Estonian flag. Stock photo: Getty Images The Estonian parliament, Riigikogu, passed a statement on Wednesday, 16 October, marking the 80th anniversary of the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars and recognising it as an act of genocide. The statement titled Recognition of the 1944 mass deportation of Crimean Tatars as an act of genocide, which was presented by 54 Estonian MPs last week, was adopted, with 83 votes supporting it, during the session. In the statement, the Estonian parliament condemns the extermination of Crimean Tatars and their mass deportation from Crimea to Central Asia in May 1944, describing it as a premeditated act carried out by the totalitarian Soviet regime. The statement emphasises that Russia continues its genocidal policies against Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea, aiming to destroy their identity and erase their historical and cultural heritage. The Riigikogu calls on the international community to show solidarity with the Crimean Tatars and to continue condemning the occupation and annexation of Crimea, while also demanding the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty. As ERR reports, this is the ninth statement passed by the Estonian parliament since 2022, aimed at condemning Russia’s actions and expressing support for Ukraine. ©2000—2024, Ukrainska Pravda

The European Parliament adopted yesterday an urgent resolution condemning Beijing’s persecution against Uyghurs, demanding the release of prominent figures Gulshan Abbas and Ilham Tohti. Following this landmark call, Abbas’ daughter, Ziba Murat, and ISHR urge EU leaders to step up EU action on the fate of Uyghurs at the United Nations. © Frederic Köberl / UNSPLASH The European Parliament (EP) in session in Strasbourg adopted a landmark motion urging the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to ‘immediately and unconditionally release Ilham Tohti and Gulshan Abbas, as well as those arbitrarily detained in China’ and whose cases have been mentioned by the European Union (EU) at the Human Rights Council. The text lays out a strongly-worded demand that the PRC halts its ‘repression and targeting of Uyghurs’, including forced sterilization, birth prevention measures, the destruction of Uyghur identity, and other abuses ‘which amount to crimes against humanity and a serious risk of genocide’. The EP lamented that 62-year-old retired doctor Gulshan Abbas is ‘serving a 20-year sentence on fallacious terrorism-related charges relating to activities of her sister, a defender of the human rights of persecuted Uyghurs in the PRC’. The resolution also regretted that Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti, winner of the EP’s 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of ‘separatism’ despite striving to ‘foster dialogue between Uyghurs and Han Chinese’. "This resolution reflects a growing global consensus and the mounting diplomatic pressure on China to release all wrongfully imprisoned individuals in the Uyghur region, like my mother." - Ziba Murat, daughter of detained Uyghur doctor Gulshan Abbas Today’s resolution was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 540 out of 610 voting members of the European parliament (MEPs), with only 23 oppositions and 47 abstentions. In September, ISHR joined Dr. Abbas’ daughter, Ziba Murat, in an advocacy mission to engage extensively with MEPs leading to today’s historic resolution. Dr. Abbas has been arbitrarily detained since 2018 and held incommunicado most of that time. In June 2024, UN experts sent a letter to the Chinese authorities and later released a statement on Dr. Abbas’ situation. Under mounting pressure from UN bodies and Western governments, Beijing finally disclosed Dr. Abbas’ whereabouts, sentence, and stated date of release, scheduled for 2038. This was the first written acknowledgement that the Chinese authorities are holding Dr. Abbas ever since her abrupt forced disappearance six years ago. However, China failed to address UN experts’ request for disclosure of detailed information on her health, of her court judgment and evidence used to convict her. "My mother is a medical professional who devoted her life to helping people and saving lives. She is a non-political, warm-hearted and loving mother. The charges against her are preposterous and baseless. My mother is suffering the consequences because her family in the United States spoke out against the Chinese government's unfair treatment of Uyghurs. This is a clear example of kin punishment and transnational repression." - Ziba Murat Dr. Abbas was forcibly disappeared on 10 September 2018, in retaliation for her sister Rushan Abbas’ public advocacy in the United States against the persecution of Uyghurs in China a few days prior. She has multiple health concerns which require medication and medical attention, including severe high blood pressure, back pain often leading to immobilization, osteoporosis, and recurring migraines. Both her eyes have undergone multiple surgeries and require monitoring. In March 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released an authoritative, quasi-judicial opinion determining her detention to be arbitrary and calling for her prompt release. The EU also raised her case during its latest human rights dialogue with China in June 2024. "This EU resolution and UN actions follow a concerted campaign of global advocacy, including by Dr. Abbas' relatives, who have remained in the dark about her fate for six long years. It is also indisputable evidence that when governments and UN experts press Beijing publicly on individual cases, in a coordinated and sustained fashion, the wall will eventually crack. It is not time to give in: it is now the moment for global actors to step up pressure until Dr. Abbas is released on medical parole." - Raphaël Viana David, ISHR’s China Programme Manager On 11 September 2024, Murat addressed the UN Human Rights Council on behalf of ISHR to call for Dr. Abbas’ release and urge the Council to ‘step up monitoring and reporting and hold the [Chinese] government accountable for gross violations of international law’ – watch a recording of the statement here. Stepping up UN monitoring and reporting The EP’s motion ‘strongly condemns the PRC for not implementing the recommendations of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’ and urges Beijing to ‘allow the OHCHR independent access to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region‘. It further encourages the OHCHR to issue a ‘comprehensive situational update and an action plan for holding the PRC accountable’. "We now expect EU Members States to measure up to the Parliament's motion and to demonstrate leadership and commitment to supporting Uyghurs through bold global action. This includes leading a joint statement on China at the ongoing UN General Assembly session and ensuring a united EU position around it. It is deeply regrettable that four EU members – Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Hungary – have refused since 2019 to align with their peers and endorse such statements at high-level UN fora." - Raphaël Viana David The EU parliament text calls on EU Member States to suspend extradition treaties with the PRC and Hong Kong and ‘respect the non-refoulment principle’. It further urges EU governments to ‘address the transnational repression of Chinese dissidents and Uyghurs on their territory and prosecute individuals responsible’. "EU Member States must exert persistent and coordinated pressure on China to implement UN expert recommendations and ensure that individual cases are prioritized in bilateral and multilateral talks. They should not shy away from demanding my mother’s release. She is innocent and must be released." - Ziba Murat On 27 August 2024, in a rare public statement on the matter, the OHCHR stressed that ‘many problematic laws and policies’ documented in its 2022 Xinjiang report remain in place, that abuses still need to be investigated, and that fear of reprisals against sources and lack of access to information hinder the OHCHR’s monitoring of the situation. The Office further echoed its urgent calls on China to release all those arbitrarily detained, to clarify the status and whereabouts of those disappeared, and to fully review the legal framework governing counter-terrorism, national security, and minority rights. Copyright © 2024 International Service for Human Rights

© Council of Europe 2024 The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities adopted on 15 October 2024 a Declaration on the destruction of cultural heritage in Ukraine, presented by Martine Dieschburg-Nickels (Luxembourg, L, ILDG) and Gunn-Marit Helgesen (Norway, R, EPP/CCE). The Congress reiterated its condemnation of the ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine and reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. It deplored the Russian Federation’s continued attacks on cultural heritage sites in Ukraine, in violation of international humanitarian law, and in particular of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954 Hague Convention) and its two Protocols. Noting that more than a thousand cultural sites had been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the war, the Congress underlined that the targeting and looting of cultural sites appeared to reflect a systematic policy aimed at erasing Ukraine’s historical and cultural identity, consistent with a genocidal intent. The Declaration emphasised that the Russian Federation must pay reparations for damage to historical, cultural and religious heritage; in this context, the Ukrainian local and regional authorities had an important role to play in promoting the work of the Register of Damage and in submitting claims to the Register within the scope of their competencies. The Congress stressed that safeguarding cultural heritage helped connect the past to the future through a shared sense of identity and that as such the European cultural heritage was intrinsically linked to human rights; it was therefore time to put Ukrainian cultural heritage and its recovery high on the political agenda, including at the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Rome. In its Declaration, the Congress called on local and regional authorities throughout Europe to step up their efforts to help Ukraine by setting up genuine cultural heritage partnerships that could address not only the current need for restoration and urgent protection but also damage and risk assessments. Such partnerships could also support plans for recovery, which should encompass tangible and intangible cultural heritage. The Congress also called on member States to sign and ratify the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention) and the Council of Europe Convention on Offences to Cultural Property (Nicosia Convention), as well as to raise awareness about stolen and looted Ukrainian cultural assets, including from Crimea, and to step up efforts to return them to Ukraine. Congress members reiterated that they stand by the Ukrainian people and reaffirmed their commitment to a common, democratic future based on respect for international law and a just peace. © Council of Europe 2024

Gender apartheid under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan represents one of the most profound violations of women's rights in recent history. Following the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, the regime swiftly reinstated a draconian interpretation of Islamic law that severely restricts women's freedoms and rights. Women are systematically denied the right to work, access education, and participate in public life, effectively relegating them to second-class citizenship. The enforcement of these policies is often carried out through violent means, with women facing arrest or harassment for defying the stringent dress codes or attempting to leave their homes without a male guardian. In public spaces, women have been erased from view; the absence of women in education and the workforce not only signifies their oppression but also stymies Afghanistan's social and economic development. Girls over the age of 11 have been banned from attending school, leaving millions without access to education and the opportunities that come with it. Meanwhile, the Taliban's propaganda portrays these restrictions as a return to “traditional values,” masquerading the reality of gender apartheid as a cultural necessity. This ideology perpetuates misogyny and deepens the systemic inequality that has plagued Afghan society for decades, creating a vicious cycle of poverty and disempowerment for women. Internationally, the Taliban's policies toward women have drawn widespread condemnation, yet the global community faces challenges in effectively countering this regime. While some nations have attempted to leverage diplomatic pressure or sanctions, the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Afghanistan complicates efforts to advocate for women's rights without exacerbating the suffering of the entire population. As activism and resistance grow within Afghanistan, it remains crucial for the international community to seek ways to support Afghan women, amplifying their voices and ensuring they are seen and heard in the fight against gender apartheid. The situation in Afghanistan serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of women's rights and the urgent need for solidarity in the face of authoritarian repression. The full thesis can be downloaded at the top of the post.

