Source · Select Committees · International Development Committee
Recommendation 38
38
Improved access has allowed agencies to scale up their response.
Conclusion
Improved access has allowed agencies to scale up their response. World Vision had 82 staff in Tigray before and during the conflict but are in the process of hiring hundreds more. Their total spend in Tigray last year was about $3.9 million and is expected to be over $25 million this year.92 On 7 April, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi recognised that humanitarian operations were scaling up as access widened but he stressed efforts needed to be accelerated to cope with the large numbers of displaced people arriving in urban areas.93 83 Ethiopia: situation in Tigray, Briefing Paper Number 09147, House of Commons Library, 25 February 2021, p.4 84 UNHCR, Remarks by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi at the press conference in Addis Ababa., 1 February 2021; Ethiopia: situation in Tigray, Briefing Paper Number 09147, House of Commons Library, 25 February 2021, p.4 85 OCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview Ethiopia, February 2021, p.17 86 OCHA, Ethiopia – Tigray Region Humanitarian Update: Situation Report, 13 March 2021, p.2 87 OCHA, Ethiopia – Tigray Region Humanitarian Update: Situation Report, 8 March 2021, p.1 88 Q6 [Paul Turnbull] 89 International Crisis Group, Podcast: Risks of Starvation Rise in Ethiopia’s Tigray War, 23 February 2021 90 International Crisis Group, Podcast: Risks of Starvation Rise in Ethiopia’s Tigray War, 23 February 2021 91 Q8 [Edward Brown] 92 Q6 [Edward Brown] 93 UNHCR, Regional Update 14: Ethiopia Situation (Tigray Region), 16 March – 7 April, 12 April 2021 18 The humanitarian situation in Tigray
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
We do not share this assessment. There remain pressing issues regarding the importation of communications equipment and travel approvals, for example, that Mr Beasley’s visit did not address. Whilst there have been some, more recent, small improvements in access to telecommunications equipment by UN agencies, NGOs still have very little access. Weapons bearers also continue to routinely deny access to humanitarian agencies and loot humanitarian aid that has been delivered. There remains a need to continue to press the Government of Ethiopia, the Government of Eritrea, TPLF and other forces controlling territory to ensure widespread and sustained access for humanitarian actors in the region. We also continue to call for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean forces.