The Amhara Association of America (AAA) on Thursday condemned what it described as an unlawful mass forced conscription campaign by the Ethiopian government in several regions of the country.
In a statement issued on 1 May, the U.S.-based advocacy group strongly condemned the alleged campaign being carried out by the “Abiy Ahmed led Oromo Prosperity Party regime across the Amhara Region, parts of Oromia Region and Addis-Ababa city of Ethiopia.”
The statement added that AAA field investigators had documented widespread military roundups of young men and minors in recent weeks, often allegedly involving threats of violence, beatings, and arbitrary detention. The AAA asserted these actions constitute violations of Ethiopian domestic law and international humanitarian and human rights law, including prohibitions against recruiting child soldiers.
According to the AAA, reports from Woldia, Debre-Tabor, Ibnat, Shewa-Robit, Hayk, Bahir-Dar, Addis-Ababa and Nazreth indicated a coordinated effort by government forces – cited as federal police, militias, riot dispersal units, and local administrators – to forcibly conscript civilians. The group stated young people have been abducted from public spaces and, in some instances, neighbourhoods were cordoned off for house-to-house searches. “In Hayk city, AAA received verified reports of children under the age of 18 being among those forcibly taken,” the statement said.
The association also reported that parents who pleaded for their sons’ release were allegedly beaten by local officials, including named military commanders and state militia leaders.
“These conscription drives are not acts of national defense. They are acts of desperation,” the AAA statement asserted. It claimed the government was attempting to replenish its forces after battlefield losses during conflict with Amhara groups by coercing civilians, including students, labourers, and vendors, into service. The AAA stated that young people in areas like South Gonder, West Gojjam, and South Wollo are fleeing or hiding, and those unable to pay bribes face detention and transfer to military training centres without due process.
The AAA claimed the campaign “amounts to a war crime,” particularly alleging the deliberate targeting of minors and the use of coercion and violence. It described the alleged conscription as part of a “broader pattern of crimes against humanity being committed by the Abiy regime,” citing alleged drone strikes on civilians, destruction of infrastructure, and mass starvation tactics, claiming the Amhara population suffers disproportionately.
“International silence in the face of this campaign is not neutrality, it is complicity,” the statement declared. The AAA criticised international financial institutions, naming the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), for disbursing funds to the Ethiopian government, which it claimed effectively underwrites the conflict. The group argued that a lack of international action has emboldened the government.
The association urged global governments, media, and human rights organisations to address the situation. “The mass forced conscription of civilians is not a sign of state strength, it is a desperate attempt to prolong a genocidal war that has already taken the lives of hundreds of thousands,” the statement concluded.