By Giulia Paravicini and Steve Stecklow U.S. officials talk of 'industrial level' theft. Donated grain, they say, was funneled to the Ethiopian and Tigrayan armies, and black marketeers. In an internal report, the World Food Program cleared itself of wrongdoing and pointed a finger at the hungry. On a scorching March afternoon last year, an American aid worker was sitting on a stool in the town of Sheraro in the war-scarred Ethiopian region of Tigray, sipping traditional roasted coffee, when a red truck filled with sacks of grain came into view. The 50-kilo bags were stamped USAID – short for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the world’s largest donor of food assistance. The grain was supposed to help some of the millions of people in Tigray who depend on food donations to survive. But instead of heading to its intended destination – a camp filled with starving people – the red truck was moving in the wrong direction. The USAID worker, joined by several colleagues, decided to follow it. USAID officials say they soon learned that thousands of tons of donated grain were being diverted to commercial mills and markets throughout Ethiopia. The chance discovery shocked USAID, which announced the bare outlines of the alleged scheme in May 2023 and said it had launched an investigation. The United Nations World Food Program – a major distributor of food aid and a key USAID partner in feeding the hungry in Ethiopia and globally – said it, too, would investigate. The aid giants suspended food aid distribution throughout Ethiopia as they examined the matter, disrupting supplies to millions of hungry people for at least five months. They have yet to release findings or name suspects. Yet humanitarian-aid workers and U.S. officials believe the caper marked one of the biggest thefts and diversions of food aid ever documented. While the total loss may never be known, a Tigrayan official has said that more than 7,000 tons of wheat were stolen – enough grain to feed more than 450,000 people for a month. Cindy McCain, the head of the WFP, said in a public statement at the time that the UN body had “zero tolerance for theft or diversion.” But a Reuters investigation found that the WFP was aware food aid was being stolen in Ethiopia for several years, and repeatedly failed to act. Aid was being funneled to the Ethiopian and Tigrayan armies as well as to the black market, according to an internal USAID slide presentation viewed by Reuters. The WFP was warned by its own staff and other aid organizations as early as 2021 about food diversion occurring throughout the country, four UN workers and diplomats told Reuters. They said the WFP chose to look the other way amid the civil war then tearing the country apart: It feared the Ethiopian government might retaliate by limiting the number of trucks delivering aid to embattled Tigray. The WFP told Reuters it lacked sufficient details to comment on those incidents of food diversion. An official with the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission, the country’s relief agency, denied the government would have limited the flow of aid into Tigray. Some U.S. officials privately accuse the UN food body of being untrustworthy. An internal WFP investigative report, seen by Reuters, cites a May 2023 cable from Washington’s top U.S. diplomat in Ethiopia at the time: “The scale and depth of diversion” in areas where the WFP managed food relief “calls into question WFP’s ability to be a faithful and principled” partner for distributing food in Ethiopia. USAID employees discovered that donated food was being diverted across the country in a “systematic” way and on an “industrial level,” according to the presentation of the agency’s preliminary investigation, which covers the period March to May 2023. The Ethiopian military was regularly redirecting donor-funded wheat to private mills to be turned into flour for its soldiers, the presentation said. And “predatory racketeers” were manipulating the hungry into selling them their rations. In its internal report, the WFP acknowledges aid was diverted to markets and mills on a large scale after it had delivered the food to its local partners for distribution to the needy. But it found no evidence that the organization itself was responsible. Instead, the report points to the civilians who were the intended recipients of the aid. The “diversion was primarily driven by beneficiaries” in Ethiopia, who sold some of their food rations, the January 2024 report says. The food theft in Ethiopia shows how a global system designed to tackle hunger and prevent famine – comprised of UN agencies, non-governmental humanitarian groups and donor countries led by the U.S. – can be subverted by corruption, lax administrative controls and local government misrule. That system is already under enormous strain. Last year, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries and territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity. They included more than 36 million children under 5 years old who were acutely malnourished. “Stopping the distribution of food was a disaster,” said Abune Tesfaselassie Medhin, the bishop of the Catholic diocese of Adigrat, a city in Tigray. “People were dying, the health of children and elders worsened … It is a sin.” This story, the first comprehensive account of the aid theft and its consequences for Ethiopians, is based on previously unreported findings of the WFP investigation and USAID’s preliminary probe. Reporters also interviewed more than 20 people familiar with the case, including U.S., UN and Ethiopian officials, diplomats and aid workers. Who masterminded the food diversion scheme remains a mystery. USAID and the WFP are continuing to investigate. In response to questions, the WFP said it takes “measures to investigate and prevent” the misuse of food assistance when it “detects the illegal sale of large quantities of humanitarian supplies.” Ethiopian and Tigrayan officials denied their militaries received diverted food aid. The Tigrayan government said aid recipients often “contributed” to what it called its “citizen army.” One outcome of the scam is clear: The scandal has left a rift between USAID and the WFP, the two giant humanitarian organizations that partner to provide life-saving food aid to millions of the world’s hungriest. USAID plans to phase out the WFP as its food distributor in Tigray and the rest of northern Ethiopia over the next nine months or so, turning to other aid groups instead, USAID officials told Reuters. Both USAID and the WFP said they remain valued partners. USAID said its decision to use other aid groups in northern Ethiopia was based on “cost efficiencies” and “lower projected needs.” “The diversion of food was a disgrace,” Andrew Mitchell, who served as Britain’s minister for Africa until July, told Reuters. “You can't expect American taxpayers to go to the aid of starving people if those same taxpayers are then informed that the money has been stolen by the soldiery.” The WFP continues to face food diversion and other crimes in Ethiopia, an internal document shows. The WFP’s “Monthly Incident Report” on Ethiopia for August reported 39 cases, including allegations of aid diversion, theft, the extortion of beneficiaries and the discovery of donated food for sale in local markets. WFP told Reuters these were “minor incidents” and didn’t indicate “large-scale diversion.” U.S. Senator James E. Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, called the diversion of food aid “intolerable.” “This system denied millions of people access to lifesaving aid while enabling corrupt officials and armed combatants to serve their own objectives,” he told Reuters. “Those responsible for diversion must be held accountable.” A History of Famine Ethiopia drew world attention as it struggled with famine in the 1970s and 1980s. Hundreds of thousands died as a result of starvation caused by drought and conflict. The hunger crisis was publicized by “Live Aid,” a trans-atlantic concert in 1985 that featured major rock stars and raised an estimated $100 million. In the last three decades, Ethiopia made remarkable progress, especially in agriculture. Droughts and poor harvests no longer resulted in famines. But the country hasn’t been immune to what’s now the main cause of famine globally: war. Ethiopia waged a brutal border war with neighboring Eritrea from 1998 to 2000. The countries signed a peace deal in 2018 that later earned Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, in November 2020, Abiy went to war with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which had once ruled Ethiopia and still controls the Tigray region. Eritrea sent troops to back Abiy and, with the Ethiopian army, occupied most of Tigray. The war, which ended in November 2022, killed tens of thousands and left millions hungry, making it one of the world’s deadliest conflicts in recent times. Though the fighting is over, hunger continues, with millions of Ethiopians still requiring food assistance, according to the UN. The aid diversion uncovered in Tigray last year wasn’t the first such episode in Ethiopia. Theft and redirection of food and other foreign assistance have been occurring for several years, diplomats and aid officials say. Just months after the war in Tigray broke out in November 2020, aid was being stolen. In March 2021, two senior aid workers said they traveled to Adigrat, in Tigray, where they witnessed a distribution of food aid by Ethiopia’s Joint Emergency Operation Program, a food-assistance program funded by USAID. Instead of seeing people receiving the food, they saw sacks of USAID-donated grain being loaded into vehicles and donkey carts. The vehicles had Eritrean license plates and were apparently headed to Eritrea, one of the aid workers said. The other worker reported the incident to WFP and USAID officials. The Eritrean government denied its military received diverted food aid. “Why would we … steal paltry items donated to others?” a government official said in response to questions. “This system denied millions of people access to lifesaving aid while enabling corrupt officials and armed combatants to serve their own objectives.” U.S. Senator James E. Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Also in 2021, a senior UN official saw multiple trucks with Eritrean license plates being loaded by uniformed Eritrean soldiers with what he believed was WFP food aid leaving Ethiopia and crossing into Eritrea. The official told Reuters that he reported what he observed to both the WFP and USAID. A diplomat corroborated that the official shared the information with the two aid organizations. In another case, witnesses suspect the WFP of direct involvement in diverting food. In 2022, WFP officials instructed truck convoy leaders to drop aid off in areas in Tigray and Amhara where no aid recipients were present, according to two people familiar with the matter. One convoy of 20 aid trucks was sent to an area near Sheraro in Tigray, which at the time was occupied by Eritrean troops and had no aid recipients, they said. Questionable Names Aid workers and diplomats describe a humanitarian system ripe for exploitation, with Ethiopian officials, not relief agencies, determining who needed help and who didn’t. Over the years, they said, the officials padded aid beneficiary lists with hundreds of thousands of questionable names. In many countries, the WFP identifies and registers people who need food. In places including South Sudan, it uses biometric information, such as fingerprints, to guard against fraud. But in Ethiopia, until early last year the WFP relied on long handwritten lists of people provided by central and regional governments, according to five aid workers. One described how Ethiopian authorities would provide lists of about 100,000 names. The WFP hired typists to input the names into spreadsheets, which exposed thousands of duplicates. The worker suspected that the governing authorities inflated the lists with redundant names so that they could skim the excess aid. The WFP’s internal report lays out similar claims. It says that according to the WFP country director at the time in Ethiopia, the national government “had inflated the beneficiary numbers and that this was a major contributing factor to the alleged food aid diversion in the country.” It quotes him as saying: “The whole issue of food diversion…is linked to inflated numbers.” The former WFP country director, Claude Jibidar, declined to comment on the quote. Ethiopia’s relief agency said the government must lead humanitarian efforts as it’s responsible for its citizens, but denied any “systemic intent to inflate the beneficiary lists.” The Tigrayan government said it didn’t rule out that beneficiary lists sometimes were inflated. 'Industrial Level' Diversion After Ethiopia signed a peace deal with the Tigrayans in November 2022, access to the region, which had been restricted, began to reopen. It was on one of USAID’s first visits back, in March 2023, that one of its workers spotted the wayward red truck. USAID quickly began investigating. Its employees visited 63 flour mills and markets in seven Ethiopian regions from March to May 2023, according to the internal USAID presentation seen by Reuters. Its findings – including photographic evidence of mills “stuffed full of donor-funded food aid” – were shared with the European Union, Britain and other major donors. The preliminary probe uncovered “industrial level” diversion in Tigray and other regions, the presentation states, with both the Ethiopian and Tigrayan armies “routinely” using donor-funded food assistance. One unidentified mill manager told USAID that his facility processed “enough donor-funded wheat” for the Ethiopian national army to feed 20,000 soldiers a month. The presentation cites one alleged scheme in which the Ethiopian government appeared to be diverting U.S. food aid to private mills to make flour for Tigrayan soldiers following the peace agreement. A photograph of shipping records also showed that the Tigrayan army sent one mill about 3,000 tons of wheat in USAID sacks. Ethiopia’s relief agency called USAID’s findings an attempt “to smear the Ethiopian army.” The Tigrayan government called the findings that its military used donor-funded food “preposterous” and “totally false.” Tigrayan authorities also conducted an investigation into the diversion of food aid uncovered last year. Their conclusions are cited in the WFP’s report, which says the Trigrayans found that a wide range of actors – including businessmen, city leaders, soldiers and leaders of Abiy’s political party – engaged in stealing aid. Abiy’s spokesperson had no comment. General Fiseha Kidanu, a senior official who led Tigray’s investigation, said in a local television interview in June 2023 that the diversion involved the theft of more than 7,000 tons of wheat and 215,000 liters of food oil. Fiseha said seven people had been arrested and 186 suspects identified, but didn’t name anyone. He told Reuters that a report on the investigation will soon be made public. Ethiopia’s relief agency denied large quantities of food aid had been diverted by the Ethiopian army or the federal government. It said the government conducted its own investigation and took “robust” measures to prevent future mishandling of humanitarian supplies. 'A Very Challenging Time' Based on their initial findings, USAID officials determined in April 2023 that it was no longer feasible to continue distributing food aid in Ethiopia until measures were implemented to ensure it actually reached the hungry. Food aid deliveries were suspended for months. The impact was swift. A survey of about 5,100 households in Tigray found that the percentage facing severe hunger jumped from 5% in February 2023 to 11% in August 2023, according to the Tigray Nutrition Cluster, a humanitarian-aid network whose partners include USAID. The increase was driven in part by the “temporary halt of humanitarian distribution,” the study said. Erdey Assefa, head of Yechila Primary Hospital, in central Tigray, said that after the aid cutoff, between 75% and 80% of mothers screened at the hospital were severely malnourished. The aid suspension “was a very challenging time,” he said. “Those who were in a moderate condition started to fall into a severe stage.” People in camps for internally displaced people told Reuters they resorted to eating spiky cactus leaves to survive. Some had to sell possessions to buy food or medicine. At one camp in Adigrat, a community leader said five people died of starvation during the suspension and 120 people suffered extreme malnutrition. “I sold a cooking pot and two blankets donated by the Red Cross to buy 25 kilos of maize so that my family could eat,” said Tsige Teklebirhan, a mother of four who lives in the camp. The WFP told Reuters it resumed food distribution as soon as it implemented new safeguards. USAID called the aid suspension “a measure of last resort” with “very real and impactful consequences.” The WFP Clears Itself Inside the WFP, the troubles in Ethiopia have triggered a major reassessment of the organization’s worldwide systems and processes. It says it has improved how it verifies that donated food gets to people who really need it with better tracking and monitoring. In Ethiopia, this includes GPS tracking for the WFP’s fleet of 500-plus trucks, more field monitors and a digital registry of families who are “food insecure.” The WFP inspector general’s office focused its investigative report only on Tigray. A WFP spokesperson said the office has ongoing investigations in two other regions. The 25-page report on Tigray largely absolves the Ethiopian government and WFP’s own employees of responsibility in the diversion of aid. The report acknowledges diversions and looting occurred in Tigray. But it found “insufficient evidence” of “large-scale” diversion of food aid. The inspector general’s office found that Ethiopian and Tigrayan government officials inflated beneficiary lists, causing the WFP to supply too much food aid. But the report stops short of accusing them of complicity in theft, saying there wasn’t enough evidence “to conclude that such action was deliberately carried out to divert humanitarian aid.” In clearing itself of any wrongdoing, the WFP said it “found no indications” that its employees “were implicated in any fraudulent activity, corruption, collusion or theft.” But the report did find fault with the hungry, singling them out as the main culprits. Aid-diversion incidents were largely driven by food-aid recipients, the report says. The hungry resold some of their rations and obtained extra food fraudulently by registering their families multiple times, the report claims. Some aid recipients in Ethiopia told Reuters they do sometimes sell some of their food rations, but out of desperation. “I got aid because I have health conditions,” said Leelity Gebreegizabher, a single mother of two in a camp in the town of Shire. “A local official helped me to get 15 kilos of food so that I could sell some of it to buy medicine.” Abune Tesfaselassie, the bishop of Adigrat, said he felt “so frustrated” to learn from Reuters that the WFP report pins the diversion scheme on the hungry. “They are living a tough life,” he said. “How can they be blamed by the international aid organizations?" © 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved

Burned house in Egwuma. Credit: Mike Odeh James Benue State Nigeria: on brink of state capture by Fulani terrorists TruthNigeria October 17, 2024 Terrorists Target Farming Communities, Killing and Burning, As Military Stands Down By Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani (Makurdi)  David Onyilokwu Idah, a former United Nations Human Rights Commission Commissioner, warns that Benue State’s escalating violence resembles Zamfara State’s descent into terror a decade ago. “In Zamfara, initial attacks by Fulani terrorists were dismissed as local disputes by the former President” Idah said to TruthNigeria.  [The Fulani tribe is one of West Africa’s largest, with 9 million tribe members in Nigeria. Tens of thousands of tribe members are radicalized bandit-terrorists rampaging throughout Nigeria’s Middle Belt.] “The federal government’s inaction allowed the terrorists to gain strength, subdue local populations, and eventually target security forces.” Idah drew parallels between Zamfara’s history and Benue’s current crisis. “Today, Fulani Jihadists are now killing, occupying communities, and extorting farmers in Agatu and Gwer West. The federal government’s response [under President Bola Tinubu] has been similarly lackluster.” “Just like in Zamfara, the federal government is not taking the Benue situation seriously.” Idah said with emphasis.  