Urgent Early-Warning Request: Ethiopia — Amhara Region · AAGE

Escalating Pattern of Atrocities Against Ethnic Amhara Civilians in Ethiopia — Request for Early-Warning Action

Dear Mr. Beyani, Mr. Türk, Ms. Kallas, Honourable Members, and Mr. Youssouf,

We write on behalf of members of the Amhara diaspora in Europe. Based on publicly available reporting by international human-rights organisations and documented incident records, we believe the current situation presents serious indicators of crimes against humanity and warrants immediate attention under your respective mandates. We do not ask you to make a legal determination; we ask you to assess the available evidence through the early-warning mechanisms established within your institutions.

1. Recent developments

As armed conflict between the Ethiopian regime’s army and the Amhara Fano movement continues, civilians continue to bear a disproportionate share of the violence.

According to the Amhara Association of America, during the week of 15–21 June 2026 civilian casualties were documented across thirteen districts in six zones of the Amhara Region. Among them:

a drone strike by government forces on a primary school in Qoma-Fasiledes (Estie Woreda, South Gondar) while children were sitting their sixth-grade national examinations, with no active fighting reported in the immediate vicinity;
documented use of sexual violence as an instrument of war against women in Sekela (West Gojjam) by government troops;
renewed telecommunications shutdowns and information blackouts affecting civilian populations.

During the same period, government-affiliated fighters identified as members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) carried out attacks in Dera Woreda (North Shewa Zone) — ethnic-based targeted killings, abductions and ransom demands against Amhara civilians. Government forces were reportedly present within a kilometre of the crimes but did not intervene: a recurring pattern of failure to protect that merits urgent international attention.

Further reports between 9 and 14 June 2026 describe targeted killings of civilians in Ankesha-Guagusa, Zigem and Banja (Awi Zone). Residents reported these as targeted attacks against Amhara civilians, prompting public protests. Each allegation requires independent investigation, yet the incidents are consistent with a broader pattern documented over an extended period.

2. Why the pattern merits urgent attention

These incidents extend beyond the ordinary civilian harm of war. International criminal jurisprudence recognises that repeated patterns of conduct may be relevant to assessing whether atrocity crimes are occurring, or whether there is a serious risk of their commission. Several documented indicators correspond with risk factors in the United Nations Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes, including:

repeated attacks on specific communities and civilian infrastructure — schools, churches, markets and health facilities;
arbitrary mass arrests and unlawful killings of civilians attributed to government forces, including the Merawi killings documented by Human Rights Watch and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission;
sexual violence used as an instrument of war against Amhara women, documented by Physicians for Human Rights, including allegations of ethnic slurs and statements by perpetrators;
large-scale arbitrary detention of civilians, documented by Amnesty International;
the progressive erosion of independent scrutiny — telecommunications blackouts, restrictions on journalists, and the non-renewal of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE), despite its warning that risk factors for crimes against humanity were present.

3. Where the assessment stands

Allegations of serious violations of international law — including conduct amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing — have been documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights and the former ICHREE.

In addition, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has maintained an Active Genocide Alert for the Amhara since September 2023, concluding that the documented pattern presents a serious risk of genocide and describing a coordinated, systematic campaign directed against Amhara communities. While not a judicial determination, this reinforces the need for urgent international scrutiny. Only a competent international court can ultimately determine whether the legal threshold for genocide is met — and the absence of such a ruling should not delay preventive action where credible risk indicators have been repeatedly documented.

4. Our requests

In light of the documented pattern of violence and the deterioration of independent oversight, we respectfully request:

To the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect — activate the Office’s early-warning mandate with respect to the situation affecting ethnic Amhara civilians in Ethiopia; assess the available evidence against the United Nations Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes; and issue a public assessment, communicating its findings to the Secretary-General and the Security Council in accordance with the Office’s mandate.

To the OHCHR and the Human Rights Council — support the establishment of an independent international investigative mechanism to succeed the former ICHREE, covering all parties to the conflict and all affected regions of Ethiopia; and ensure that mechanism is empowered to compile, analyse and preserve evidence of violations of international human-rights and humanitarian law.

To the European Union, the European Parliament and the African Union — press the Government of Ethiopia to protect civilians, by ending attacks on civilians and civilian objects, releasing those arbitrarily detained, restoring telecommunications and humanitarian access, and granting unrestricted entry to independent investigators, humanitarian organisations and journalists; and support renewed international monitoring and accountability through the UN Human Rights Council and other appropriate multilateral mechanisms.

We will gladly provide the full incident-level records, source materials and additional evidence on request. We respectfully urge your offices to give this matter prompt attention, in line with your mandates, to prevent further crimes and to protect civilian populations and services.

Sources & References

Yours sincerely,

Federation of Amhara Associations in Europe

United Nations

European Union

African Union

1. Recent developments

2. Why the pattern merits urgent attention

3. Where the assessment stands

4. Our requests

Sources & References

This letter relates to the following work