ICERAS

The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray is nothing short of abysmal.
Atrocities amounting to war crimes have led to the forced displacement of nearly 2.5 million people inside Ethiopia and into neighboring states. The Ethiopian government has blocked virtually
all food and medical shipments into Tigray, using food as a weapon of war. With starvation deaths
mounting each day and as many as 900,000 people in famine conditions, there are fears that the
current situation in Ethiopia will mirror the Great Famine of the 1980s, where over 1 million people
starved to death.
Humanitarian actors, desperate to deliver life-saving aid, are unable to access those most in
need. Ethiopian authorities are enforcing a communications blackout, and Ethiopian soldiers and rebels are targeting aid workers. Across three regions in Ethiopia, the UN now estimates some 9 million people need food assistance. The entire population of Tigray and many parts of neighboring Amhara and Afar are sufering
greatly. Among these, one vulnerable group is getting lost. Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia have received little attention or assistance despite facing unique risks. They fled one of the worst human
rights situations in the world and are now being targeted, killed, kidnapped, tortured, subjected to discrimination, and otherwise abused in Ethiopia. Like Tigrayans, Eritrean refugees are also
sufering from the food and medicine blockade readmore