More than 500 rape cases were reported to five clinics in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the United Nations said on Thursday, warning that because of stigma and a lack of health services, the actual numbers were likely to be much higher.
According to the report, Women say they have been raped by armed actors, they also told stories of gang rape, rape in front of family members and men being forced to rape their own family members under the threat of violence,” Wafaa Said, deputy UN aid coordinator in Ethiopia, said in a briefing to UN member states in New York.
She added that given the fact that most health facilities are not functioning and also the stigma associated with rape, it is projected that actual numbers are much more likely to be higher that reported.
A dozen top UN officials on Monday called for a stop to indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians in Tigray, particularly calling out reports of rape and “other horrific forms of sexual violence”.
It would be recalled that Fighting in Tigray region of Ethiopia broke out in November 2020 between government troops and the region’s former governing party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has also said troops from neighbouring Eritrea were also in the region.
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