The war between Tigray and Ethiopia is “over” and many Tigrayan migrants are being sent back. Amongst those returning migrants, are many who suffered exploitation and violence before they fled or while abroad. Some of the most egregious accounts are from women who left due to systematic sexual and gender-based violence. And of these returning refugees who have already endured trauma, particularly the women, many are now being subjected to a lack of gender‑sensitive screening, support, or safe shelter on return.

Further, in some cases, refugees are experiencing modern slavery conditions at the hands of officials. All these factors are turning what should be a safe return into survivor re‑victimization. It also underlines the perils of a new migration policy trend, “migration externalization”.

Refugees facing modern slavery on arrival

Horrific accounts of sexual violence are well documented as part of a brutal war that engulfed Tigray between 2020 and 2022. Now the war is over, and many women and girls who fled to other locations are returning along with the men. But among those interviewed, some were transferred to remote detention centers, farms, or informal holding facilities. Once there, they experienced beatings, forced labor, denial of food or medical care, and were not allowed to contact relatives. All indicators of modern slavery.

Gender Empowerment Movement Tigray (GEM Tigray) writing for Addiss Standard stated:

The story of Tigrayan women—deported, displaced, abused—shows what happens when migration governance becomes about deterrence, removal, and externalization, rather than protection, dignity, and rights. For many, “return” is not a return to home—it is a spiral of detention, invisibility, re‑victimization, and trauma.

GEM Tigray shares that this treatment “raises pressing human rights, moral, and policy questions.” It also follows a global trend of governments embracing an “externalization” of migration control. The forced returns of Tigrayans underline this global shift. Destination states are increasingly outsourcing border control, returns, and “migration management” to third or transit countries. In addition, harsh deportation and readmission policies are voted in that lack basic human rights standards. A cruel shift from the protection and asylum refugees should be given. Further, the trend does not fulfill the moral and practical obligations international law places on the treatment of refugees.

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