Filippo Grandi,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
Rue de Montbrillant,
Geneva 1202,
Switzerland
Cc: Ann Encontre,
Representative, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Via email
3rd March 2021
Dear Mr. Grandi,
Eritrean Refugees from Tigray Camps Scattered and Destitute in Ethiopia
We have no doubt that you are aware of what has been happening to Eritrean refugees in the UNHCR camps in Tigray, especially the now destroyed Hitsats and Shimelba camps, and of the abduction of tens of thousands of helpless civilians by the Eritrean military from the Northern Tigray camps to the very country they fled from. We know that you are also aware that some 20,000 Eritrean refugees formerly resident in these two camps are now missing, unaccounted for. Not all of the camp residents were captured by the Eritrean troops. Some escaped either before or during the abductions, and have ended up without accommodation, protection, food or water, “living rough” in cities and other parts of Ethiopia. Some were forcibly returned by the Ethiopian authorities to the very danger they had fled from in the Northern refugee camps. Others escaped this forced repatriation, but are desperately afraid of being returned into mortal danger.
Human Rights Concern-Eritrea (HRCE) has received an open letter from some of these unofficial refugees who are surviving in Addis Ababa. We feel it is urgent that their needs are brought to your attention. In their letter they say: –
“We are Eritrean refugees who have been displaced from our Hitsats Refugee camp since the civil war began on 4th November 2020 in the Tigray region. We were forced to flee from our camps and, as a result, some were murdered, and those who remain are separated from our families, nervous, traumatised and starved. Since we lost everything, we are living in Addis Ababa, left helpless without any shelter, food and water. Most of us are scattered and managing to survive through begging and sleeping in the churches.”
“Therefore, we wish to inform you that we are in need of basic food and shelter and also all the social, psychological and humanitarian protection. We kindly request urgent support and attention from you for us in the humanitarian crisis problems facing us.”
There are certainly hundreds of these traumatised Eritrean refugees surviving unofficially in Ethiopia. Their fears of forcible return into danger are very real and should be recognised.
HRCE would like to bring their perilous situation to your attention.
May we ask you, as the respected Head of the UNHCR, what can be done to help these homeless and starving Eritrean refugees?
Might your Ethiopian staff be able to make contact with them, notably those in Addis Ababa?
May we ask you most urgently to review their plight and make plans to give them emergency aid and supplies?
May we ask that you negotiate with the Ethiopian authorities an agreement that these traumatised and scattered refugees should not be rounded up and returned to the camps where they fear for their lives and safety?
May we also ask that you negotiate with the Agency for Refugees & Returnee Affairs (ARRA) to issue Eritrean displaced refugees with copies of their refugee status documents and to give them a movement permit to prevent their being rounded up, arrested and sent back to the refugee camp?
Is there any possibility to relocate refugees from May Aini and Adi Harush to a safer location within Ethiopia, as war is still going on in Tigray and refugees have been targeted by different parties involved in the conflict and unidentified militias?
It is urgent that some humanitarian action be taken to help and alleviate the desperate plight they are in: Is there a possibility that temporary hardship finance grants be made available to them, without exposing them to harsh treatment by Ethiopian security services?
We trust that you will give urgent consideration to these matters and seek a speedy remedy to their desperate needs.
Yours most sincerely,
Elizabeth Chyrum
Director
Human Rights Concern – Eritrea (HRCE)
