The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNHCR
UNOG Bi-Weekly Press Briefing Tigray- Eritrea Refugees’ Plight 21 January 2022
Tigray: Eritrean refugees ‘scared and struggling to eat’ amid aid obstacles
For the first time in three weeks, aid teams have reached refugee camps in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, only to find the Eritreans living there “scared and struggling to get enough to eat”, the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
More than 25,000 refugees live in in Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps in Tigray, where UNHCR has urged all parties to the conflict to guarantee safe passage, so that they can be relocated to neighbouring Amara region.
“After three weeks with no access due to the security situation, UNHCR staff members managed to reach Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week for the first time since the recent air strikes in and near the camps,” said Boris Cheshirkov, UNHCR spokesperson. “Our team found refugees scared and struggling to get enough to eat, lacking medicine and with little or no access to clean water.”
The work of humanitarians has been hindered by a lack of fuel, preventing clean water from being pumped in or trucked to the camps. This has left refugees with no option but to collect water from streams that are rapidly drying up, leaving them vulnerable to water-borne diseases.
“Despite concerted efforts, the complete inability to move supplies into the region means
that extreme hunger is an increasing concern,” Mr Cheshirkov noted, adding that more than 20 people had reportedly died in the last six weeks alone, amid deteriorating conditions and in particular a lack of medicine.
“With food running out in the camp and no additional stocks available for distribution, refugees tell us they have resorted to selling their clothes and few belongings to try to get food,” the UNHCR official said, before warning that more refugees will die, “if food, medicine, fuel and other supplies cannot be immediately brought in, and if we continue to be unable to relocate refugees out of harm's way”.
The development is the latest development in the armed conflict in Tigray which began on 3 November 2020 between Ethiopian national forces, Eritrean troops, Amhara forces and other militias on one side, and forces loyal to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation front on the other.
Echoing the UN-wide call for all parties in Ethiopia to protect civilians and to respect everyone’s
human rights and fundamental freedoms, Mr. Cheshirkov insisted that refugees “must not be held hostage” in the conflict.
“The desperate situation in these camps is a stark example of the impact of the lack of access and supplies affecting millions of displaced persons and other civilians throughout the region,” he added.
The development comes as UN aid coordination office, OCHA, warned that food distribution in Tigray is at its “all-time lowest”.
Food stocks and fuel are almost entirely exhausted, meaning that only about 10,000 people received assistance between 6 and 12 January – a drop in the ocean compared to the estimated 9.4 million who require humanitarian food assistance in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions, which is an increase of 2.7 million from four months ago.
ends
STORY: Tigray: Eritrean Refugees’ Plight - UNHCR
TRT: 01 min 40s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 21 JANUARY 2022 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior wide shot, United Nations Palace of Nations, Geneva. UN flag flying.
- Wide shot, press room UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “After three weeks with no access due to the security situation, UNHCR staff members managed to reach Mai Aini and Adi Harush refugee camps in the Tigray region of Ethiopia earlier this week for the first time since the recent air strikes in and near the camps.”
- Medium-wide shot, large TV screen showing speaker, podium speakers to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Our team found refugees scared and struggling to get enough to eat, lacking medicine and with little or no access to clean water.”
- Wide shot, podium speakers seated with TV screens on either side.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Despite concerted efforts, the complete inability to move supplies into the region means that extreme hunger is an increasing concern.”
- Medium shot, photographer taking photos.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The desperate situation in these camps is a stark example of the impact of the lack of access and supplies affecting millions of displaced people and other civilians throughout the region.”
- Medium shot, masked participant looking at laptop, in profile.
- SOUNDBITE (English): Boris Cheshirkov, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “If food, medicine, fuel and other supplies cannot be immediately brought in, and if we continue to be unable to relocate refugees out of harm's way to where we can provide them with life-saving assistance, more refugees will die.”
- Medium shot, masked participant looking towards podium.
- Close-up, showing hand and pen taking notes on notepad.
- Wide shot, press room UN Geneva, with participants and podium speakers to rear.
- Medium shot, podium speakers taking notes during the briefing.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , UNMAS , WHO
Just how many people are still trapped in the Sudanese city of El Fasher?
That’s the burning question for relatives of the many thousands of people believed to still be there, since paramilitary fighters overran the regional capital of North Darfur last month, after a 500-day siege.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following remarks on the ongoing violence in the occupied WestBank.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At a Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today, the UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk made the following remarks on the situation in El-Fasher, Sudan.
2
1
2
Statements , Conferences , Edited News | HRC
UN Human Rights Council holds special session on Sudan as mass atrocities reported in El Fasher
The UN Human Rights Council convened an emergency session on Friday on the situation in and around El Fasher, Sudan, following reports of mass killings in the North Darfur capital. States passed a resolution that will mandate an investigation into likely mass atrocities during the capture of El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on 26 October.
1
1
2
Edited News | UN WOMEN
Sudan: Women’s bodies ‘a crime scene’ as tens of thousands flee El Fasher atrocities – UN Women
In war-torn Sudan, rape is being systematically used as a weapon and simply being a woman is “a strong predictor” of hunger, violence and death, the UN’s gender equality agency warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Friday called for an end to continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, where “unchecked” settler violence has surged since the war in Gaza began more than two years ago.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
The crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to worsen amid ongoing fighting that has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes and created acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Gaza: One million receive food parcels as humanitarians race to ‘push back hunger’
Food is slowly returning to the shelves in Gaza amid “apocalyptic scenes” but supplies are still desperately inadequate, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they issued fresh calls for wider access and continued financial support.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today told the bi-weekly UN press briefing in Geneva of more details that are emerging on the atrocities committed in El Fasher, in Sudan during and after its takeover by the Rapid Support Forces.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani made the following comment on Friday at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO
Sudan: UN Raises Alarm Over Mass Atrocities in El Fasher as Survivors Report Executions, Killings and Rapes
More details continue to emerge about atrocities committed during and after the fall of El Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan on 23 October. Since the powerful paramilitary group made a major incursion into the city last week, the UN Human Rights Office has received “horrendous accounts of summary executions, mass killings, rapes, attacks against humanitarian workers, looting, abductions and forced displacement,” said Seif Magango, spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).