Forgotten Ethiopian War Devastates Women's Lives.

3 hours ago7 min read

A silent, brutal war is being waged on the bodies of women, a conflict the world has largely chosen to overlook. The BBC Global Women investigation revealing systematic rape as a weapon in Ethiopia’s Amhara conflict is not an isolated tragedy but a grimly familiar pattern in the theater of war, where female lives become collateral in the struggle for power.This isn't merely a statistic of 'thousands'; it is a profound, deliberate shattering of communities, a strategy as old as conflict itself, now playing out in the highlands of Amhara where federal forces and regional militias clash. We must view this through the lens of what these acts are designed to achieve: the destruction of social fabric, the instillation of generational trauma, and the humiliation of an entire people through the violation of their women.It echoes the harrowing testimonies from conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the former Yugoslavia, where rape was systematically employed to achieve military and political objectives, a dark precedent that international bodies like the UN have decried yet repeatedly failed to prevent. The personal impact is catastrophic—beyond the immediate physical and psychological scars, survivors often face ostracization, broken marriages, and untreated injuries in a healthcare system crippled by the very violence that injured them.Where are the urgent debates in the Security Council, the targeted sanctions against commanders who permit such atrocities, the robust humanitarian corridors for psychosocial support? The narrative surrounding this conflict often centers on territorial disputes and political machinations, but the true cost is measured in the silent suffering of women who bear the deepest wounds. This demands more than a fleeting news cycle; it requires a feminist foreign policy in action, one that places the protection and agency of women at the very center of any diplomatic or humanitarian response. We must listen to these women, amplify their stories beyond the reports, and hold the architects of this violence accountable, for to look away is to be complicit in the devastation of countless lives already forgotten by the headlines.

#Ethiopia

#Amhara conflict

#sexual violence

#human rights

#war crimes

#featured

#women

#BBC investigation

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