Idah’s warning underscores concerns that continued inaction may embolden terrorists, perpetuating a cycle of violence. Ongoing Atrocities On Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 3 pm local time, Mr. Tersoo Visigh and his wife embarked on a perilous journey to their farm in Camp Nagi, seeking to gather food for their starving family. The farm, where Tersoo had cultivated corn before the previous attack that devastated their village of Camp Nagi held promise of sustenance. Tersoo Visigh killed by Fulani militia. Credit Mike Odeh James As they worked, meticulously packaging the harvested corn, a sudden and deadly ambush shook the serene atmosphere. Fulani bandit-terrorists lurking in the shadows, emerged with guns blazing, cutting down Tersoo on the very land he had tilled to feed his family. According to Hope Ori Emmanuel of the Justice Peace and Development Commission (JPDC), his wife, witness to the horror, suffered severe beating at the hands of the ruthless Fulani terrorists . Despite life-threatening injuries, she summoned the strength to escape, fleeing back to their home, her heart heavy with trauma. The Fulani, a group known across West Africa for their cattle-herding and historical involvement in regional jihad wars, have been linked to thousands of massacres in Nigeria. According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, the Fulani have been responsible for  50,000 murders in the last four years.   The  standard explanation for the loss of life by the U.S. Government is that farming families are being ground up in a longstanding resource war between  farmers and herders. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations on May 22 that the loss of life, though regrettable,  “has nothing to do with religion. ” [Genocide Watch comment: Secretary Blinken is in denial about the jihadist terrorism that targets Christian villages but leaves Muslim villages untouched. That is the official genocide denial strategy of the Africa Bureau in the US State Department to avoid doing anything to stop the genocide in Nigeria. It was the same strategy used to deny the genocide in Rwanda for its crucial first three months in 1994.] However, the ORFA Report notes that the number of Christians killed in Benue State alone during the last four years is 2, 673 as opposed to 12 Muslim deaths. A CHRISTIAN GENOCIDE, Casualty Summary by Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) for Benue State in ORFA’s quadrennial report. Of 3185 civilians killed from 2019 to 2023, 2673 were Christians.12 were Muslims. Courtesy of ORFA Hacked to Death While Harvesting Corn In another gruesome attack, Fulani ethnic militia have claimed the life of James Iornav, a 38-year-old farmer from Camp Nagi. According to Rev. Fr Cletus Bua, the Catholic Priest in charge of St. Francis Xavier Parish Agagbe, Gwer-West County in an interview with TruthNigeria, Iornav was brutally hacked to death with knives while harvesting crops on his farm. The situation in Gwer West County is dire, with Fulani terrorists imposing a deadly blockade on farms in virtually all parts of the region, including Camp Nagi. This has forced thousands to flee into IDP camps, leaving behind their livelihoods and homes. The blockade has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, making it difficult for residents to access basic necessities like food and water. Okwutanobe Inferno: Fulani Scorched Earth Tactics Map showing distance between Abuja and Egwuma. 48 hours after the attack on Camp Nagi, on Saturday, October 12, 2024, at 4 pm, the usually tranquil farming   community of Okwutanobe  in Agatu County was thrust into an apocalyptic scene as Fulani Ethnic Militias (FEM) descended upon the defenseless village. Speaking to TruthNigeria via Whatsapp call, a community leader in Okwutanobe, Elder Ajeklonye Adanu, explained that “with calculated precision, the assailants set ablaze every standing structure, reducing farming  landings, homes, schools, and community centers to smoldering ruins.” The once-thriving village was engulfed in an inferno, as flames devoured everything in their path. According to Adanu, “the terrorists  showed no mercy, targeting not only buildings but also livestock and stored food. Local silos, containing precious harvests, were incinerated, leaving the community vulnerable to starvation. “The attack, occurring in broad daylight, highlights the brazen nature of the perpetrators and the alarming lack of security in the region. Okwutanobe’s residents, forced to flee, now face an uncertain future, their livelihoods and homes, Adanu concluded Military Withdrew Garrison Prior to Second Egwuma Attack TruthNigeria earlier reported that while Fulani Jihadists were wreaking havoc in Gwer-West county on Thursday, 10th October, 2024, another group of Fulani killers were also on the rampage in  Egwuma Community  in Agatu County, setting fire to the remaining houses they couldn’t burn in their previous attacks on the community on Oct.1.   In a mind boggling allegation, a community leader from Egwuma, Jeremiah Desmond, told TruthNigeria that “The Military withdrew their personnel stationed in our village few days before the Thursday’s attack and haven’t returned since then. "Our village was attacked on Independence Day, 1st October, 2024 by the same Fulani terrorists, killing 2 soldiers, our monarch and 6 other of our brothers. As the attackers were burning our community at exactly 3pm (14 hour GMT), we called the military but no response. A few soldiers later came on bikes to a neighbouring Ogwule-Kaduna community after the attack and left immediately. As I am talking to you, there is no presence of security in our community.” Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria. Donations Save Lives! If you enjoy or benefit from Truth Nigeria's reporting, then consider giving to keep our work possible!   Related Articles in TruthNigeria Fulani Terrorists Shoot Benue Politician on His Farm, Abduct Wife and Helper April 15, 2024 In "Crime" Benue State Under Terrorist Invasion: UN Terror Tracker March 14, 2024 In "Crime" Copyright 2024 Truth Nigeria

Beijing’s Transnational Repression Hinges on Threats Against Families in China Protesters rally in Tokyo to support the victims of a recent fire in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region, November 30, 2022. © 2022 Hiro Komae/AP Photo (Tokyo) – Chinese authorities are seeking to intimidate people from China living in Japan who take part in activities critical of the Chinese government, Human Rights Watch said today. The Chinese government’s harassment of people from China, including those from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, and their family members back home, appears aimed at deterring members of the diaspora from protesting against the government or engaging in events deemed politically sensitive. The Chinese authorities have also sought out diaspora members to provide information on others in Japan. “Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing’s abuses,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “The Japanese government should make clear to Beijing it won’t tolerate the long arm of China’s transnational repression in Japan.” Between June and August 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed 25 people from Hong Kong and mainland China, including from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, who were living in Japan. All had been involved in peaceful activities that the Chinese Communist Party deems unfavorable or threatening to one-party rule; such as holding public events to raise awareness about crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, promoting Tibetan culture, or having a reading club discuss a book by an activist from Inner Mongolia. Most of those interviewed said that the Chinese police have contacted them or their relatives back home, pressuring them to end their activities in Japan. Several provided logs of messages from the Chinese social media platform WeChat, recordings of video calls, and CCTV footage that corroborated their accounts. One person said they stopped participating in any politically sensitive in-person and online activities after receiving a call from Chinese authorities in 2024. Another who initially agreed to be interviewed later decided not to participate out of fear that Chinese authorities would retaliate. Several ethnic Uyghurs from Xinjiang said that Chinese authorities contacted them through their relatives back home. The police then called them on WeChat and told them to either stop their anti-Chinese government activities in Japan or pressed them to share information about Japan’s Uyghur community, including the members of the advocacy group Japan Uyghur Association. Several people from Inner Mongolia involved in promoting language rights and peaceful self-determination for Inner Mongolians, an ethnic minority, said that Chinese authorities had contacted them, often through their relatives back home. A person from Tibet who promotes Tibetan culture in Japan said that when they went to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to renew their passport, embassy officials told them they needed to return to Tibet to do so. A person from Taiwan previously involved in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activism in a third country said the Chinese embassy sent them multiple invitations to “retrieve important documents.” Both people said they rejected the embassy’s recommendations, fearing they would be detained or face punishment. Chinese authorities have violated the rights of Chinese nationals who return home. In 2023 Hong Kong police arbitrarily arrested a 23-year-old Hong Kong woman upon her return to the city for pro-democracy comments she posted online while studying in Japan. Several people said they did not seek help from the Japanese police as they did not believe Japanese authorities could provide any remedy, or feared reprisals or making the situation worse for themselves and their relatives back home. Human Rights Watch shared its findings and wrote to the Chinese embassy in Japan for comment, but they have not responded. Japan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment, and the National Police Agency did not respond to a Human Rights Watch letter requesting information about their response to China’s efforts at repression in Japan. In recent years, the Japanese government has become increasingly vocal about the Chinese government’s human rights violations, including raising the issue with Chinese officials, and with resolutions in parliament to monitor the cases. The term “transnational repression” is increasingly used to refer to state actors reaching beyond their borders to suppress or stifle dissent. Nationals or former nationals living in another country, members of diaspora communities, and those living in exile are particularly vulnerable. The Japanese government should recognize the threat posed by the Chinese government’s repression of Chinese nationals abroad, and help protect their basic rights by establishing a system for residents in Japan to report such incidents, Human Rights Watch said. Such a system should have appropriate safeguards for individuals’ privacy, facilitate criminal investigations in cases in which Japanese law has been violated, and protect people who have contacted the authorities to report credible cases from deportation and extradition. People who face such pressure should be advised of their right to seek asylum or other forms of protection. The Japanese government should call on the Chinese government to end its surveillance and threats against those living in Japan. On June 26 Japan joined 54 countries from all regions at the UN Human Rights Council in condemning transnational repression and pledging to hold those responsible to account. Japan should also coordinate with other governments and UN bodies to protect those at risk. “Japan should review its policies to establish support mechanisms to help those facing Chinese government harassment,” Kasai said. “Japan should promptly establish a national system to investigate cases of transnational repression with appropriate safeguards for individuals’ privacy.” © 2024 Human Rights Watch

