Tigray

Perpetrators of CRSV in Tigray were state armed groups and their proxies, including Ethiopian, Eritrean, and regional Amhara forces. These attacks were directed against the Tigrayan people, an ethnic minority in Ethiopia, and took place in a climate of impunity precipitated by a war declared by the Ethiopian federal government. Women and girls, as well as boys and men in Tigray, have been subjected to rape, often perpetrated by groups of armed men. There have been numerous reports of sexual slavery, with women and girls held captive for days or weeks. Survivors have been told during the course of these attacks that the perpetrators seek to impregnate them, with the intent of eliminating the Tigrayan bloodline. Moreover, instances of extremely violent and brutal enforced sterilization by armed groups have been reported. The scale of the CRSV in Tigray is staggering both in its magnitude and brutality. Per the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the acts of sexual violence against Tigrayans were committed with the intention to make the target group infertile, cleanse the bloodline, and erase identity as indicated by the perpetrators fit the definition of genocidal rape.

The deadliest killings occurred at the Mirab Abaya prison camp, where current and retired Tigrayan soldiers were detained

The systematic use of sexual violence by actors in the Tigray conflict is arguably a deliberate strategy to humiliate, shame, and terrorize not just the women and girls, but also, the entire Tigrigna community. Indeed, one could make the case that rape is being used alongside other [war] tactics to ethnically cleanse Tigray. Many have fled conflict-ridden areas of Tigray because of the heinous abuses, massacres, and pillaging going on in the region.