Women and girls in Ethiopia’s Tigray have remained particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the ongoing war in the region. The conflict began in November 2020 and has left millions displaced and most of the region experiencing famine, alongside extreme human rights violations.

By April this year, cases of sexual violence being perpertrated by all sides of the conflict were steadily becoming public knowledge, with aid workers and medics on the ground saying that the reported cases do not account for the true number of those violated. Emergency relief coordinator at the United Nations, Mark Lockwood, weighed in on the reports of abuse, explaining that he had heard first-hand accounts.

While the UN began an investigation in May 2021 into cases of abuse, the results have yet to be released, and solutions have yet to be announced.

Meanwhile Amnesty International released a report in August called “‘I don’t know if they realized I was a person’: Rape and sexual violence in the conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia.” In the report, the organization detailed accounts of abuse, slavery, violence, and torture that women and young girls have experienced as a result of the war thus far.

We spoke with Amnesty International Campaigner Vanessa Tsehaye, to find out more about the report, to understand the extent of the war’s impact on women and girls, and to learn what needs to be done moving forward to protect their rights.

Read the full article about girls' safety in Ethiopia by Khanyi Mlaba at Global Citizen.