Thousands in Amhara camps need security, relocation to safer areas Recent fighting between Ethiopian government forces and militias in the northwestern Amhara region has put Sudanese refugees at grave risk. For more than a year, unidentified gunmen subjected the refugees to killings, beatings, abductions, and forced labor. The Ethiopian government should take adequate measures to protect the Sudanese refugees, prohibit forced returns, and ensure, with international support, adequate humanitarian assistance. (Nairobi) – Recent fighting between  Ethiopian government forces and Fano militias in the northwestern Amhara region has put Sudanese refugees in and around camps near the Sudan border at grave risk, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ethiopian government should step up protection of the refugees, who, for more than a year have been subjected to abuses and fighting by unidentified gunmen, militias, and more recently government forces.  Since the outbreak of armed conflict in Sudan in April 2023, tens of thousands of Sudanese and other nationals have sought refuge in Ethiopia. Many initially went to two refugee camps in the Amhara region, where local gunmen and militias carried out killings, beatings, looting, abductions for ransom, and forced labor. In July 2024, Ethiopian and United Nations refugee authorities relocated thousands of refugees to a new camp in Amhara. Since early September, Fano, an Amhara armed group, has  clashed with federal forces near refugee sites, and occupied some sites, putting refugees at further risk of attack.  “Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia have been targets of abuses for more than a year from various armed actors,” said Laetitia Bader , deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These refugees have fled horrific abuses back home and urgently need protection, not further threats to their lives.”  Between May and September Human Rights Watch interviewed by phone twenty Sudanese refugees at three refugee camps and at a transit center in the Amhara region, and spoke to Sudanese activists and aid workers. Human Rights Watch also analyzed satellite imagery of the camps and transit center, and videos and photographs sent to researchers or posted online. Human Rights Watch sent its preliminary findings to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Ethiopian government’s Refugee and Returnee Services (RRS), and received responses on September 25 and October 8, respectively. Since June 2023, unidentified gunmen and local militias have repeatedly targeted refugees at the Awlala and Kumer camps in the West Gonder Zone, committing serious abuses including at least three killings. The federal government established these camps in areas experiencing criminality and recurring skirmishes between local communities even before conflict broke out in Amhara, but then provided only limited security at the camps, Human Rights Watch found.  On May 1, after months of violent incidents, more than 1,000 Sudanese refugees  left the camps in protest , intending to reach the UNHCR office in Gonder town. Ethiopian police blocked the refugees, forcing them to shelter in a  forested area along the road.  “We wanted to be safe when we left Sudan, but the beatings and robbery [in Ethiopia] were a lot for us to take,” said a 45-year-old refugee. “We have been going through this for one year, and every time the [Ethiopian authorities] promise something, nothing changes. We couldn’t take it anymore.” In late July, UNHCR and RRS  relocated over 2,000 refugees from Awlala and Kumer to the newly established Aftit site, also in West Gonder Zone. Many refugees sheltering in Awlala forest refused to be relocated to Aftit, fearing more violence. However, gunmen then attacked them almost daily, compelling them to leave the forest on August 8 and move toward Metemma town, near the Sudanese border. Ethiopian authorities initially allowed them to set up temporary shelters on the roadside, but on August 21, Ethiopian forces ordered the refugees to move to the Metemma transit center. When the refugees refused, security forces destroyed their makeshift shelters and beat the refugees.  “I got beaten on my right ribs five times,” said a 45-year-old refugee. “My kids were crying. Someone asked the military and police to stop beating me in front of my kids. They started insulting us, saying if we didn’t want to stay in Ethiopia, then we should go back to our country, to Sudan.” Several hundred of these refugees were sent back to Sudan. UNHCR said they returned voluntarily, though several refugees told Human Rights Watch that government security forces forcibly returned them to Sudan, including by separating some families in the process. RRS said there was “no reason to return refugees to Sudan because the situation there does not allow repatriation.” On September 1, fighting between Fano and the Ethiopian military intensified near the Metemma transit center and Aftit camp.  Ethiopia is party to the  UN refugee convention and the  1969 African refugee convention, both of which prohibit refoulement, the return of refugees to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened. This includes so-called “constructive refoulement,” in which a government puts so much direct or indirect pressure on refugees that they feel compelled to return to their home country. In May 2023, UNHCR  guidance urged countries to suspend all forced returns to Sudan, given the insecurity and ongoing risks.  The warring parties to the armed conflict in Amhara are bound by international humanitarian law . Both government forces and non-state armed groups are prohibited from attacking civilians and civilian objects, are obligated to take all feasible measures to minimize harm to civilians, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Refugees are protected as civilians, as are refugee camps, unless used for military purposes.  All military forces and armed groups should end abuses against refugees, stay out of the camps, and facilitate the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, Human Rights Watch said.  Ethiopia’s international partners should press the government to ensure the protection of refugees, halt any forced returns, and increase humanitarian support to refugees, including relocation to safer areas.  UNHCR told Human Rights Watch that it continues to advocate for expanding refugee resettlement areas outside of Ethiopia. RRS stated that it “is continuously monitoring the situation to adjust its protection strategies in response to any developments in the conflict,” and that the international community’s response to its call for greater assistance has been minimal.  “The Ethiopian government should uphold its obligations to protect refugees in its territory and relocate them as possible, away from the war zone,” Bader said. “Ethiopia’s international partners should be increasing support for these refugees so that they receive medical care, food, shelter, and other emergency assistance.” Refugees in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia Ethiopia currently hosts over  90,000 Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers , including  more than 38,000 who fled following  the outbreak of armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023.  Over 10,000 refugees of other nationalities have also fled Sudan into Ethiopia. Ethiopian authorities recognized newly arriving Sudanese as so-called prima facie refugees; meaning they were entitled to refugee status based on nationality rather than personal circumstances.  Refugees were initially housed in the Awlala and Kumer camps in the Amhara region in 2023, and in Kurmuk camp in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. By April 2024, Awlala and Kumer camps were  hosting over 8,500 refugees   who had fled Sudan, mainly Sudanese, along with Eritrean and South Sudanese refugees. The camps are in an area with longstanding  tensions and  conflict   between ethnic  Amhara and Qemant communities , and an  increase in robberies and abductions for ransom . Armed conflict had broken out in the Amhara region in August 2023 between the Ethiopian military and the Fano militia, leading to widespread violations of the laws of war, including unlawful attacks on civilians, and  assaults on aid workers  and  health care .  Civilian access to humanitarian aid has remained severely constrained. On May 24, gunmen fired at a humanitarian convoy traveling between Gonder and Metemma, killing an aid worker. An Awlala camp resident said in May: The camp was in the middle of villages. You would see many young men crossing the camp, carrying guns. Last month there was fighting between the villages. We were trapped in the middle…. Each day we heard someone was killed. When an ambulance tried to carry injured people, armed groups shot two people in the ambulance in the camp. In its response to Human Rights Watch, the Ethiopian refugee service, RRS, said the Awlala and Kumer sites were established at a time when there was a large influx of asylum seekers. It said the sites “were relatively close to conflict areas,” and that while there were adequate security measures, the escalating conflict in Amhara exposed the sites to risks that prompted their closure in July.  