The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
This is a modal window.
UNHCR appeals to Ethiopia to let it reach Eritrean refugees who have run out of food
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, appealed to Ethiopia on Tuesday to let humanitarian aid reach thousands of refugees whose supplies have been cut by a month-long conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
“UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today appealing to the federal authorities in Ethiopia for urgent access in order to reach Eritrean refugees in the Tigray region who are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and services. Our concerns are growing by the hour. The camps will have now run out of food supplies – making hunger and malnutrition a real danger”, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch told journalists at a regular UN briefing in Geneva.
“We are also alarmed at unconfirmed reports of attacks, abductions and forced recruitment at the refugee camps. UNHCR strongly reiterates its call for safety and security of refugees. With the current difficulties in communications and security hampering access it is not possible to verify current conditions in the camps.”
UNHCR on Monday launched an appeal for $147 million to meet the needs of more than 40,000 Ethiopians who had fled the fighting in Tigray and become refugees in neighbouring Sudan, with numbers projected to rise to 100,000 by April. Baloch said UNHCR also needed access to the Tigray region itself.
“With our concerns growing by the hour, we're appealing to the federal authorities of Ethiopia that access should be urgently provided to us in the Tigray region to reach the desperate people.”
The Eritreans in Tigray had been effectively cut off from UNHCR’s humanitarian support since the fighting began in early November, Baloch said.
“In terms of the access, no access to us since the start of the conflict, to the four refugee camps where there are 96,000 Eritrean refugees, the camps have been there, at least over a decade. And when the conflict started we lost our contact, and it's very hard to verify any information coming out of the region itself.”
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the UN Human Rights Office have today released a report detailing the evolution of violent gang incidents beyond the capital Port-au-Prince since October 2024 up to June 2025, and the resulting loss of life and mass displacement.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza: ‘Unacceptable’ choice between getting shot or getting fed – UN humanitarians
Following the deaths of several children in an Israeli strike on Palestinians waiting in line for nutritional supplements in central Gaza on Thursday, UN humanitarians have once again condemned the killings of people at aid distribution sites in the enclave.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the United Nations bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent violence in Kenya.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
US tariffs uncertainty hurts world economy, with poorest countries hit hardest – top UN economist
A new US decision to further delay the end of a 90-day pause on tariffs is bad for business, a top UN economist said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OHCHR
Gaza aid site horror continues as more starving people shot trying to get food
Amid intensifying hopes for a new Gaza ceasefire, UN humanitarians confirmed disturbing details on Friday of continued killings and injuries of Palestinians desperately seeking food at aid sites.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA
A clearer picture of needs across Iran is beginning to emerge after the conflict this month with Israel, which left hundreds dead, several hospitals hit and a spike in Afghan refugees returning home, the UN’s top official in Tehran said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
The blistering early-summer heatwave that’s brought life-threatening temperatures across much of the northern hemisphere is a worrying sign of things to come, UN weather experts said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk made the following remarks to the Human Rights Council annual panel on adverse impacts of climate change.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO
The first meagre midweek delivery of urgently needed medical goods to enter Gaza in months will provide scant relief to the enclave’s people, who continue to be shot and killed as they search for food, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
2
1
2
Statements , Edited News | HRC
Enhanced interactive dialogue on the High Commissioner’s report on Myanmar presented by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and oral update by Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
1
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said on Thursday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNOG
Violence in Myanmar is spiralling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned on Wednesday.