Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters in Mekele, Tigray region, Ethiopia, June 30, 2021.
(Nairobi) – Regional authorities in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region have been abducting and unlawfully recruiting civilians, including children as young as 15, for their forces since at least April 2026, Human Rights Watch said today.
Communities in towns and cities across the region said that Tigrayan forces and officials were abducting former combatants and other men and boys on the street, in offices, and in nighttime house-to-house searches, as well as from gold-mining sites, a key source of employment for the region’s young men and boys.
“The Tigrayan authorities’ campaign to forcibly recruit men and boys into their forces is creating a climate of fear throughout the region,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should immediately end their campaign and allow those unlawfully recruited to return home.”
Human Rights Watch documented 6 cases of forced recruitment, drawing on remote interviews with 18 people in June, including witnesses and relatives of those conscripted, and those who evaded or escaped abduction.
The recruitment drive followed months of escalating tensions between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigray’s main political party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The two sides fought during the 2020-2022-armed conflict in northern Ethiopia, resulting in numerous atrocities, before signing a truce in November 2022.
Before April, local officials had used public meetings, letters, and phone calls to urge former Tigray Defense Forces (TDF) fighters to re-enlist.
In early June, the Tigray party issued a proclamation compelling military service. In a media interview responding to Human Rights Watch criticisms of the law, a party spokesperson denied allegations of forced recruitment and
