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(4) forcing family members to watch relatives being 
brutally violated; 
Whereas the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the 
Office of the United Nations High Commission for 
Human Rights conducted an investigation and released 
their report on November 3, 2021, which documented 
likely violations of human rights and humanitarian law 
obligations committed by all parties to the conflict that 
may also amount to war crimes involving sexual and gen-
der-based violence of women, girls, men, and boys, includ-
ing but not limited to— 
(1) gang, oral, and anal rape; 
(2) insertion of foreign objects into the vagina; 
(3) transmission of HIV; and 
(4) forced nudity; 
Whereas women and girls continue to be impacted dispropor-
tionately by the months-long government shutdown of es-
sential services, including electricity, banking, and tele-
communications, and the obstruction of humanitarian as-
sistance, including food, fuel, medicines, and other hu-
manitarian supplies, which negatively impacts their well- 
being and heightens their risk of sexual exploitation and 
abuse, including by aid workers, in exchange for nec-
essary supplies; 
Whereas growing food insecurity, a lack of fully functioning 
health facilities, the result of deliberate attacks by war-
ring parties on health care, the spread of COVID–19, 
and the shortage of basic needs in Tigray is reportedly 
contributing to alarming rates of malnutrition and risks 
of negative coping mechanisms, including sex for survival; 
Whereas, due to the deliberate disruptions of humanitarian 
supplies, including to construct shelter or for water, sani-
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tation, and hygiene, many displaced civilians are shel-
tering in unfinished or damaged buildings, most of which 
do not include separate spaces or latrines for women and 
girls, thus increasing risks of gender-based violence and 
the spread of certain infectious diseases; 
Whereas over 2,100,000 people have been internally displaced 
in Tigray, and an estimated 5,200,000 people there are 
in need of humanitarian assistance as of August 2021, 
while another 300,000 have reportedly been displaced in 
the neighboring Amhara and Afar regions, where an esti-
mated 1,700,000 are facing food insecurity as a result of 
the spreading hostilities; 
Whereas women and girls who are internally displaced con-
tinue to be at increased risk of sexual violence; 
Whereas widespread reports and hundreds of firsthand ac-
counts indicate that women and girls have been subjected 
to sexual violence, including gang raping, genital burning, 
the forcing of foreign objects into their genitals, and sex-
ual slavery; 
Whereas systematic mass sexual violence against women and 
girls by combatants in Tigray is estimated to have been 
used against as many as 10,000 survivors or more since 
the conflict began, and nearly a quarter of reports re-
ceived by 1 agency alone involved gang rape with victims 
as young as 8 years old; 
Whereas the United Nations Population Fund projects that 
as many as 22,500 survivors of sexual and gender-based 
violence in Tigray may seek clinical care in 2021, and re-
ported that there is no systematic response or survivor- 
centered 
care 
for 
most 
survivors, 
which 
further 
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traumatizes survivors and impedes their ability to access 
services; 
Whereas Tigray’s Regional Health Bureau recorded approxi-
mately 1,324 cases of gender-based violence between No-
vember 2020 and May 2021, and incidents of gender- 
based violence are likely to be undercounted due to lack 
of access to the conflict zones, stigmatization of sexual 
assault, survivors’ fear of retaliation, and limited access 
to services and trusted medical service providers; 
Whereas over 3,800,000 people have limited access to services 
in Tigray, with only 38 percent of health facilities oper-
ational, with aid agencies impeded from rehabilitating 
and reequipping health facilities, and 29 percent of 
health facilities at partial capacity to provide post-rape 
treatment; 
Whereas, despite the urgent need to provide survivors of sex-
ual violence with support services and clinical manage-
ment of rape, including emergency medical treatment, 
postexposure prophylaxis to prevent sexually transmitted 
infections, emergency contraceptives, and psychosocial 
support, the Ethiopian Government has blocked the deliv-
ery of medicines and medical supplies, many health work-
ers have not received salaries for months, proper gender- 
based violence case management services, including men-
tal health and psychosocial support, remain insufficient 
in most locations in Tigray, and emergency contraception 
was only available in less than half of the facilities as-
sessed by the United Nations; 
Whereas health care workers documenting cases of sexual vio-
lence face reprisal attacks, and the majority of health fa-
cilities in the Tigray region have been damaged and 
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looted, impeding crisis-affected populations’ access to 
health services; 
Whereas international humanitarian actors continue to face 
access and security issues that prevent aid from reaching 
the victims of violence, and ongoing conflict has resulted 
in the deaths of at least 23 humanitarian aid workers in 
Tigray since November 2020; 
Whereas journalists reporting on evidence of sexual violence 
operating in Tigray face threats, intimidation, harass-
ments, and arrests; 
Whereas the Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on 
Human Rights Practices noted significant human rights 
abuses in Ethiopia, including ‘‘lack of investigation of 
and accountability for violence against women; crimes in-
volving violence or threats of violence targeting members 
of racial or ethnic minority groups; and existence or use 
of laws criminalizing same-sex sexual conduct’’; 
Whereas, in May 2021, the Department of State issued visa 
restrictions for Ethiopian and Eritrean Government offi-
