In a report published on Monday, August 21, Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced the murder of hundreds of Ethiopian migrants by Saudi Arabian border guards as they tried to cross the border from Yemen. In the events that, according to the human rights organization, occurred between March 2022 and June 2023, the uniformed officers used small arms and explosives with which they even targeted children. Acts that HRW pointed out may constitute a crime against humanity. A Riyadh official rejected the claim as “unfounded”.
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Saudi border authorities reportedly fired indiscriminately at Ethiopian migrants attempting to cross the Saudi-Yemen border. This is confirmed by the latest report from the organization Human RightsWatch (HRW), published this Monday, August 21.
The advocacy group for DD. H H. He bases his report on witnesses who witnessed the troop attacks, as well as images of corpses and mass graves along the migratory routes. The report, titled “They shot at us like it was rain”alluding to the testimony of a witness, ensures that the massacres they documented took place between March 2022 and June 2023 and that their victims number “possibly thousands.”
But HRW also points out that the killings could still be ongoing, demanding that Riyadh “immediately and urgently revoke any policy of the use of deadly force against migrants and asylum seekers.”
Nadia Hardman, a DD researcher. H H. of refugees and migrants, remarked that “Saudi officials are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area out of sight of the rest of the world.”
The organization claims that the guards involved used explosive weapons to mass-kill migrants and also shot other Ethiopians at point-blank range, “including many women and children, in a widespread and systematic pattern of attacks.”
The systematic murder of Ethiopian migrants at its border is a ghost that has been hovering over Saudi Arabia for some time. The United Nations has already questioned the country on several occasions in this regard and now the evidence is beginning to accumulate in its offices.
On October 3, 2022, the UN sent a letter to the Saudi kingdom accusing “troubling reports of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire allegedly by Saudi security forces that killed up to 430 and injured 650 migrants.” ”.
“These killings, which appear to be continuing, would be a crime against humanity if they were committed as part of a Saudi government policy to kill immigrants,” the report said.
Saudi Arabia rejects HRW accusations
For its part, Riyadh denies the accusations. A government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity with the AP agency, called the Human RightsWatch report “unfounded and without reliable sources,” although he provided no evidence to support his accusation.
But organizations like HRW point out that this is a pattern of real action, which is also increasing.
“While HRW has documented killings of migrants on the border with Yemen and Saudi Arabia since 2014, the killings appear to be a deliberate escalation in both the number and form of targeted killings,” the document states.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 38 Ethiopian migrants and four relatives of people who tried to cross the border between March 2022 and June 2023. All said they saw Saudi guards shoot or hurl explosives at the migrants.
The other evidence that the DD defense group has relied on. H H. there are at least 350 videos and photographs recorded between May 12, 2021 and July 18, 2023.
“These show migrants killed and injured on trails, in camps, and at medical facilities, how burial sites near migrant camps grew in size, Saudi Arabia’s expanding border security infrastructure, and routes currently used by migrants to try to cross the border”, indicates the investigation.
The situation of Ethiopian migrants in Yemen, plunged into a civil war that has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, is worrying. The United Nations assures that the Houthis, an ethnic minority that controls the area, “systematically collaborate” with traffickers to send migrants to Saudi Arabia. For this, they take a profit of $50,000 a week.
Now, HRW urges Saudi Arabia to stop these “systematic killings” and crimes against Ethiopian migrants and to hold them accountable for those they have already carried out.
“Spending billions buying professional golf, soccer clubs and major entertainment events to improve Saudi Arabia’s image should not divert attention from these horrendous crimes,” the document charges.
HRW calls for the international community and organizations such as the United Nations to exert pressure against Saudi Arabia for the lives and rights of migrants.
With EFE and AP
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