YouSaid · the spoken record

Berhanu

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12
first
2022-04-13
most recent
2022-04-13
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1
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un-security-council

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  1. “This war has been so devastating to witness — first, because of the sheer scale of human suffering and, secondly, because many Ethiopians have defended that violence in the name of patriotism. But my patriotism, my political loyalty and my allegiance lie exclusively and firmly with Ethiopian women, and I thank the Council for having invited one of them to speak to it today.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  2. “Service providers must also continue to adhere to core humanitarian standards, including the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on gender-based violence and mental health and psychosocial support. Finally, I call on the three African countries that are members of the Security Council, which can be counted as some of the strongest voices for women, peace and security in this Chamber. I urge them to work here and in the African Union (AU), through its Peace and Security Council, which has the mandate to request a proactive intervention from the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security, and to take a harder look at the prevailing view that supporting investigations of conflict-related sexual violence in Ethiopia could somehow derail the proposed reform agenda of the current Government.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  3. “First, members should use their platform to demand that efforts to document, investigate and prevent sexual violence in conflict are survivor-centred and conducted in a dignified, safe and confidential manner. As part of the pursuit of justice for survivors, the Security Council should also champion the work of the recently established International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, including by urging all parties to the conflict to fully cooperate and provide unimpeded access to the Commission. Secondly, the Council should demand that all parties ensure full and safe humanitarian access to Tigray and other areas of conflict and ensure that humanitarian aid prioritizes the needs of survivors. That includes comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care and addressing stigma.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  4. “But unfortunately, and more broadly, we have witnessed deliberate delays in investigation, the withholding of information, failings on the part of the justice system, the destruction of evidence, including statistical records, and the harassment and detention of journalists by the Ethiopian State and allied parties to the conflict. As we have seen in other contexts and in the spilling of that war into the broader northern region, lack of accountability and justice for past crimes continues to fuel a sense of grievance that drives a vicious cycle of retaliatory attacks. Based on the trends and stories that I have highlighted, I would like to offer the following recommendations to the members of the Security Council.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  5. “Amid a total Internet and telecom blackout, I fear that the extent of the trauma experienced by the community remains unknown. Sixthly, while cases of sexual violence from Tigray, Afar and Amhara have attracted international attention, women from other communities across Ethiopia, specifically the Oromo, Gumuz, Konso, Kimant and Somali, specifically Ogaden, continue to experience conflict-related sexual violence, including by State forces, without any attention from the international community. The central theme of today’s open debate is accountability for sexual violence. Resolution 2467 (2019) recalls the critical role of national investigations. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights were able to conduct a joint investigation that was limited in scope and analysis.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  6. “In a country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally and a lack of infrastructure specifically in pastoralist communities and areas, the conflict puts the lives of many Ethiopian women in immediate and grave danger. Lack of access to psychosocial support services also means that the mental health of survivors hangs in the balance. Many have already died by suicide. The story of a 50-year-old Amhara woman from Shewa- Robit in central Ethiopia, who was gang-raped by Tigrayan fighters in the presence of her son, who was in the next room, and later died by suicide highlights just how tragic the situation is. Initial reports also indicate disproportionate rates of suicide among internally displaced persons across various parts of Tigray.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  7. “Those women — some of whom had survived sexual assault while pregnant — could not access timely sexual and reproductive care owing to the widespread destruction of medical facilities and limited deliveries of aid due to the Government blockade of the region. The conflict in northern Ethiopia has increased women’s vulnerability irrespective of their ethnicity. I carry with me the story of Kadija, a nine-months- pregnant woman from Afar, who fled the shelling of Aba’ala town by the Tigrayan Defence Forces with her five children and elderly mother. She gave birth under a tree after having walked for nine days, two of which while in labour.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  8. “The lack of access to the region for independent human rights monitoring has made it difficult to document the impact of the conflict in minority communities, especially those living in disputed areas on the Eritrean border, such as the Irob and Kunama in Tigray. Fifthly, the conflict in northern Ethiopia, and the effective siege of the Tigray region in particular, has undermined women’s rights, including access to reproductive health care and psychosocial support, exacerbating the impacts of sexual violence. In May 2021, I visited a shelter supported by Mekelle University in Tigray, where many lactating mothers and their infants had taken refuge.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  9. “An Amhara woman was beaten and raped in the presence of her husband and child by two Tigrayan force members. She and her child witnessed her husband being killed as he tried to stop the assault. Men and boys have also been sexually assaulted. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission found that in the town of Samre, in Tigray, 600 men and boys were stripped and forcibly paraded, some completely naked, while Eritrean female soldiers mocked them and took pictures. Fourthly, women with disabilities and other vulnerable communities have been at particular risk during this conflict. Many women with disabilities were specifically targeted in the region of Tigray as they were presumed to have been fighters in the previous war. Girls, elderly women and women belonging to minority and indigenous communities also face higher risks.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  10. “The consistency across victims’ accounts shows that those crimes were committed intentionally with a degree of organization and planning. Secondly, sexual violence is ethnically motivated. A Tigrayan woman was fleeing the conflict zone with her children. Along the way she encountered the Amhara militia, who separated her from her family, gang-raped her and inserted a hot metal rod into her uterus. They declared, “A Tigrayan should never give birth”. Similar incidents of rape with claims of “cleansing Tigrayan blood” and mutilating women’s bodies to prevent the birth of more generations of Tigrayans have been extensively covered by various human rights reports. Thirdly, sexual violence is used to humiliate survivors and their communities. Sexual violence has often been perpetrated in front of family members.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  11. “It is framed as a means of reprisal and leveraged as a bonding tool for members of allied military forces. When the war first started, Blen, a 21-year-old waitress from Badme, along with around 30 other Tigrayan women, was held against her will and subjected to sexual slavery, starvation and gang rape by a group of Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers who took turns with her. I documented many other stories like Blen’s during multiple visits to the region of Tigray before June 2021. Sexual violence was used to terrorize communities and as a bonding tool among the allied Eritrean Defence Forces, the Ethiopian National Defence Force and the Amhara regional militia and special forces through the shared experience of exploiting women’s bodies.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source

  12. “Ms. Berhanu: Thank you for allowing me to bring the stories of Ethiopian women to the Chamber of the Security Council. I speak to you today as an Ethiopian woman, one who has heard those testimonies and seen those injuries first-hand in Tigray; one who carries the guilt of survival and silence. Today I hope to do justice to the experiences of the millions of Ethiopian women who have suffered in this war. In this briefing, I will focus on six points in relation to conflict-related sexual violence in Ethiopia since the war began in Tigray in November 2020 and expanded to the neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar. These points are drawn directly from human rights investigations and reports that have been made public, as well as my own visits to the region. First, rape has been perpetrated systematically and used as a tactic of war.”

    2022-04-13 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9016 (2022) · source