During two long years of war, far from the public eye, the Ethiopian army — along with the Amhara militias and the Eritreans — waged a merciless war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. Alongside the military fighting, they used another weapon: systematic mass rape. It’s estimated that 120,000 women were targeted. Many were also tortured and mutilated in a deliberate attempt to destroy their ability to have children and eradicate the Tigrayan lineage. Today, these victims demand justice.
Lawyers Meseret Hadush and Mulu Mesfin work tirelessly on this case: they collect testimonies, document, analyze, and compile all traces of these horrors. But they cannot rely on the justice systems of their countries, whose governments are involved in the conflict.
Who should be held responsible for these war crimes, the scale of which makes them difficult to document on a large scale? Who are the instigators behind these rapes, perpetrated in a methodical and systematic manner?
Their only real option is to appeal to international justice. Soon they will come to Europe, supported by lawyer Céline Bardet, and will attempt to file the documents in their possession with the International Criminal Court. Because they know that there can be no true healing without justice.