US State Department Annual Human Rights Report Confirms Extrajudicial Killings 

Borkena

Toronto – The U.S. The State Department on Tuesday released an annual human rights report detailing human rights violations records in 2024 across 200 countries. The United States considers itself as a “defender of human rights and democracy.” 

Ethiopia is included in the list of countries where rights abuse has been recorded in 2024. Extrajudicial killings, torture, extensive rights violations had been recorded in the country. 

Extrajudicial Killings by Ethiopian government forces in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, within the context of the ongoing conflict situation, is confirmed in the report. Borkena has been reporting recurring human rights violations including rape, massacre of civilians, extrajudicial killings, drone attacks and artillery shelling targeting civilians in the Amhara region. 

Abiy Ahmed’s administration launched a massive military operation in the region in August 2023 after declaring a state of emergency under the guise of “disarming Fano forces.” Reputable human rights defenders, despite restrictions to the region, have been reporting the rights abuse in the region. 

Although it has been nearly a year since the end of the state of emergency (which was extended twice), rights violations continue in the region. 

Armed groups operating in the region are also indicted in human rights violations. There had been cases where they carried out extrajudicial killings and other forms of rights abuses.  There had been several cases of killings of government officials during the period the U.S. state department covered in its report. 

The two years conflict in the region has devastated millions  and infrastructures in addition to the loss of thousands of civilian lives Over 5 million children are reported to be out of school, according to local reports and reports from humanitarian organizations. And there does not seem to be an end in sight to the conflict.  The death toll in connection with the conflict was spiraling up. The Amhara Association of Ethiopia has reported thousands of recorded deaths of civilians in connection with the ongoing war.  

The U.S. State Department also highlighted similar rights violations in the Oromia region of Ethiopia where there had been active conflict between government forces and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for over six years now. 

As is the case with the Amhara  region of Ethiopia,  extrajudicial killings have been recorded in the region. 

The OLA was also involved in extensive rights abuse in the region targeting ethnic communities. Apart from killings of government officials, the group has been linked to massacre of civilians and widespread ransom kidnappings across the region. There had been recurring cases whereby the kidnapped individuals were killed even after ransom had been paid out – and there were reports that the ransoms were paid out via direct deposit to a bank account of kidnappers. However, that was not highlighted in the U.S. state department report. 

Another key confirmation from the state department report was a drone attack targeting civilians in connection with the conflict. The Ethiopian government and  Defense Force have been denying that drone attacks targeted civilians. The State Department reported that about 248 civilians were killed in drone attacks in 2024.

Outside of Amhara and Oromia, arbitrary and extrajudicial killings are reported in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. 

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