Authorities in Ethiopia's Tigray region have been abducting and forcibly recruiting children as young as 15 as it prepares for renewed conflict with the federal government, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday.
Officials have been grabbing men and boys in nighttime house-to-house searches, from offices and other workplaces such as gold-mining sites, the rights group said.
AFP has previously reported on the forced recruitment in the northern state, which fought a brutal civil war against the central government in 2020-2022 and again looks on the verge of conflict.
"The Tigrayan authorities' campaign to forcibly recruit men and boys into their forces is creating a climate of fear throughout the region," said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at HRW.
Human Rights First-Ethiopia previously told AFP that "forced military recruitment is taking place across most areas of Tigray".
Local officials have been calling for veterans to re-enlist, and in June issued a proclamation compelling military service.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front, which dominates the region, has denied using forced recruitment.
But HRW says the campaign intensified in late April with "mass roundups in streets, markets, and gold-mining sites... and used neighborhood informants to identify potential recruits".
"Three armed men came to my house... wearing TDF (Tigray Defense Forces) uniforms," one former fighter who escaped recruitment in April told HRW.
"I was not the only one: about 17 others were taken with me to the town's police station. There were four or five youth around 16 or 17 with us."
A witness in Adi Gudem town told HRW that police and soldiers abducted workers and farmers one morning in late June.
"One cart owner tried to escape, but the militias began beating him so hard, he fell unconscious," the witness said.
Potential recruits told HRW they were sleeping outside, or fleeing Tigray entirely, to escape recruitment.
"We have to change locations every night," said one 30-year-old.
"But you can't feel secure while running and hiding... If they can't find you, they take your younger relatives."
