospital. She is ok now, but still has pain.Unjustified Restrictions on Movement Tigrayans seeking work, health care, or to visit relatives outside of their towns have needed to first obtain official authorization from their tabia (ward) office. The temporary pass, interviewees said, allowed them to move within their wereda (district) and was typically valid for a few days.A woman from Adebai explained how difficult it was to get the pass: “We would have to visit the office several times a day to ask for the permit. The officials would say, ‘We can’t give it to you.’ It’s not because they are busy.” She believed that the administrators “just wanted [Tigrayans] to suffer.”The temporary pass, several people said, was usually granted to older people or younger Tigrayans for medical reasons. “There’s a small medical center in town and pharmacist, so we used this if we needed medicine,” said a 60-year-old woman who fled in February. “If [a Tigrayan] needed further treatment, you could get a referral, but you would first need to get a temporary pass that was valid for two days just to move.”Travel documents that Human Rights Watch obtained show permit holders are only allowed to move within their own district and to Humera town. They state that those found outside these areas would be subject to prosecution.Police and militia conduct random stops and searches in the Zone. Ethiopian soldiers and federal or local police are typically posted at official checkpoints at the entrances of towns. “Most of my days, I would stay in the same place,” one man said. “In Humera there are spontaneous checkpoints where [security officers] stop and check you for ID or pass, if you don’t have one, they will put you in jail.” Fearful of arrest and harassment, several other people interviewed said they also self-restricted their movements.An Amhara resident said he didn’t experience difficulties at checkpoints, even if found without an ID: “I move around a lot. If I leave without my ID, the [security officers] ask me my name, where I’m from. They call the admin, who have a list, and check if they know me, and once they confirm, they let me go.”Exploitation and Restrictions on Employment Many Tigrayans used to be farmers in Western Tigray, a fertile area known for growing sesame. But since the 2020-2022 conflict, few have access to their lands. During the ethnic cleansing campaign, security forces, militias, and non-Tigrayan residents pillaged livestock and food stores and forcibly prevented Tigrayans from harvesting crops. In 2021, administrators in the Zone and Amhara regional authorities began redistributing this land to investors and new arrivals from the Amhara region. A 40-year-old Welkait farmer said: “The Amhara regional government gave us the land. That is where I am working. The plot was measured; I got a certificate for the land. I don’t know who owned it before.”Tigrayans said they have been limited to working as day laborers on farms for little or no pay. “They took our lands and prevented us from working on our lands,” said a 68-year-old man from Adebai. “We can’t practice agriculture on our own but are made to work under them as daily laborers.” Several people said Tigrayans, typically women, also worked in artisanal goldmining.Another day laborer believed that Welkait or Amhara residents had IDs “so they can go to towns and cities and do other activities and professions.”Tigrayans said that if they were not paid for their labor, they had no real recourse. A 28-year-old woman struggled to support her mother and child:I’m at a loss for words to explain what it’s like to live there.… The [Welkait farmers] beat us, insulted us.… My family is poor. I was responsible for feeding them. For the last three months I worked for someone who refused to pay me.…The Amhara and Welkait working for him were paid. I didn’t complain to anyone. I didn’t want to bring more suffering to myself.Arbitrary Detention During the 2020-2022 conflict, local authorities carried out mass arbitrary arrests and detention of Tigrayans in official and unofficial sites where they experienced frequent beatings, physical and psychological torture, sexual violence, and deprivation of food and water.Those interviewed said that security forces, including local police and the militias known as Tekeze Zeb, have continued to arbitrarily detain Tigrayans in local police stations and the Bet Hintset prison in Humera.One resident said local police arrested her in June 2025 and held her for a week with several other Tigrayans: “They told us not to communicate with Tigrayans in central Tigray. To stop sharing information about what is happening [here].”A man who fled Mai Humer village in January 2026 witnessed local militias detain two Tigrayans. He said: “The militias took [name withheld] from his house.… [T]hey took [second name withheld] away on a motorbike.… After this they started to say, ‘We are left with one more.’ A kind Welkait administrator tried to protect me. He warned me to leave and hide.”Militias in Humera held one Tigrayan man in September 2025 for four days in the Setit police station. He said: “I was selling sand when the militias stopped me and asked for an ID.” When he showed them an ID that he had obtained to help a sick relative travel and get treatment, they told him: “You are Tigrayan, you are not allowed to participate in such activities.” His Welkait spouse pleaded with administrators for his eventual release.After the January 2026 clashes in Tselemti, another contested district in Tigray’s Northwestern Zone, security forces and local authorities in Western Tigray increased their arbitrary arrests of Tigrayans. “The security forces are arresting people now, especially men,” said one resident in mid-February. “They are also detaining the people coming back from visiting relatives in [central] Tigray. We are so, so worried.”The roundups of Tigrayans during heightened moments of insecurity follows previous patterns of abuses that Human Rights Watch documented during the armed conflict and highlights the exceptional vulnerability of the remaining Tigrayan population to renewed fighting.In late March, security forces in Humera detained a journalist from the Reporter magazine for three days for entering the Zone without a permit and taking photos. His report described a cramped detention center, with detainees typically held for “illegal border crossings” (to and from Sudan and Eritrea) or “being identified as a ‘stranger,’” a label, the article stated, “frequently applied to those arriving from Tigray region and, to some extent those from Amhara region.”Dire Humanitarian Conditions in Displaced Persons CampsTigrayans displaced to central Tigray have been living in precarious conditions, including overcrowded displaced persons camps or schools or among host communities.The United States government’s dismantling of its foreign assistance program in 2025, as well as UN funding shortfalls, have reduced access to critical aid and created further pressures for a displaced population reliant on aid programs for food and essential services.A 45-year-old man living in Adi Mehameday camp for five years said: “There are shortages of food, lack of basic needs, water services, medications. There’s been starvation. We are suffering. There is some aid coming from different organizations. But it is not enough.” Others in Adi Mehameday said the camps were insecure, with kidnappings of displaced people for ransom by unidentified groups.In late December, media reports announced deaths in Hitsats camp due to shortages in assistance. “We are barely alive,” said one 65-year-old man. “We lost people in the last few years.… We’ve documented this, their names, and buried them ourselves.” Human Rights Watch could not confirm the number of those who died in Hitsats, but a February food insecurity report from FEWS NET confirmed severe constraints on food access in Tigray, especially in internally displaced persons camps.The federal government agency charged with disaster relief denied reports of the lack of assistance.Prospects for ReturnIn a February 3, 2026 parliamentary address, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed acknowledged the dispute between the Amhara and Tigray regions over Western Tigray and affirmed the federal government’s position on returns of displaced people and a referendum: “[N]o one should be displaced while [the dispute] is in place; those who were displaced should return to their homes, administer themselves, and resolve their own questions.”The UN said it initiated a plan with the Ethiopian government in 2025 on possible returns to Western Tigray. On January 15, 2026, the US ambassador to Ethiopia visited Humera town and highlighted US concerns over the unresolved status of the area, but stated that returns should take place this year in a gradual way.Returns in 2024 to Raya and Tselemti, other contested areas in addition to the Amhara region, were beset with problems, including a lack of humanitarian assistance, prevailing insecurity, and violence by armed groups, resulting in new displacement.Many people displaced from Western Tigray expressed a desire to return home, but raised concerns. One man said: “A mistake was done when they returned people to Tselemti and Raya. They fled again because of a lack of security. I don’t want to repeat this.”Another man, who fled Adebai in December 2025, said: “How can I go back to Western Tigray? Those forces are still abusing and treating people badly now.… I won’t feel safe to return while they are still around.”A Welkait farmer in Humera said Tigrayans who return should not face problems if they accept the new administration and don’t try to reclaim their land: “As long as they don’t have any other motive, are peaceful, and accept the land as Amhara, they can come back. But if those returning want to claim their farmland, I don’t think there will be peace. There will be more displacement and another conflict.”Tigrayans said the issue of the return of displaced people triggered protest and mistreatment from other residents and security forces. In mid-February, one resident said: “Every time this issue is raised, they start to arrest Tigrayans. People in the community say, no it is not allowed, Tigrayans are not allowed to return to here. There was even a protest this week in Humera against returning Tigrayans. We are mistreated every time this issue comes up.”

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