Thread by @landofjeganu

On VAW and rape in #Tigray:

A thread on how and why rape rises during conflict.

#StopWarOnTigray #WeaponizedRape
#TigrayCantWait

💛❤️💛❤️

We have endless examples of the impact of conflict on women and girls, & marginalized groups. It is already known that women and girls are at risk of violence and discrimination even during “peace” time. 1/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray
#TigrayCantWait

When VAW occurs women that have nowhere to go, no access to justice or protection from community are the most at risk. And that is often the majority of women. But some structures attempt to protect women at least from the most obvious attacks. 2/18

#WeaponizedRape

During times of war, these weak systems of relative safety &protection tend to crumble. The less avenue women have to call for help, to seek justice - the more powerless they are, so abuse &exploitation rises. War provides the perfect combination for that.
3/18
#WeaponizedRape

It is evident that rape is not primarily about sex. It is always about power. It is about showing who is in control. It is about humiliation and submission of women and girls and everyone that cares about them. 4/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

That’s why as we repeatedly heard the rape is done in front of the victims’ families & husbands. The goal is not sexual satisfaction - the goal is to break spirits.
Thankfully Tegaru women are literally unbreakable!! They’re fighting & surviving this vulgarity & cruelty. 5/18

And what drives this is the knowledge that these women have nowhere to go & no one to speak for them, because they live in a blacked-out-zone with no access to humanitarian aid nor an outlet to scream for help. 6/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

And this is being done intentionally, as a tactic of war. These women are suffering because their lives were disrupted, destroyed and the voices that would have helped find them justice have been systematically silenced. 7/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

Again, rape is about power. It’s about who has impunity. This cruel and dictatorial regime is destroying the lives of Tegaru women and men, and the structures they had put in place to create a semblance of peace made them powerless to defend themselves.
8/18
#WeaponizedRape

Rape rises during conflict. This is a well-known fact. Stop clutching your pearls &acting shocked &citing Ethiopian soldiers wouldn’t do this crap. ENDF has been implicated in multiple human rights violations before this war. You just don’t want to hear it. 9/18

#WeaponizedRape

You chose your army over the vulnerable people of Tigray. You chose the men with guns over civilians. You chose to defend the circumstance that ALWAYS leads to the harming of women and girls. You chose this.

Now you live with it. 10/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

In fact, some of you have the audacity to say this isn’t new &dared to call an entire region “unfriendly to women”. As if the whole country &much of the world is not a hostile place to women. Such comments are at best ignorant &at worst a sly attempt to belittle war crimes. 11/18

War has always been messy, cruel - bringing the worst out of humanity. But despite many, many historical examples of this truth, you said your special messiah knows all & can do no wrong.
Where is your king now?
Where is his clean & quick war??

12/18
#WeaponizedRape

He is destroying this country before your eyes, but you are too blinded by your loyalty to a narcissistic motivational speaker so much so that you will defend him till you die.

At the cost of the lives of millions. 13/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

And then you’ll very soon, in the same bloody breath say, how did we get here uh oh. Politics is so nasty! How did millions die???

Well, this is how.

They suffer &die while you privileged assholes drink your coffee & defend a killer. 14/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray

Horrific War crimes happen when an entire people is so scared to criticize the Führer.

It happens while you wait for it to be cool to resist the government.

While you wait for it to knock on your own door.

That’s how. It’s no mystery really. 15/18

#WeaponizedRape

These women (those that made it out alive) will survive & live to fight another day. And you, as ones who defended this war & watched silently as the world crumbled on millions of “your brothers and sisters” will have to live with this on your conscience. 16/18

#WeaponizedRape

Remember, the rape stats U hear now are only tiny sliver of what actually took place. Even in peace time, over 90% of the rape goes unreported. There are many more women & children suffering the trauma of this despicable violence while also starving. 17/18

#WeaponizedRape

As you hear the stories remember that painful reality!

And if you have the heart to imagine how excruciating this is please speak up and demand for an end to this senseless blockage and destruction.

End 18/18

#WeaponizedRape
#StopWarOnTigray
#WarCrimesOnTigray

@meazaG_ @OmnaTigray @Mellayfre @Alula_Solomon @Brinnium @FuryThoughts @dawitawramba

See and amplify thread above please 👆🏾
#WeaponizedRape
#WarCrimesInTigray