Forgotten War in Ethiopia Devastates Women's Lives.

2 hours ago7 min read2 comments

The forgotten war in Ethiopia’s Amhara region has unleashed a devastating, gender-specific horror upon thousands of women, a crisis brought into stark relief by a recent BBC Global Women investigation confirming systematic rape as a weapon in this brutal conflict. This is not merely a statistic; it is a deliberate strategy of subjugation, a chilling echo of conflicts from Bosnia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where women’s bodies become the battleground upon which power is asserted and communities are shattered from within.The silence surrounding the Amhara conflict outside of Ethiopia’s borders stands in damning contrast to the cacophony of suffering within it, where survivors are often left without medical care, psychological support, or any hope of justice, their trauma compounded by societal stigma and the collapse of local health infrastructures. We must view this through a feminist lens, understanding that these acts of violence are intrinsically linked to the political machinations and the struggle for control between the federal government and regional Fano militias—a power play that systematically targets the most vulnerable to achieve military and political ends.The personal is profoundly political here; each survivor’s story is a testament to a failed international response and a global community that turns a blind eye when the victims are women in a complex, so-called ‘forgotten’ war. Leaders in Addis Ababa and on the world stage, from the United Nations to the African Union, must be held accountable for their inaction. Where are the urgent debates, the targeted sanctions against perpetrators, the robust funding for survivor-centric aid? This crisis demands more than fleeting headlines; it requires a sustained, empathetic, and politically courageous response that centers the voices and needs of these women, treating their plight not as a sidebar to the conflict but as its very core, a fundamental breach of human rights that will define Ethiopia’s social fabric for generations to come.

#conflict

#sexual violence

#human rights

#Ethiopia

#Amhara region

#women

#featured

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