Report on Systematic Sexual Violence in Tigray and its Detrimental Impact on Sustainable Development Goals

A comprehensive report compiled by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa (OJAH) documents systematic, conflict-related sexual violence perpetrated by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers against women and children in Tigray. The findings, based on extensive medical data and witness testimony, indicate actions that amount to crimes against humanity and severely undermine multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Methodology

The research is founded on a robust evidence base, including:

• Review of medical records from over 500 patients.
• Surveys of 600 health workers across Tigray.
• In-depth interviews with medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists, as well as community leaders.

Key Findings: A Direct Assault on Human Dignity and Development

Health workers have documented widespread atrocities that reveal a pattern of extreme brutality intended to cause lasting physical and psychological harm. These acts represent a profound failure to protect civilian populations and a direct contravention of international law.

Nature of the Atrocities

• Mass rape and gang rape
• Sexual slavery and forced pregnancy
• Sexual torture, including the insertion of foreign objects (stones, metal, debris) into reproductive organs
• Enforced sterilization with the stated intent to destroy the fertility of Tigrayan women
• Intentional transmission of diseases, including HIV

Victim Demographics

The violence was inflicted indiscriminately across age groups.

• Survivors treated by health professionals ranged from infants (less than one year old) to the elderly.
• Over 63% of health workers treated children under the age of 17.
• 20% of health workers treated very young children (ages 1-12).

Violations of Core Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The documented violence constitutes a catastrophic setback for the achievement of the SDGs in the region, particularly concerning health, gender equality, and justice.

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

The attacks have created a severe public health crisis, directly violating the core principle of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all.

1. Physical Health Devastation: Survivors suffer from severe, long-term injuries, including fistula and permanent damage to reproductive organs. Child survivors face significant health risks from pregnancies their bodies are not developed to handle.
2. Mental Health Trauma: Survivors and communities experience profound psychological trauma. Health professionals report treating children for “forced witnessing” of violence against their families, leading to severe psychological distress. Medical staff also suffer from acute distress and nightmares due to the cases they handle.
3. Erosion of Health Systems: The closure of clinics, including those supported by USAID, has dismantled critical support systems for survivors, leaving them without access to essential medical and psychological care.

SDG 5: Gender Equality

The violence is an extreme form of gender-based violence, systematically used as a weapon of war to subjugate and terrorize women and girls, thereby dismantling progress toward gender equality.

• Targeted Destruction of Female Agency: The explicit goal of destroying women’s reproductive capacity and forcing them to bear children of their assailants is a direct attack on their bodily autonomy and identity.
• Community Disintegration: Public assaults, attacks during menstruation, and other acts designed to break cultural taboos have led to social stigma, with survivors being rejected by families and communities, causing societal fractures and reinforcing gender inequality.
• Generational Impact: The report notes that this form of violence is intended to cause “trauma, humiliation, suffering and fracture” with generational impacts, fundamentally undermining the role of women in society.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

The findings highlight a total collapse of justice and institutional protection, a core tenet of SDG 16. The report concludes that a culture of impunity is enabling continued violence.

• Crimes Against Humanity: Legal analysis of the evidence confirms crimes against humanity, including mass rape, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilization. The report calls for an investigation into the crime of genocide.
• Lack of Accountability: There is a complete failure to hold perpetrators accountable. This impunity has allowed atrocities to continue since the ceasefire and expand into new regions like Amhara and Afar.
• Call for Justice: Health workers and human rights advocates state that “true healing requires justice.” Without accountability, sustainable peace is impossible, and the cycle of violence will persist.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being: The article extensively discusses the severe physical and psychological health consequences for survivors of sexual violence. This includes long-term injuries, the intentional spread of HIV, trauma, and the specific health risks for child survivors of rape and forced pregnancy. The mental distress of healthcare workers is also noted.
• SDG 5: Gender Equality: This goal is central to the article, which details systematic, gender-based violence against women and girls. The issues of mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilization are direct attacks on the rights, autonomy, and equality of women. The article states the violence is “designed to destroy the fertility of Tigrayan women” and “to cause trauma, humiliation, suffering and fracture and break communities.”
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: The article highlights a complete breakdown of peace and justice. It describes sexual violence being used as a “weapon of war,” amounting to “crimes against humanity.” The lack of accountability is a recurring theme, with a human rights worker stating, “No one is accountable,” and the report calling for international bodies to investigate and for perpetrators to be punished to achieve “true healing.”

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

   • Target 3.3: By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.
     • The article directly relates to this target by citing a doctor who observed the “intentional spread of infection, HIV particularly” as a feature of the attacks.
   • Target 3.4: By 2030, reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.
     • The article details the “severe psychological trauma” of survivors and witnesses, noting that the “very fabric of these women’s personalities and sense of self has been shattered.” It also mentions the “acute psychological distress and nightmares” experienced by medical staff.
   • Target 3.7: By 2030, ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes.
     • The article highlights a catastrophic failure to provide these services in a crisis. It describes attacks intended to “destroy Tigrayan women’s reproductive organs,” forced pregnancies in girls “as young as 12,” and the removal of contraceptive implants to “force pregnancy from the perpetrator.”

2. SDG 5: Gender Equality

   • Target 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
     • The violence is described as a systematic attack on women of a specific ethnicity, with soldiers expressing a “desire to exterminate the Tigrayan ethnicity” by destroying women’s reproductive organs or forcing them to bear children of another ethnicity.
   • Target 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.
     • This is the core issue of the article, which documents “mass rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy and sexual torture of women and children” as a “weapon of war.”
   • Target 5.3: Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
     • The article describes forced pregnancies in very young girls, with some “as young as 12,” which constitutes a harmful practice with significant health risks.

3. SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

   • Target 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere.
     • The article describes a conflict zone where “systematic attacks that amount to crimes against humanity” are occurring, and children are forced to witness parents and siblings being “raped or killed.”
   • Target 16.2: End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children.
     • The article explicitly states that survivors “ranged from infants to elderly people,” with health workers treating children under 17, and some as young as three years old, for sexual attacks.
   • Target 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
     • The article underscores the complete absence of justice, quoting a health worker who says, “The perpetrators must be punished,” and a human rights worker who states, “No one is accountable.” The call for international bodies to investigate further highlights the failure of national institutions.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Prevalence of sexual violence (Indicator 5.2.1, 5.2.2): The article provides quantitative data that serves as a direct measure of the problem, including “medical records of more than 500 patients,” “surveys of 600 health workers,” and one hospital treating “thousands of rape survivors, at times admitting more than 100 a week.”
• Prevalence of violence against children (Indicator 16.2.1): The article offers specific statistics: “more than 20% of health workers said those they treated for sexual violence included very young children (1-12 years); and 63% treated children under the age of 17.”
• Adolescent birth rate (Indicator 3.7.2): While not giving a rate, the article provides qualitative evidence of a crisis in this area by describing forced pregnancies in “girls who became pregnant, some as young as 12.”
• New HIV infections (Indicator 3.3.1): The article implies an increase in new infections by quoting a doctor who identified the “intentional spread of infection, HIV particularly” as a tactic of war.
• Access to justice (related to Indicator 16.3.1): The article indicates a complete failure of justice systems. The statements “No one is accountable” and “The failure to hold perpetrators to account” serve as qualitative indicators of the lack of access to justice for victims.
• Mental health impact (related to Target 3.4): The descriptions of “severe psychological trauma,” survivors’ personalities being “shattered,” and medical staff suffering from “acute psychological distress and nightmares” are qualitative indicators of the profound negative impact on mental well-being.

4. Table of SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: theguardian.com