‘Hundreds’ of dead Ethiopian migrants: what does Human Rights Watch blame Saudi Arabia for?

The accusations couldn’t be more serious: In a report released on Monday, the non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Saudi Arabia of killing “hundreds” of Ethiopian migrants who tried to cross into Saudi territory across the border with Yemen since March 2022. to March 2022. June 2023

The 73-page document is based on statements from 38 migrants, satellite imagery, and various videos and photos shared on social media. Witness testimony shows the use of “explosive weapons” and point-blank shooting by Saudi border guards, who asked the victims “what part of their body they would prefer to be shot at.”

“Saudi authorities are killing hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers in this remote border area, out of sight of the rest of the world,” said Nadia Hardman, a migration specialist at HRW, who believes this alleged killing “widespread and systematic” could constitute a crime against humanity. Therefore, he calls for a UN investigation to establish these facts.

The testimonies describe scenes of horror: “women, men and children scattered across the mountainous landscape, badly wounded, dismembered or already dead.” The migrant described the “hail of bullets”: “I saw a man calling for help, he lost both legs (…) we couldn’t help him because we were running to save our lives,” she says. According to other information collected by HRW, the border guards lowered those who survived the hail of bullets from their observation posts.

Saudi authorities disputed these allegations. “Allegations in a Human Rights Watch report that Saudi border guards opened fire on Ethiopians crossing the Saudi-Yemeni border are unsubstantiated and are not based on reliable sources,” a government source said.

According to HRW, 750,000 Ethiopians live in the Saudi kingdom either for economic reasons or because they wanted to escape the violent conflict that devastated the north of their country of origin between 2020 and 2022.