Mr. Philippo Grandi
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse
01/26/2022
Subject: Responsibility to Protect Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia
Dear Mr. Grandi:
We at the Eritrean Research Institute for Policy and Strategy (ERIPS) would like to urgently bring to your attention, the case of Eritrean refugees in Tigray and demand that the UNHCR act immediately to resolve the issue.
In a press statement on 21 January 2022 at the Palais des Nation in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov stated that the UNHCR is deeply alarmed at the deteriorating conditions faced by Eritrean refugees in the camps in Tigray. He further described a dire situation in which refugees are scared, struggling to get enough to eat, lacking medicine and without access to clean water. According to the refugee accounts, more than 20 refugees have died within the last six weeks due to preventable diseases. He also pointed out that UNHCR had been calling the warring parties to ceasefire and guarantee safe passage for UNHCR to voluntarily relocate more than 25,000 refugees from Tigray Region to the Amhara region at Dabat, but in vain.
While we understand the good intentions of UNHCR, we at ERIPS do not think that Dabat in the Amhara region is any safer for the Eritrean Refugees than is Hitsatse or Mai Aini. In December 2020, the Eritrean government forced 20,000 refugees back to Eritrea in contravention of their refugee protection rights. The Eritrean government was able to carry out the forced repatriation because it had access to the refugee camps. If the remaining refugees are relocated to Dabat, a repeat of forced repatriation will almost certainly happen. Many of the refugees are former conscripts or of age to be conscripted in to the military, and many other men and women may face prison time. Given the current political and military dynamics in the region, we do not expect the Ethiopian government nor the Amhara regional government to protect the Eritrean refugees from the Eritrean forces.
We believe that relocating Eritrean refugees to Dabat is an extremely dangerous undertaking. Hence, we urgently and strongly call upon the UNHCR and you as the High Commissioner to act immediately to effect safe passage to a third country, possibly to Sudan or airlift them to any other country that is willing to take them on humanitarian grounds. We also believe that the lives of these refugees are in the hands of the UN in general and the UNHCR in particular. They do not have any other hope. The world must act now, as time is of the essence. Without urgent action, hundreds of vulnerable women and children will be dying from lack of access to water, food, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services. The Eritrean refugees have already been through so much pain and hardship to be exposed to another danger. We call upon your good offices to relocate these refugees to a much safer and stable location in which they could finally feel they are protected.
Sincerely,
Tomas Solomon
President
Eritrean Research Institute for Policy and Strategy