HRW Accuses Tigray Authorities of Forcibly Recruiting Civilians, Including Children Datelin

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Nairobi: Regional authorities in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have been abducting and unlawfully recruiting civilians, including children as young as 15, into their forces since at least April 2026, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Tuesday.

The rights group said Tigrayan authorities had carried out mass roundups of former fighters, men and boys from streets, workplaces, homes and artisanal gold-mining sites across the region, creating what it described as a "climate of fear."

HRW documented six cases of forced recruitment based on interviews with 18 witnesses, relatives of victims and people who escaped recruitment. Residents said security personnel conducted night-time house searches, detained civilians in schools, police stations and government offices, and later transferred them to military training camps.

The report said the recruitment campaign intensified following rising tensions between Ethiopia's federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), despite the November 2022 peace agreement that ended the two-year conflict in northern Ethiopia.

Witnesses alleged that local officials used lists of former fighters and community informants to identify recruits, while some families said relatives were detained or pressured when targeted individuals fled. Several interviewees reported children aged 16 and 17 being among those taken.

One witness described dozens of miners being rounded up at a gold mining site, beaten and forced onto military trucks after refusing to enlist. Others said many residents were sleeping outdoors or fleeing the region to avoid being forcibly recruited.

HRW said the recruitment of children under 18 violates international law, while the recruitment or use of children under 15 constitutes a war crime. The organisation called on Tigrayan authorities to immediately halt forced recruitment, release all civilians and children unlawfully recruited, and withdraw recent compulsory military service measures.

The rights group also urged the African Union, the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and other international partners to press Tigrayan authorities to end the practice and investigate alleged abuses.