# _Refugees from Eritrea_

Ethiopia currently hosts about 174, 000 Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers, representing 22.5% of registered refugees in the country (UNHCR, 2020b). Since 2000, Eritreans have fled political persecution, open-ended military conscription, systemic human rights violations, and economic hardship (World Bank Group, 2019). Some also seek family reunification with relatives in Ethiopia. Among the Eritrean refugees, 28% are adult women and 25% adult men, with 44 percent children (Figure A3). Large numbers of unaccompanied and separated children among new arrivals have strained humanitarian and reception services, including immediate care arrangements, emergency education, and individual counseling (UNHCR, 2020a). Eritrean refugees lived in four camps in Tigray region and the two camps and settlements within host communities in Afar region. However, due to the conflict in Northern Ethiopia (within and outside Tigray region),<sup>5</sup> which broke out in November 2020, a significant number of Eritrean refugees who were hosted in Shimelba and Hitsats camps (in Tigray region) have been fleeing to other locations, with some relocating to Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps and other regions of Ethiopia (UNHCR, 2021). According to the UNHCR, the two refugee camps (Shimelba and Hitsats) have been destroyed and entirely deserted following the conflict.<sup>6</sup> The ongoing conflict and insecurity have continued to affect the delivery of services and provision of humanitarian assistance to Eritrean refugees as well as the internally displaced persons (IDPs). Moreover, the conflict has had a considerable impact on the deteriorating refugee-host relationships.

Many Eritrean refugees also live outside the camps following policy changes, which relaxed movement restrictions for Eritrean refugees. In 2010, Ethiopia implemented the out-of-camp scheme allowing Eritrean refugees to live outside camps on the condition that they are able to sustain themselves (Samuel, 2014). According to Ruaudel and Morrison-Métois (2017), there were more than 8,000 refugees living in Addis Ababa under this scheme in 2015.

For Eritrean refugees in camps, there is heavy dependence on humanitarian assistance, reflecting limited livelihood opportunities in the camps. The main types of jobs accessible to refugees are casual labor in the construction sector, self-employment in the business sector, and working with NGOs and ARRA. The camps have tended to not develop much economic activity because of high rates of exit. There have been high rates of secondary movement of Eritrean refugees out of the camps, particularly from Tigray, to urban centers within Ethiopia and to Europe through Sudan and Libya (UNHCR, 2020a).

> 5 The ongoing conflict in Northern Ethiopia is creating a full-scale humanitarian crisis with an ever-increasing IDP population. The limited access to cash, food, fuel and other essential supplies has severely hindered operational activities, which has created a complex  humanitarian situation (UNHCR, 2021).

> 6 According to the UNHCR, work is progressing in all seven sites in Dabat (in Amhara region) for the new Ale mwach refugee camp, which is planned to accommodate an expected 20,000 refugees to be relocated from Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps.

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