Ethiopia Tigray emergency
Nigsty was enjoying her quiet life at home as a housewife with her husband, who worked on a farm as a truck driver.
When conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, Nigsty and her husband were forced to leave everything they knew behind – all while Nigsty was heavily pregnant. For more on Nigsty’s story, click here.
Photo: ©UNHCR
Please support UK for UNHCR’s Ethiopia Tigray emergency and help families like Nigsty’s who have lost everything.
Protection
Shelter
Food and security
Tell me more about the Ethiopia Tigray emergency.
The full-scale humanitarian crisis across the Tigray Region is at a tipping point.
Since early November 2020, displaced families have endured hellish conditions with limited access to basic necessities due to fierce fighting between the Tigray regional government and Ethiopian federal forces. During the height of the influx, more than 1,000 people on average were arriving each day, overwhelming the capacity to provide aid.
Food shortages in the Tigray region are creating near famine conditions in some areas. UNHCR is scaling up its response as quickly as possible but urgently needs public support to keep pace with the mounting needs. With no end in sight, the sense of fear and tension is devastating for people who have already been through so much.
Where are Ethiopian families fleeing to?
By June 2022, more than 59,000 Ethiopian refugees from Tigray had been registered in camps. UNHCR teams are positioned along the border to assist fleeing families as they arrive seeking safety.
What about internally displaced people in Ethiopia?
There are currently more than 4.5 million internally displaced people in Ethiopia, in addition to the 870,000 refugees and asylum seekers.
What about gender-based violence?
Reports of human rights atrocities are widespread, particularly against women and young girls. Every day without a safe place to live is a day when they are more vulnerable to sexual violence. UNHCR workers on the ground are hearing harrowing stories of sexual violence and human rights abuses, including forced recruitment of men and young boys.
UNHCR is supporting unaccompanied children, women and girls exposed to gender-based violence and offering psycho-social support to address the trauma that many have experienced.
What others kind of support is UNHCR providing?
UNHCR is working tirelessly to scale up their response due to the growing need for humanitarian assistance. UNHCR is screening and registering children, women and men who are seeking safety from the conflict in Ethiopia.
UNHCR is working round-the-clock with authorities and partners in Sudan to provide vitally needed emergency shelter, food, potable water and health screening to the thousands of refugee women, children and men arriving from the Tigray region in search of protection. We are distributing relief items, including blankets, sleeping ats, plastic sheeting and hygiene kits. COVID-19 prevention is a priority with the distribution of soap and 50,000 face masks at border points.
Where can I access the latest data and reports?
Ethiopia Situation Portal – for latest updates on the situation overall, including UNHCR situation reports, funding requirements and UNHCR’s support for neighbouring countries taking in refugees from Ethiopia.
Ethiopia Operations – for latest on UNHCR’s relief work to protect displaced people inside Ethiopia.
Ethiopia has a long standing history of hosting refugees; the country maintains an open door policy for refugees and allows humanitarian access and protection to those seeking asylum.
“I had a pretty nice job. It was peaceful and I was in the right place.”
Dr Daryelowm worked as a specialist for nearly four years at a hospital in western Tigray before he was forced to flee. UNHCR has teams on the Sudanese border supporting displaced families and individuals like Dr Daryelowm who continue to arrive seeking safety.
Dr Daryelowm arrived at ‘Village 8,’ a Sudanese settlement near the border, where he pulled together a group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and even a veterinarian, to help the new arrivals who were getting sick from the poor conditions there.
While the work is overwhelming and resources are overstretched, he isn’t ready to give up. “We can give some basic care to the people who are here,” he says.
Photo: ©UNHCR/Will Swanson
“I had a pretty nice job. It was peaceful and I was in the right place.”
Dr Daryelowm worked as a specialist for nearly four years at a hospital in western Tigray before he was forced to flee.
UNHCR has teams on the Sudanese border supporting displaced families and individuals like Dr Daryelowm who continue to arrive seeking safety. Dr Daryelowm arrived at ‘Village 8,’ a Sudanese settlement near the border, where he pulled together a group of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and even a veterinarian, to help the new arrivals who were getting sick from the poor conditions there. While the work is overwhelming and resources are overstretched, he isn’t ready to give up. “We can give some basic care to the people who are here,” he says.
Photo: ©UNHCR/Will Swanson