Mr. Philippo Grandi
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse
01/30/2022
Subject: A Call to Protect Eritrean Afar Refugees in Ethiopia
Dear Mr. Grandi:
In addition to the letter addressed to your excellency, regarding “Responsibility to Protect Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia” and dated on the 26th of January, we at the Eritrean Research Institute for Policy and Strategy (ERIPS) would like to bring to your attention, the case of Eritrean Afar refugees at Barahle district of Zone 2 (Kiblatti Rasu), at the Regional Afar State in Ethiopia and kindly request that the UNHCR act immediately to resolve the issue. We are deeply concerned about the safety and well being of the about 15,000 refugees hosted at a refugee camp at Barahle town. As the result of the ongoing war in Ethiopia, the town and surrounding areas have become a war zone and we are deeply concerned of the plight of the refugees there. Due to limitations of getting up-to-date information, the situation there could be much worse than the last information we received.
Hence, we strongly call upon the UNHCR and you as the High Commissioner to act immediately to urgently secure the safety and security of the refugees and to provide 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