Abuses at Awala and Kumer Refugee Camps (July 2023- July 2024) Sudanese refugees in Awlala and Kumer camps said that groups of gunmen, whom Human Rights Watch has been unable to identify, committed numerous abuses against refugees at or near the camps, including beatings, robbery and theft, abduction for ransom, and forced labor. They especially targeted refugees with smartphones or money. One refugee said that in July 2024: Three men carrying guns came to my tent one night where I was sleeping with my daughters and son…. They asked me about my telephones, money. [They warned that] if I said no, they would shoot me. I gave them my phone. They still shot into my tent. My children were afraid. Several refugees said that refugees had been shot outside the camp while seeking essential services. On June 16, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a minivan returning to Kumer camp, killing a 31-year-old Sudanese refugee, Adila, a mother of two, who was also three months pregnant and had gone for medical care. Another refugee, 51, had taken his 18-month-old son to the hospital and was returning in the minivan. “On our way back, the gunfire started, and I got shot in the leg,” he said. “The minivan stopped. Everyone got out and started running.... Adila got shot in the head. Three Ethiopians were also killed.”  Human Rights Watch reviewed two videos, and four photographs posted to Facebook on June 17 that show Adila’s body in Gendewuha hospital. Her dress is covered in blood and a photograph shows at least two bullet wounds on the side of her head. Her death certificate, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, states that she died of excessive bleeding and a penetrating head injury caused by bullet wounds.  Kumer residents said that militias subjected refugees at Awlala and Kumer camps to forced labor. “ When [the militias] find us, they ask for a phone, money,” said a 43-year-old Sudanese man. “If they find nothing, they’ll take you away and force you to work on the farms. We tried to report this, but there is no one to report to.” Another refugee said local militia forced his younger brother to work in 2023: “The militias kidnapped him to the mountains for 15 days and made him harvest corn. They said they would kill him if he didn’t do the work. They threw him out when they were done with him.”  The refugee community provided Human Rights Watch with a list that described 347 incidents of forced labor in 2023 and 2024. Residents of Awlala and Kumer camps said the Ethiopian federal government provided limited security at the camps.  In Kumer, federal police set up a post on the edges of camp. A 45-year-old Kumer resident said: “The attacks happened inside the camps, but the federal police weren’t protecting us, just themselves. It wasn’t even safe for them…. We were on our own.” Awlala residents said authorities tasked local militiamen with their protection, despite tensions existing among the different communities in the area. “The militias would have shifts. Sometimes we would be without protection for a week,” said one refugee. “The militias also robbed us. And they did nothing to stop the other attacks.” Human Rights Watch geolocated a video posted on YouTube on May 9 but filmed on an unconfirmed date that shows a group of armed men, some in military fatigues and others in civilian clothing, moving among tents in Kumer camp and shouting orders at the refugees in Arabic such as “Get down!” One gunman talks to a man lying on a bed, then picks up a stick and hits the man’s bed. A UNHCR  statement on May 6 acknowledged the difficult security situation and said that UNHCR, RRS, and Amhara regional authorities were engaged with refugees on steps to “address the situation, which includes increased police patrols.”  On July 17, gunmen attacked Kumer camp,  killing 10 Ethiopian  federal police and injuring a 3 or 4-year-old refugee child . “I was in my tent when the gunfire started around 5 a.m.,” said a 51-year-old camp resident. “They came from behind the refugee tents and started shooting at the police. The police couldn’t respond; I think because they didn’t want to hurt us. The gunmen took 10 police behind the camp and killed them all.” The RRS stated that 11 other police officers were wounded while on duty at Kumer but claimed that no refugee was harmed. Human Rights Watch reviewed two videos posted online on July 18 that appear to show gunfire in Kumer camp. The first shows three people in camouflage, carrying assault rifles in front of a row of tents as gunshots ring out. In the second, a person is filming inside a tent. A male voice speaking over the sound of repeated gunfire says in Arabic: “Six a.m., Wednesday morning, July 17, 2024, … [there is] armed conflict in Kumer camp.” Human Rights Watch was unable to verify the location of either video but did not find any version of the videos online before July 18. One photograph and two videos posted to social media on July 17, and four photographs shared with Human Rights Watch appear to show the aftermath of the attack. Human Rights Watch counted at least nine men wearing Ethiopian federal police uniforms, motionless on the ground but was unable to verify the location or date these images were taken. On July 20, UNHCR and RRS  announced the relocation of Sudanese refugees to Aftit camp, near Gendewuha town in West Gonder Zone. In its response to Human Rights Watch, RRS said that about 2,000 refugees had asked to return to Sudan due to the lack of services and security concerns at the Awlala and Kumer camps, but that after discussions between the refugees, RRS, UNHCR, federal and regional security forces, and other partners, “the refugees agreed to be relocated to Aftit refugee site, where none of them returned to Sudan.” By late August, the authorities had  relocated 6,914 refugees to Aftit. Makeshift Camp in Awlala Forest (May- July 2024) On May 1, more than  1,000 refugees left Awlala and Kumer camps to protest continuing abuses by gunmen. Two kilometers from Awlala, Ethiopian federal police blocked them from continuing to Gonder town. The refugees spoke with RRS and UN officials, who encouraged them to return to the camps. Most refused and took shelter in a  forested area along the roadway.  The refugees remained there for about 100 days, relying on donations from Sudanese in the diaspora to eat. “We would try and buy flour, shiro  [chickpea flour] with the money sent to us, but sometimes the federal police would take it and spill it on the road,” said one refugee. “They wanted us to go back to the camp.”  Though federal police and military forces guarded the road near the forest, they withdrew after gunmen attacked the police at Kumer camp on July 17.  Gunmen soon began to attack the forest encampment. A  July 20 attack by gunmen killed at least  two refugees and wounded nine . A 27-year-old refugee said the attack started around 8 p.m.: I went out on the main road and saw armed men get out of a vehicle…. [W]e heard gunfire from the north side. People were screaming … five meters from me, someone was shot and died. It was very scary…. Two people were killed, a husband, Umran, and wife, Maimouna. Maimouna died immediately, a direct gunshot. Umran was shot in the chest. The attacks continued. On August 2, seven gunmen robbed a 38-year-old man selling goods. “I hid my phone in my pocket, but they still hit me with their weapons,” he said. “I was   hit badly on my spine and was urinating blood for a long time.” The man said three other refugees were shot and badly injured.  On August 8, refugees began a seven-day trek with little water or food to Metemma town.  Refugee Returns at the Border (August 2024) Three refugees who joined those heading toward the border said government security forces stopped them from going to the border and markets in Metemma town. “RRS officials came and spoke with the security forces who told us to return to the camp or hand over our [refugee] registration cards and then leave,” said one refugee. Another said: “They said if we wanted to continue, we had to hand over our papers. We refused. This was the only identification we have.”  Refugees stayed along the main road, relying on boiled grass and water for sustenance.  On August 21, Ethiopian soldiers, federal police, and local militia ordered the refugees to go to the Metemma transit center. When the refugees refused, security forces destroyed their makeshift shelters and beat refugees. Refugees said that the security forces arbitrarily divided the refugees into two groups. Some were forced to go to Metemma transit center and others back to Sudan. “They started hitting people and ordered us to leave for Sudan, and if they didn’t go ‘there would be consequences,” said a 40-year-old woman forced to go to the transit center. “They were hitting women too. I was beaten. The military asked us to walk in lines, and after a while, they started hitting us again.” While some refugees wished to return to Sudan, they said they hoped the process would be monitored by international agencies.  “We wanted to go with IOM [International Organization for Migration]. We wanted to preserve our rights and go properly,” said a community leader. Instead, “[w]e were made to cross the border by being threatened with weapons, beaten with sticks and, with Sudanese authorities waiting on the other side.” Another refugee said his family and others were separated in a rushed and disorganized process:  I was forced to go back to [Metemma] transit camp with my two children. The forces, as well as UN and RRS officials left after taking us there. We were left without tents, food, or anything. I looked for my two sisters and couldn’t find them. They called me around 5 p.m. and told me they were with their children in Sudan. One woman said she was forced to the transit center and separated from her three children, the youngest 11, who were among those pushed back to Sudan.  UNHCR told Human Rights Watch that they had access to the refugees prior to their return and available options were discussed with them, including returning to Sudan or relocation to Aftit camp, and that some refugees had previously expressed to UNHCR an intention to return to Sudan if they could not be relocated to a third country. UNHCR further added that, “On 21 August, some 760 Sudanese refugees voluntarily crossed the border from Ethiopia back to Sudan according to the Ethiopian authorities monitoring the crossing point…. [S]ome refugees opted to enter the Metemma Transit Centre instead of returning to Sudan, with some later deciding to relocate to the Aftit settlement.”  