An Amnesty International report revealed that Ethiopian and Eritrean forces raped hundreds of women and girls in the war-torn Tigray region and imposed sexual slavery and mutilation on some of the victims.
The report was based on interviews with 63 victims, as it documents the atrocities that the Ethiopian authorities have opened an investigation into, while three soldiers have so far been convicted of rape and 25 others are being prosecuted for “sexual violence and rape.”
Some survivors stated that they had been subjected to gang rape while they were held for weeks, and others reported that they were raped in front of members of their families and subjected to sexual violence, “which caused permanent and irreversible injuries to them”, according to Amnesty International.
“It is clear that rape and sexual violence have been used as a weapon of war to inflict lasting physical and psychological harm on women and girls in Tigray, hundreds of whom have been subjected to brutal treatment aimed at humiliating and dehumanizing them,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“The gravity and scale of the sexual crimes committed are extremely shocking and may amount to war crimes or even crimes against humanity,” she added.
