Tigray Officials Forcibly Recruiting Civilians, HRW Says

Rights investigators say Tigray’s regional authorities have spent recent months pulling men and teenage boys off the streets and out of gold mines to fill the ranks of local forces, a practice that, if confirmed, would violate international law barring the recruitment of children under 15.

Human Rights Watch published findings Monday describing a pattern that began around April 2026: uniformed personnel showing up at homes at night, sweeping through markets, and detaining workers at small-scale mining sites, then transporting some to military camps. The group says it built its account from conversations with 18 people, including relatives of those taken and men who managed to avoid capture.

Why this matters now: Tigray has been under a fragile truce since late 2022, when a two-year war with federal forces ended after killing an estimated several hundred thousand people. Any sign of renewed militarization in the region, especially involving coercion of civilians, raises concern that the peace deal is weakening at a fragile moment.

According to the accounts gathered, recruiters worked from names of former fighters and relied on tips from residents to track people down. One especially violent episode was reported in the Kola Tembien area, where miners were reportedly detained, some beaten, and loaded onto vehicles bound for training sites.