The UNICEF said that the attacks on displaced people and refugee camps in Tigray have caused dozens of deaths and injured many more.
AlTaghyeer: Agencies
The Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, expressed outrage over the recent air strikes on camps harboring internally displaced people and refugees in Tigray.
She noted in a statement on Sunday that the January 5th and 7th attacks have killed dozens of civilians, including children, and injured many more.
The UNICEF director emphasized that refugee camps and settlements for the displaced, including schools hosting displaced children and families and basic facilities that provide them with humanitarian services, are civilian resources.
Fore warned that failure to respect them and protect them from attacks may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, said in a statement last Thursday that he was deeply saddened after learning of the killing of three Eritrean refugees, including two children, on Wednesday in an air strike that hit the Mai Aini refugee camp in northern Ethiopia.
He stressed that refugees are not and should never be a target.
Violent Acts
In her statement, the UNICEF Director explained that more than a year since the outbreak of the conflict in Tigray, all parties to the conflict have continued perpetrating brutal violence, including grave violations against children, across northern Ethiopia. UNICEF renewed its call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
Building on Progress
The progress that Ms. Fore referred to in her statement included, among other things, the release of detainees, which had already took place last Friday.
In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the release of many detainees from prison in Ethiopia, including key opposition figures.
Guterres called for building on this move and eventually reaching a cessation of hostilities.
In a statement issued Friday, Guterres described called for an agreement to a permanent ceasefire, as well as a credible and comprehensive process of national dialogue and reconciliation.