In its response, RRS stated that Human Rights Watch’s findings of “abuses, killings, looting, etc. against Sudanese refugees by local militia and informal gangs is unfounded and erroneous.” RRS added that the Ethiopian government had “zero tolerance to abuse against refugees,” and that there “had been no instances of forced transfer, either by the government or any entity.”  After Sudanese refugees returned to Sudan’s Gedaref state, the   governor  visited al Galabat town, where authorities established an emergency camp for returnees. The governor  said in an interview that many of those returnees are youth and called on them to join training camps to defeat rebel forces. Fighting at Metemma Transit Center and Aftit Refugee Camp The refugees forced to go to the Metemma transit center did not have shelter, food, or security. In its response to Human Rights Watch, RRS said that essential services for refugees at Aftit and Metemma, including food distribution, health care, and education, had been transferred to other implementing partners. RRS added that while refugees were receiving basic food to meet their nutritional needs, “there had been shortages to ensuring sufficient food supplies,” and that other services such as shelter and medical transport were not consistently available.  On September 1, Ethiopian soldiers clashed with Fano militia near Metemma town, and in the ensuing days in and around Metemma transit center. A 43-year-old Sudanese man in the transit center said that on September 5, “Fano [militia] came and organized their forces inside the center. They regularly come, but they were huge in number this time. The battle is still going on and we are all on the floor. The refugees are silent and scared.” Clashes continued in the Metemma transit center on September 6.  “The military is now fighting against Fano who are inside the camp, firing back,” said one Sudanese woman. “A fighter was just shooting from behind me. Yesterday [September 5], Fano spent the night with us. Today, it is the military that came in the morning and Fano are firing at them. Wherever you look, you can find them.”  A 20-year-old refugee in the transit center said that on September 6 Fano militia forced him to carry a dead Fano fighter toward the Aftit camp. “There were a lot of them,” he said. “My brother got injured on his shoulder from a nail on the bed. At a distance we saw more armed groups outside the camp. They brought the body into the camp…. A car came to take the body around 8 p.m., and the Fano eventually left.”  Ethiopian forces and Fano militia also fought near Aftit camp on September 8. One witness said: The military attacked Fano [militiamen] sleeping near the camp’s water sites … just 20 meters from us. The fighting started at 10 a.m. and lasted until the afternoon. The forces were fighting on either side of the camp with refugees in the middle. Children were crying. We were all lying on the floor scared. The clashes have led to a rapidly worsening humanitarian situation inside Aftit camp and continued deprivation at the Metemma transit center. While refugees in Aftit received food on September 9, refugees in the Metemma transit center said they had only received biscuits in early October, and limited other  assistance since their arrival in late August.   Recommendations: To All warring parties in Amhara: Uphold international humanitarian law prohibitions on attacks against civilians, including refugees, and respect the humanitarian nature of refugee camps. Take all feasible measures to minimize harm to civilians, including refugees in camps. Facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, including refugees. To the Ethiopian Government: Immediately provide, with international support, humanitarian assistance to Sudanese refugees, and ensure that they have adequate access to food, shelter, and health care. Ensure refugee safety, including protection from armed groups; prohibit forced returns of refugees; and take measures to assist all refugees in conflict-affected areas of Ethiopia to voluntarily and safely relocate to other parts of the country. Provide refugees in conflict-affected areas exceptions to the permit requirements in Ethiopia’s “ Directive No. 01/2019 to Determine Conditions for Movement and Residence of Refugees Outside of Camps,” by granting them freedom of movement and the right to work outside conflict-affected zones or inclusion in the urb an assistance program. Investigate attacks and other abuses against refugees, including apparent involuntary returns of Sudanese refugees to Sudan on August 21, and appropriately hold those responsible for abuses to account. To Ethiopia's International Partners: Increase support to the refugee response, to ensure adequate emergency assistance, including medical care, food, and shelter. Support the Ethiopian government to enable voluntary relocation of refugees in conflict-affected areas, and urge that relocations and the establishment of any new refugee camps prioritizes the protection needs of refugees, and is subject to robust security assessments. Support the Ethiopian government to ensure freedom of movement for refugees, including by granting permission for out-of-camp residency to refugees in conflict-affected areas.  © 2024 Human Rights Watch

Rights group in Caracas says at least 40 people affected, as Maduro government continues clampdown on opposition 12 OCT 2024 The results of Venezuela’s presidential election in July, which Nicolás Maduro claims he won, are disputed by the opposition and other countries’ governments. Photograph: Zurimar Campos/Venezuelan presidency/AFP/Getty Images The Venezuelan government has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since President Nicolás Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of what rights groups said is an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president’s opponents, the Financial Times has reported. At least 40 people, mostly journalists and human rights activists, have had their passports annulled without explanation, the newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Caracas-based rights group Laboratorio de Paz. The group warned that the number of people who have had their passports cancelled is likely to be much higher due to Venezuelans’ fear of reporting cases, the FT said. Laboratorio de Paz could not be immediately reached about the report. People have had their passports confiscated by authorities while attempting to board flights from the country’s main airport, the newspaper said, citing the rights group. Unlike murder or torture, which have a higher political cost, the government has found that passport cancellation is an effective way of neutralising and muffling critical voices with minimal effort, the newspaper reported, citing Rafael Uzcátegui, co-director of the rights group. Maduro was proclaimed the winner of the South American nation’s disputed July vote by electoral and judicial authorities, a claim rejected as false by the opposition. © 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies.

The initials of the drug cartel "Jalisco Nueva Generacion" (CJNG) are seen in graffiti on a wall in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco State, Mexico, on August 29, 2023. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images. Mexican authorities said Sunday they had found the bodies of five decapitated men on a road in western Jalisco state, the latest grisly find in the violence-plagued country. The bodies were found in black plastic bags in the municipality of Ojuelos, in northeastern Jalisco, the state prosecutor's office said. "A report was received indicating that, on the asphalt strip of the road (...) there were several bags that looked like human silhouettes," it said. Upon arriving at the site, National Guard members found the headless bodies of five men, wearing only pants. Nearby, they found another bag containing what appeared to be the heads of the victims, the prosecutor's office said, adding that forensic scientists were combing the area for evidence. The municipality of Ojuelos borders the city of Lagos de Moreno, which has been the scene of several grisly killings blamed on organized crime. One of the most notorious cases involved the disappearance of five young people on August 11, 2023, whose torture and murder was later revealed in a video posted on social media. The violence in Jalisco is blamed chiefly on the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel (CJNG), one of Mexico's most powerful and violent criminal groups. The Jalisco cartel is better known for producing millions of doses of deadly fentanyl and smuggling them into the United States disguised to look like Xanax, Percocet or oxycodone. Such pills cause about 70,000 overdose deaths per year in the United States. The U.S. government has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Jalisco cartel leader Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, better known as "El Mencho." According to official figures, 1,415 people were murdered in Jalisco state between January and September of this year. Across Mexico, more than 450,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands have gone missing in a spiral of violence since the government deployed the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006. Last week, the mayor of Chilpancingo city in Guerrero state, Alejandro Arcos, was found beheaded less than a week after taking office. Local media reported that his head was left on the hood of a pick-up truck. One day later, officials said four other mayors in Mexico asked federal authorities for protection. Earlier this month, 12 bodies — all bearing signs of torture and left with messages by cartels — were found in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato. Mexico's first woman president Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, faces a major challenge to tackle the cartel violence. She has pledged to stick with her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's "hugs not bullets" strategy of using social policy to tackle crime at its roots. "The war on drugs will not return," the leftist president told a news conference this week, referring to the U.S.-backed offensive launched in 2006. Copyright ©2024 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.

