The United States has placed Magnitsky sanctions on the Commander of the Eritrean Defense Forces, Chief of Staff General Filipos Woldeyohannes, for major human rights abuses committed during the continuing conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia.
The US authorised these sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuses.
The US State Department condemned “in the strongest terms human rights violations and abuses in Ethiopia, including those involving the killings, forced removals, and systemic sexual violence.”
The State Department also called upon Eritrea “to immediately and permanently withdraw its forces from Ethiopia,” and urged all parties “to begin ceasefire negotiations and end human rights abuses.”
Other member States of the United Nations should also impose punitive sanctions on Commander Filippos Woldeyohannes and on all those responsible for atrocity crimes. And the UN Security Council should demand that Eritrea immediately withdraw all its military from Tigray.
