Tigray Genocide Inquiry Commission Blasts Transitional Justice Process For Inefficacy, Partiality

Report reveals close to 300,000 women and girls victimized by sexual violence

A landmark report from the Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide (CITG) has accused Ethiopia’s transitional justice process of being structurally incapable of addressing crimes committed during the Tigray war.

The report’s authors described the process as “non-compliant with international standards” and warned that it risks becoming a tool of “victor’s justice” rather than a path to genuine accountability.

The 150-page document titled ‘War-Induced Genocidal Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Tigray’ provides one of the most comprehensive assessments yet of conflict-related sexual violence in the region.

Drawing on data from more than 481,000 respondents, nearly one-third of the accessible female population aged 15 and above, and more than 2,000 in-depth interviews, the report concludes that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Tigray was not random but systematic and constituted “genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes”.

At the heart of the report lies an unflinching critique of Ethiopia’s transitional justice initiative, launched by the Council of Ministers in early 2024 as part of the post-Pretoria Agreement process.

The Commission argues that the framework does not comply with international standards, and criticizes the dialogue’s architects for failing to apply a victim-centered approach, lacking gender sensitivity, and operating without public trust and inclusiveness.

“The national accountability mechanism, including the ongoing national transitional justice, is unlikely to investigate and prosecute the crime of genocide committed against Tigrayan women and girls,” reads the report.

It warns that the process is fundamentally compromised by political interference and by the fact that the federal government, whose security forces are among the accused, retains control of the design and implementation of justice mechanisms.

“The implication of the ENDF [Ethiopian National Defense Force] and civil officials in the commission of genocide made it unlikely for the federal government to investigate and prosecute its own crimes,” the report states.

Its authors accuse the federal government of seeking to end independent investigation into the crimes committed during and after the two-year war.

In a stinging legal analysis, the Commission argues that by situating transitional justice under federal jurisdiction and the oversight of the Ministry of Justice, “Ethiopia’s process risks shielding perpetrators from accountability”.

“The fact that the federal government is one of the alleged perpetrators makes it unlikely to impartially and independently render genuine prosecution through its institutions. This is proven by the track records of the federal government over and over again,” reads the report/

State and Individual Responsibility

The Commission asserts that both Ethiopia and Eritrea bear state-level responsibility for atrocities committed during the conflict.

“Ethiopia is additionally accountable for failing to prevent serious SGBV crimes committed by other state or non-state actors on its territory,” the regional commission contends in its report.

It also identifies a wide range of perpetrators — including members of the ENDF, the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF), and regional militias — as directly involved in acts of genocidal sexual violence.

“There is reasonable ground to believe that the ENDF, the Amhara Forces, and the EDF have committed genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,” the report concludes.

According to the findings, the EDF accounted for 55.63 percent of recorded SGBV cases, followed by 35.78 percent attributed to ENDF, 7.5 percent to Amhara forces, and 0.07 percent to Afar forces, while 2.89 percent were cases of co-perpetration.

The Commission’s data reveal the staggering scale of sexual violence committed during the war.

Nearly 60 percent of the 481,000 respondents reported surviving at least one form of gender-based violence. No less than 152,000 of them were the victims of rape, and close to 13 percent endured sexual slavery.

Seventy percent of rape survivors who identified the number of perpetrators reported gang rape, with 13 percent describing attacks involving between six and 50 perpetrators.

The report documents patterns of sexual violence that were “deliberate, organized, and used as a weapon of war” — including forced impregnation, mutilation, and the insertion of foreign objects into reproductive organs.

The Commission concludes that perpetrators “prevented birth through forced impregnation or induced miscarriage,” and “inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction” of Tigrayans in whole or in part.

Beyond the documentation of atrocities, the report places significant emphasis on the failure of local systems to respond to survivors’ needs. It found that 73.6 percent of survivors experienced high-level psychological distress, while nearly half reported social exclusion or family breakdown as a result of stigma and rejection.

The Commission stresses that economic losses were no less severe, with many survivors “unable to work due to physical injury or trauma or forced to relocate after looting and destruction of their property.”

It emphasizes that such enduring consequences make transitional justice not merely a legal question but a public health and social emergency requiring state-backed rehabilitation.

Nevertheless, the federal government is failing to provide meaningful redress or protection, according to the Commission.

“The transitional justice process as designed does not provide a realistic pathway to address sexual violence committed by the EDF,”reads the report.

It echoes earlier warnings by the UN International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) that “the vast majority of Ethiopians asked by the Commission about accountability and healing expressed their complete lack of trust in Ethiopian state institutions to carry out a credible process of transitional justice”.

The document stated that  the ICHREE’s own assessment of the government’s actions to date highlights this mistrust.

“The government’s consultation process falls well short of African Union and international standards. Rather than reflecting victims’ voices, it is hostage to an arbitrary deadline for completion. Impunity, rather than accountability, is the norm regarding past violations,”it reads.

Commission investigators say survivors’ testimonies confirm this sentiment — 81 percent of respondents expressed willingness to pursue legal action, but those who are not looking to institute legal action believe that the legal institutions are biased and incompetent.

“The prosecution of the transitional justice process will end up selective and as victor’s justice as there is no means available to run the TJ process impartially,” the report concludes.

The Commission calls for the establishment of international accountability mechanisms, including referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or the creation of an ad hoc tribunal “so that the crimes of sexual violence would be investigated and prosecuted by an impartial and independent body”.

Its authors also urge that health facilities must be reconstructed and expanded to accommodate confidential survivor-centered medical services, and call for socio-economic empowerment programs to combat stigma and restore livelihoods.

For the Commission, the question now is whether the federal government will allow an impartial reckoning. The report frames transitional justice as the decisive moral and political test of the post-war era.

“Without impartial investigation and prosecution, healing and justice for affected women cannot be achieved,” reads the report.