#StopAmharaGenocideInEthiopia
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” Benjamin Franklin
Take a stand against the Amhara genocide in Ethiopia. Join the global campaign to raise awareness and demand urgent action. Together, we can make a powerful impact and bring an end to the Amhara Genocide.
When humanity is at stake, silence becomes a betrayal. Stand with us, break the silence, and let your voice be the force that topples injustice. Act now!
Background
The “Stop Amhara Genocide In Ethiopia” global campaign sheds light on the increasingly dark plight of the Amhara people in Ethiopia, who have, for decades, been ethnically targeted by different actors in the country. In recent years, the targeting has escalated to brutally violent levels, with a widening scope.
The rhetoric portraying the Amhara people as a national enemy has persisted unchallenged for almost 50 years. What has changed now is that the rhetoric has shifted towards widespread, government-sanctioned violence.
In August of this year, the government of Ethiopia declared a total state of emergency in the entire Amhara region, suspending the constitution and turning the region under martial law. This suspension of constitutional rights has left civilians vulnerable. The government has deployed security forces with unchecked powers, allowing state-sponsored violence against Amhara civilians. Journalists are barred from entering the region, and the government has imposed a complete internet and telephone blackout.
Under the blackout, reports are emerging of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence against civilians, and instances of hunger being used as a weapon. Mass attacks, including indiscriminate drone bombings of civilian targets, the indiscriminate shelling of historic towns with UNESCO protected heritage sites, and the imprisonment of Amhara MPs in Parliament, human rights activists, journalists, and mass arrests of civilians of Amhara origin, are happening under the pretext of going after local militias.
Active Genocide Red Flag Alerts
Various international institutions and human rights watchdogs, including the United Nations, the European Center for Law and Justice, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, have issued active genocide alerts for the Amhara people of Ethiopia.
“Evidence emerging from the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, as well as from the capital city of Addis Ababa, have led the Lemkin Institute to conclude that there is a strong probability that the Amhara people are facing an active genocide committed by members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces and armed Oromo groups.” Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (Report Published on December 10, 2023)
Hunger as a Weapon of War
With an alarming 30 million Ethiopians at risk of starvation, the Government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed faces accusations of a massive theft of food aid donated by the United States and the United Nations. Both the U.N. and the U.S. suspended food aid to Ethiopia in June 2023 after an investigation by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) uncovered a widespread theft of donated food. Leaked documents, shared with The Washington Post and given to donors, indicated that the scheme was coordinated by elements within both the country’s federal and regional governments.
“USAID cuts food aid supporting millions of Ethiopians amid charges of massive government theft” Washington Post June 8, 2023
The accusations of food aid theft arise at a critical juncture when the Prime Minister of Ethiopia has begun exporting wheat for profit, despite citizens facing the dire reality of starvation. Following a five-month suspension of aid and widespread suffering, USAID resumed assistance in November 2023, introducing anti-theft measures on a trial bases. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s actions raise concerns as he prioritizes exporting wheat for foreign exchange while people in the Amhara, Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia are quite literally starving to death.