State Capture By Force:  Nigeria’s Benue State Truth Nigeria October 10, 2024 By Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani Fr. Remigius Ihyula, coordinator of the Foundation for Justice, Peace, and Development Committee, Catholic Diocese in Makurdi. Credit Mike Odeh James. Fulani Ethnic Militias Occupy 80 Percent of Local Governance Areas (Makurdi) Roman Catholic priests in Benue State, known for its prime agricultural lands, have exposed the devastating impact of Fulani militia terrorist attacks on the indigenous people of the state. In an exclusive interview with TruthNigeria correspondents in Makurdi, senior Catholic clergyman Rev. Father Remigius Ihyula, coordinator of the Foundation for Justice, Peace, and Development Committee, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, and Catholic chaplain of Benue State University, Makurdi, revealed how many indigenous Benue people have been murdered and displaced by Fulani terrorists in raids that have been ongoing for years. Fr. Ihyula shared the shocking toll of Fulani ethnic militia terrorism on Benue indigenous people. “Many have been murdered, maimed, or displaced in relentless raids spanning years,” Father Ihyula stated. “These attacks have crippled farming, displaced thousands, and severely restricted church operations in the embattled region.” Some radicalized criminals hailing from Nigeria’s Fulani tribe, an ethnic group in Africa’s Sahel region, have unleashed a reign of terror across Nigeria, especially Benue State. According to  the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, Fulani ethnic militia (FEM ) have killed more Christians in Nigeria than Boko Haram. For more than 15 years, FEM have been seizing ancestral lands of Benue leaving destruction and despair in their wake. Innocent lives are lost, communities shattered, and hope dwindle, according to the priest. Father Ihyula explained that Fulani attacks in Benue State have had a devastating impact. “The greatest challenge facing the Church and the Benue State is the displacement of vast numbers of our people,” he said. He further stated that these attacks have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, destruction of agricultural lands, and displacement of more than 2 million indigenous Benue residents, chiefly Catholics. “According to statistics put out by the former Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom,  we have had about 2 million IDPs  in Benue State since 2023, Fr. Ihyula said. “The activities of the Fulani terrorists in Benue had also led to the death of thousands of people,” he said. Fulani terrorists engaged in landgrab The Fulani terrorists, who are predominantly Muslims, seek to seize control of Benue’s fertile agricultural lands for cattle grazing and occupy the land to establish an Islamic state, according to Fr. Ihyula.   “It is all about seizing the lands and changing the demography of Benue State. The Fulani terrorists want to seize the fertile lands of Benue, chase away the people from the land, and occupy the lands for themselves,” he said. Gwer West Alone Accounts For 1 Million IDPS—Fr. Bua. Rev. Fr Cletus Bua, Parish Priest, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Parish, Agagbe, Gwer West County. Credit: Mike Odeh James. Fr. Cletus Bua, Catholic Priest of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Agagbe, Gwer-West County, shared his concerns with TruthNigeria (TN) about the devastating impact of Fulani Ethnic Militia on his community.  Gwer West is a powerhouse of agriculture with a population that matches the State of Illinois in the United States. Gwer West has endured the murder of 258 civilians by Fulani Ethnic Militias (FEM) during the period from 2019 to 2023, according to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in  Africa . “We’ve been confronting the Fulani terrorist menace for about 20 years in Gwer-West,” Fr. Bua said. “As I speak, 8 out of 15 council wards are under Fulani Jihadist occupation.” Fr. Bua highlighted the staggering consequences: “Over 1 million Christians, mostly Catholics, have been displaced from their ancestral homes. Hundreds have been kidnapped, and thousands have been killed.” UN agencies undercount the number of IDP’s in Benue, claiming that Nigeria has only 1 . 09 million IDP’s  spread out over several Middle Belt States.  The actual number is far higher according to witnesses in Benue and Kaduna states who have spoken to TruthNigeria. “This is not an exaggeration,” he said with emphasis. You can go there and see things yourself. To access any of the communities from which people fled, you must be accompanied by the military.” Fr. Bua explained the displacement’s impact: “The displaced persons have relocated to southern Nigeria, abandoning their farmlands and livelihoods. My parish, St. Francis Xavier, is severely affected. Many have moved to Benin, [the capital of] Edo State, while their families remain in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Agagbe.” Fr. Bua appealed for support: “The Justice and Peace Development Commission of the Catholic Church and occasionally the state government provide some support, while the federal government remains unresponsive.” Nineteen Counties Under Attack Map of Benue State showing 23 local government areas (also called “counties” by TruthNigeria. Courtesy of Research Gate. Out of the 23 counties (Local Governance Areas) in Benue State, only four are presently safe from Fulani terrorist attacks, according to Fr. Ihyula. A cursory look at Benue State’s map reveals widespread attacks and displacement by Fulani terrorists. Fr. Ihyula identified the targets of Fulani attacks in Benue State as Guma, Gwer-West, Gwer-East, Kwande, Ukum, Logo, Agatu, and Apa counties.  Logo, Ukum, and Kwande are attacked by Fulani terrorists from Taraba State, while the other counties are attacked by Fulani Jihadists crossing from Nasarawa and Kogi, he said. The result of these attacks has caused the creation of 13 squalid Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps, he said. Fr. Ihyula reiterated that the attacks, kidnappings, and killings are not caused by grazing disputes with the Fulani cattle herders but rather the result of land-grabbing attacks on Benue land by FEM, displacing people, and changing the demography. By contrast, there are no internally displaced people’s camps for Fulani people. Nigerian Military Refused To Fight Fulani Terrorists—Clerics The people of Benue State are facing two devastating challenges: constant attacks by Fulani mercenaries on the one hand, and on the other hand, the Nigerian military’s decision to stand down.  “When a particular community is under attack by Fulani terrorists, the military always arrives after the terrorists have attacked and left,” he told TruthNigeria. When asked if military inaction witnessed under former President Muhammadu’s administration had changed under President Bola Tinubu, Fr. Ihyula replied, “Nothing has changed; the military seems uninterested in stopping the Fulani’s.” Fr. Bua emphasized that Fulani attacks in the state are surging. He identified three key areas along the River Benue where Fulani terrorists cross from Nasarawa State to attack and displace locals: Gidan-Pepa, Achukpa, and Ogbaji. Fr. Bua said he suggested establishing military bases in areas known to be flashpoints, but the government opted for locations far from them. Federal Government in Denial Fr. Ihyula decried what he called denial of the ongoing Fulani terrorist activities in Benue. “Unfortunately, the Federal Government is unwilling to admit that Fulani terrorists are engaging in mass killings and land-grabbing in Benue,” the chaplain said.  All attempts by TruthNigeria correspondents to get Fulani’s side of the story through the National President of Miyatti Allah Kautal Hore (a Fulani Socio-cultural group), Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Badejo and the National Secretary, Alhassan Saleh yielded no result as their phones did not answer. Similar attempts were made to the National President of Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeder Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Baba Othman Ngelzama but office holders did not answer. Mike Odeh James and Olikita Ekani are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.     Donations Save Lives! 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AMSTERDAM, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court on Friday unsealed arrest warrants against six members of a Libyan militia group charged with war crimes. In 2023, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said arrest warrants had been issued by court judges for war crimes in Libya since 2011, but these warrants were under seal, so it was not clear who was targeted or what the specific charges were. The warrants released on Friday made it clear six individuals, all Libyan nationals, had been charged with war crimes including murder, torture, cruel treatment and sexual violence, and some also with rape. Libya has known little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and the oil-producing country split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions. Major fighting ended in 2020 but there has been little progress towards a political settlement and armed factions still dominate on the ground. According to the ICC the suspects in the six arrest warrants were all members of the Kaniyat militia that was allied to the eastern Libyan National Army and helped it mount a failed 14-month assault on the capital Tripoli in the west. They were sanctioned by the United States and Britain in 2020, when the assault collapsed, and in 2021 over alleged human rights abuses. The turmoil in Libya was referred to the ICC by the U.N. Security Council in 2011 and the court has said the focus of its investigation was alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since Feb. 15 of that year. © 2024 Reuters. All rights reserved