As the UN’s World Food Programme warned Friday that in Tigray, a war-torn region of Ethiopia, nearly half of the population is suffering from a chronic lack of food and conditions “are set to worsen as people enter peak hunger season,” reports have revealed the heights of the desperation people face.
According to a Guardian story citing “reports from inside Tigray,” as a result of the government’s systematic blockage and seizure of remittances that millions of people depend on, starvation in the besieged province of Tigray is driving people to ever-more desperate methods.
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The report further claims that many women and girls are being forced to engage in sex work in order to survive. Other reports allege that suicide rates have increased.
A 16-year-old girl revealed in a conversation with the Guardian how the suffering of her parents and siblings drove her to sell her body on the streets.
“Relatives abroad had been sending us money through smugglers. But it is tough to find remittance smugglers these days. Those we knew are no longer operating. We sold every property we had. There is nothing to eat at home. So, I went to the street to sell my body. What option do I have?”
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This seems to be the story of many women and girls, some underage, others who once had promising careers. They are engaging in “survival sex”.
Another interviewee, this one a 27-year-old woman with a master’s degree, who before the war had a solid career, salary, and a plan to pursue a PhD, described how she was compelled to sell her body when the hunger claimed the life of her father.
This may come as a surprise, but she has money in her bank account. But since having been disconnected from the central federal system, banks in Tigray are now completely devoid of cash and have stopped issuing money.
“I watched my father die from malnourishment. He died in my hands. My mother is all bones. The warehouses are full of aid enough to feed the city. Fuel is not required to distribute aid within Mekelle. But people are dying unable to receive the aid they are entitled to. After I lost my father to starvation, I needed to do something to save my own life and my mother’s. Hunger does not give you time. I tried begging. But it does not work as there are many beggars. I became a prostitute.”
According to the WFP’s most recent assessment, which covered the period from November 2021 to June 2022, 89 per cent of Tigray’s six million inhabitants are facing food insecurity or inconsistent access to food.
(With inputs from agencies)
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