cials and security forces, including those who have con-
ducted wrongful violence and abuses against people in the 
Tigray region; 
Whereas, in August 2021, the Department of the Treasury 
imposed sanctions on the Chief of Staff of the Eritrean 
Defense Forces under the Global Magnitsky Human 
Rights Accountability Act for being a leader of an entity 
engaged in serious human rights abuses, including sexual 
violence, committed during the ongoing conflict in Tigray, 
and cited the use of sexual violence ‘‘by men in uniform’’ 
as a weapon of war and ‘‘a means to terrorize and trau-
matize the entire population’’; 
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Whereas the United States issued a sanctions regime in Sep-
tember 2021, targeting those responsible for, or complicit 
in, prolonging the conflict in Ethiopia; 
Whereas the United States has already committed nearly 
$637,000,000 since November 2020 to scale up the hu-
manitarian response in Ethiopia, including programs to 
address food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as dedi-
cated support for survivors of gender-based violence such 
as case management, safe spaces, and psychosocial sup-
port; and 
Whereas global funding gaps for the Tigray humanitarian re-
sponse persist, particularly for services to address the 
unique and increasing needs of women and girls, with 
only $500,000 of the United Nations emergency funding 
appeal for Tigray in December 2020 identified for gen-
der-based violence programming and only $1,500,000 to 
meet a large and growing need for sexual and reproduc-
tive health care; Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) condemns the atrocities and possible crimes 
against humanity being perpetrated against women 
and girls in Ethiopia; 
(2) condemns the deliberate and widespread at-
tacks on health care, including deliberate destruction 
and occupation of facilities, by warring parties; 
(3) condemns the blockade of humanitarian as-
sistance, including for food, fuel, and medicines, and 
the shutdown of essential services including banking, 
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telecommunications, and electricity that is harming 
the civilian population, particularly women and girls; 
(4) notes the joint investigation conducted by 
the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the 
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Human Rights into the human rights violations and 
abuses allegedly committed by all parties in the con-
text of the Tigray conflict, and urges these parties 
to ensure that the investigation paves the way for a 
robust, independent, transparent, and impartial 
mechanism that can ensure evidence of related 
crimes are preserved for future accountability; 
(5) reaffirms the importance of United States 
diplomatic pressure on all parties to the conflict to 
permanently cease hostilities and respect the current 
cease-fire agreement, fulfill their obligations under 
international human rights and humanitarian law, 
and allow unhindered access for humanitarian re-
sponders to meet the needs of people impacted by 
the conflict; 
(6) emphasizes the critical importance of ensur-
ing women meaningfully participate in the design 
and implementation of humanitarian action and the 
negotiation of peace agreements to meet their unique 
needs in this crisis context, to protect their human 
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rights, and to provide an environment for reconcili-
ation; 
(7) urges the Governments of Ethiopia and Eri-
trea to— 
(A) condemn sexual and gender-based vio-
lence perpetrated against women and girls in 
this conflict; 
(B) hold all perpetrators who commit acts 
of sexual and gender-based violence account-
able; 
(C) provide redress to survivors of sexual 
and gender-based violence; and 
(D) ensure documentation and prompt in-
vestigation of reports of sexual and gender- 
based violence committed during the conflict 
that is survivor-centered; 
(8) emphasizes the urgent need of all parties to 
the conflict to— 
(A) commit to an immediate, indefinite, 
negotiated cease-fire; 
(B) issue clear and public instructions to 
armed forces and groups that forms of sexual 
and gender-based violence are prohibited and 
punishable on the basis of direct and command 
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responsibility, including superiors who ordered 
or failed to prevent or stop violations; and 
(C) engage in an inclusive political dia-
logue to work toward a lasting resolution to 
Ethiopia’s ethnic and political divisions; and 
(9) urges the President of the United States to 
ensure accountability for human rights abuses and 
atrocities committed against civilians, including 
women and girls in the Tigray region and neigh-
boring regions of Amhara and Afar, and other parts 
of Ethiopia, including by— 
(A) supporting the full investigation of 
atrocities against women and girls in Tigray, 
Amhara, Afar, and other parts of northern 
Ethiopia; and 
(B) directing the Department of State and 
the United States Agency for International De-
velopment to— 
(i) leverage existing programs and al-
locate new resources to provide comprehen-
sive support to survivors of sexual and 
gender-based violence, including sexual and 
reproductive health services, psychosocial 
care, and legal services, including those 
under the United States Strategy on 
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Women, Peace, and Security per the 
Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017; 
(ii) support local civil society organi-
zations, particularly women’s organiza-
tions, that provide relief to survivors of 
sexual violence and ensure staff security is 
prioritized for frontline responders; and 
(iii) support the United Nations and 
other humanitarian aid responders to es-
tablish a coordination mechanism to ensure 
comprehensive prevention, mitigation, and 
response to sexual and gender-based vio-
lence. 
Æ 
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