Ethiopian Human Rights Council calls for end to forced conscription in Tigray
via The Reporter Ethiopia1 min read
The Ethiopian Human Rights Council EHRCO issued an urgent appeal on July 12, 2026, demanding an immediate end to systemic rights violations as a mandatory military recruitment drive sweeps across the northern Tigray region. The Tigray regional council, an entity dissolved under the 2022 Pretoria peace deal and reinstated unilaterally earlier this year, passed a decree on June 24, 2026, mandating compulsory military service and enforcing the death penalty for those who object. EHRCO confirmed that local authorities are using the decree to conduct forced roundups, targeting "youth and children whose age is not even full 18 years." These developments occur amid escalating political and military friction between the Tigray People's Liberation Front TPLF and the federal government. EHRCO observed that the threat of a returning war is triggering widespread panic, forcing "a high number of residents and youth to leave their area and migrate." EHRCO's warning aligns with mounting apprehension from the international community. In its statement, EHRCO said that forced conscription directly violates the constitution and international treaties like the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The body implored both the federal government and the TPLF to de-escalate and "facilitate a condition where it is resolved in a peaceful way by talking around a table." EHRCO stated that the FDRE government must fulfill its constitutional obligation to maintain the peace and security of citizens of th
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