As your constituent, I would first of all like to thank you for your continued engagement to promote peace & human rights across the world. In this regard I am writing to you today to ask you to please support the “Determination of Potential Genocide or Crimes Against Humanity in Ethiopia” in H.R. 4350 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 introduced by HE Congressman Tom Malinowski.
As I am sure you are aware, the war on Tigray, which started on the 4th of November 2020, has resulted in one of the worst human rights humanitarian crises in the world today, one U.N calls it the world’s worst hunger crisis in a decade. The WFP chief warned “There's no way that the people are surviving there [in Tigray]“ This situation has been orchestrated & exacerbated by the grave atrocities, amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity, & acts of genocide perpetrated by the allied Eritrean, Ethiopian, & Amhara regional forces.
In addition, researchers from focused studies in war, gender, & women’s sexual and reproductive health have recognized the horrific acts of rape on Tigrayan women as genocidal rape. Amnesty international & other global organizations documented injuries that were intentionally inflicted to stop victims from reproducing future generations. A researcher wrote “in the context of the foregoing definition of the term ‘genocide’, we can argue then that the sexual violence being meted out on women & girls in Tigray qualifies as “genocidal rape” given that some of the survivors of the violence have suffered severe injuries leading to infertility.
Different documentations, including from UNOCHA also indicate blockage of civilians from accessing medical care including following the shelling of a market in Togoga, Central Tigray in June. Human rights activists with decades of experience have used what is happening to Tigray as a failure of early warning tools for genocide & result of refusal by the international community to recognize what is happening.
The Ethiopian government recently enacted a draconian State of Emergency (SoE) act that has given security officers unrestricted powers, worsening the practice of arbitrary mass arrest of Tigrayans that started at the onset of the armed conflict. In violation of international Human Rights laws that prohibit violations of HR even during a state of emergency, Tigrayans of all ages & genders - including foreign nationals - are being detained en masse, solely based on identity, without court orders & held indefinitely without due process of law. Essentially, the Tigrayan identity has been criminalized in Ethiopia.
Further determination by the US government regarding the brutal campaign of atrocities which fit the definition of genocide by exacrly what it is will undoubtedly support the steps already taken by the US government. Reluctance to recognize the pattern of atrocities will prolong the genocide & further fructure the social fabric in Ethiopia irreparably.
▶ Created on December 7, 2021 by TigraiHub Advocacy Group
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