Hundreds of Ethiopian Migrants Killed by Saudi Border Guards: Rights Group
Saudi Arabian border guards have killed hundreds and “possibly thousands” of Ethiopian migrants attempting to reach Saudi Arabia via Yemen in regular attacks, according to a report released Monday by Human Rights Watch.
The guards have reportedly fired machine guns and launched mortars at the unarmed migrants, according to eyewitnesses interviewed over the last year by Human Rights Watch. Over 350 photos and videos gathered from social media, as well as satellite imagery, have revealed bodies and unmarked burial sites along the migration routes.
“These show dead and wounded migrants on the trails, in camps, and in medical facilities, how burial sites near the migrant camps grew in size, the expanding Saudi Arabian border security infrastructure, and the routes currently used by the migrants to attempt border crossings,” the report stated.
The two-year civil war raging in Ethiopia’s Tigray region has displaced tens of thousands of people. Around 750,000 Ethiopians currently live in Saudi Arabia, with 450,000 likely having entered illegally, according to the International Organization for Migration’s 2022 statistics.
Since 2014, Yemen has been embroiled in an ongoing civil conflict between the Houthi rebels, who control Sanaa and Yemen’s northern regions, and Saudi-backed forces. According to the UN, the Houthis make up to $50,000 weekly by “collaborat[ing] with traffickers to systematically direct migrants” into Saudi Arabia.
The UN has expressed its concerns about the attacks on the migrants, also claiming that migrants detained in Yemen and Saudi Arabia are tortured and abused.
UN investigators “received concerning allegations of cross-border artillery shelling and small arms fire allegedly by Saudi security forces causing the deaths of up to 430 and injuring 650 migrants,” according to a letter sent to Saudi Arabia in October 2022. In a response letter to the UN in March, Saudi Arabia wrote that it “categorically refutes” the allegations.
