Thread by @MehretOkubay

The role of civil society, particularly women's rights groups, during conflict is simple. You call for an immediate end to hostilities by emphasizing that it is the most vulnerable groups in society that stand to lose the most.

In a country less polarized than ours, you may even offer to use your neutral position to mediate between conflicting parties. Then, you begin the work of finding partners on all sides of the conflict to promote your position.

On the other hand, when a conflict appears to have a clear aggressor and entails systematic and mass atrocities such as massacres, rape, ethnic cleansing, and the destruction of essential objects for survival, your job as an advocate becomes even easier.

Exercising feminism is hard; every day, you have to consider your underlying assumptions and how they contribute to creating an unequal world. But here was an opportunity to make an easy decision, a chance to stand with survivors of unspeakable violence and

be a voice to a people silenced in every imaginable way. Telecommunications blackout, internet blackout, power shutdown, and worse, the destruction of almost all public institutions—the most viable way to collect information.

In a situation where the government wields all power against a civilian population, moral conundrums no longer exist, and for once, you don't need to grapple with every aspect of an event. You don't have to question yourself or agonize over that one angle you may be missing.

Things are actually black or white. For once, something in the world is easy.

Setaweet took a completely different approach during when this happened in November of 2020.

From day one, they used their positioning as an advocate and their access to global capital and media to excuse war. They told the world that the prime minister had so far 'shown restraint.' And after months or maybe even years (??)

of having lived through the excruciating pain of avoiding war as a means of resolving a political dispute, the prime minister had now become eligible to declare war. 'Let him have this, it has been earned' was Setaweet's message.

Funny enough, the journalist's question in that interview was not actually about the events leading up to the conflict but about what is to be expected now that the PM had refused mediation efforts by the AU.

Setaweet's director responded by saying that because the PM had rejected the calls for negotiations, it was now down to the TPLF to bring about peace by surrendering within the coming 72 hours, as per the PM's demands.

Setaweet director also clarifies that their organization is 'very' concerned about the claims of sexual violence in Tigray 'which is to be expected in conflict.' I wonder why a women's rights advocate, who is supposed to prioritize the interest of women and girls above all else,

would be willing to support a context that promotes sexual violence to achieve the political agenda of any political organization?

After the initial phase of the conflict ended in November 2020, for which the director made a public tweet congratulating the Prime Minister,

Setaweet's role also had to transform. It was no longer about defending the war—which had presumably ended—it was now about denying the violations of human rights in Tigray. On many occasions,

Setaweet members would claim that Tigrayans were 'receiving more attention than everybody else who was suffering equally,' and other times, their members would advertise that they were looking for 'eyewitness' of sexual violence.

At one point, the Setaweet page posted in Tigrinya, asking women about their policy choices, despite the fact that much of Tigray didn't have access to telecom services, let alone the internet. Additionally, the region's elections had been indefinitely postponed,

and the party presumed to enjoy majority support was now designated a terrorist organization.

However, I'm not sure that it was the things Setaweet chose to do that caused the most harm.

I presume that it was mostly the things they failed to flag and address that had the greatest impact. For example, their silence when the PM equated rape against women in Tigray to violence between soldiers.

Unfortunately, UN Women Ethiopia has now made them the face of the fight against conflict-related sexual violence. Despite facing weeks of social media backlash expressing outrage over their sudden interest in sexual violence in conflict,

they have decided to showcase an image of their team at the Mekelle Fistula Center—a mere 'token' of their supposed affection for the people of Tigray, I presume.

@UN_Women

What outrages me most is how much more thoughtful and considerate work could have been done if it weren't Setaweet that were leading the march.