Urgent Appeal for The Protection and Possible Evacuation of Eritrean Refugees at Alemwach Refugee Camp, Dabat – Ethiopia

  • By HRCE
  • /

28 September 2026

To the Urgent Attention of:
Mr. Barham Salih (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)
Ms. Teyiba Hassen (Director General of the Ethiopian Federal Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS)

Ms. Aissatou M. Ndiaye (UNHCR’s Representative in Ethiopia)
Cc:
Mr. David Karp (Assistant Representative Protection, UNHCR -Ethiopia)
Dr. Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker (Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in Eritrea)

Dear Mr. Barham Salih, Ms Teyiba Hassan, and Ms. Aissatou M. Ndiaye,

Human Rights Concern–Eritrea (HRCE) is gravely concerned about the safety of Eritrean refugees living at the Alemwach Refugee Camp in Dabat, Amhara Region, following reports of renewed armed conflict in Ethiopia, including ground fighting and aerial and drone attacks.

Eritrean refugees in northern Ethiopia have already endured devastating consequences from the 2020–2022 Tigray war. Refugee camps were attacked and destroyed, humanitarian assistance was interrupted, and tens of thousands of refugees were displaced. Refugees were reportedly killed, abducted or forcibly returned to Eritrea, while many others disappeared or fled for their lives.

Many of the refugees currently living at Alemwach survived those events and were transferred or displaced there from refugee camps in Tigray. They must not be exposed to another cycle of violence, forced displacement, family separation, abduction or refoulement.

HRCE urgently calls upon UNHCR and the Refugees and Returnees Service to:

  • undertake an immediate and transparent security assessment at Alemwach and along all access and evacuation routes;
  • establish a continuous protection presence and reliable emergency communication channels for refugees;
  • prepare and, if necessary, implement the timely evacuation or relocation of refugees to a genuinely safe area;
  • ensure that any movement is voluntary, informed and conducted without separating families;
  • prevent forced return to Eritrea, abduction, arbitrary detention, forced recruitment or movement into active conflict zones;
  • guarantee uninterrupted access to food, clean water, shelter, healthcare and other essential assistance;
  • identify and provide additional protection to children, women, older people, persons with disabilities and survivors of earlier violence; and
  • provide refugees and the public with regular, accurate information about the protection measures being taken.

Evacuation should not be delayed until the refugee camp itself comes under attack. The experience of the Tigray war demonstrated the deadly consequences of waiting until humanitarian access has collapsed and safe routes have disappeared.

Under the principle of non-refoulement, no Eritrean refugee should be returned, directly or indirectly, to a country where they may face persecution, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture or indefinite national service.

HRCE appeals to UNHCR, RRS and their humanitarian partners to consult the refugees immediately, establish an emergency protection and evacuation plan, and act before the security situation deteriorates further.

The international community has already witnessed the severe consequences of failing to protect Eritrean refugees during the previous war. Those mistakes must not be repeated.

Elizabeth Chyrum

Director

eritrea.facts@gmail.com

Human Rights Concern–Eritrea (HRCE)


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