Mekelle፡Telaviv, Nairobi, Pretoria, London, (Tigray Herald)
War in Tigray traumatically violates women’s dignity
An award-winning exhibition in #Rome captures how amid the often-forgotten, but dramatic war in the Tigray region, women are facing grave violations of human dignity, especially from sexual violence being used as a weapon of war.
By Greta Giglio and Deborah Castellano Lubov
Women’s human dignity continues to be violated amid the ongoing war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, with sexual violence employed as a weapon of war.
As documented in a recent report written by L’Osservatore Romano’s Greta Giglio, Cinzia Canneri, winner of the World Press Photo International Photojournalism Award in the Africa – Long-Term Projects category, for her photo reportage “Women’s Bodies as Battlefields,” captured, or at least provided a glimpse of, the daily horrors these voiceless women are faced to endure.
Ms. Canneri’s exhibition is open in central Rome’s Palazzo delle Esposizioni until 8 June and documents the harrowing experiences of Eritrean and Tigrayan women subjected to sexual violence in conflict zones.
Tigray conflict is grave humanitarian emergency
The war, which began in northern Ethiopia in late 2020 between Ethiopian federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions, triggered famine, and devastated local infrastructure.
Despite its catastrophic impact, the Tigray conflict has received comparatively less global attention than other wars and conflicts.
Sexual violence as a weapon of war
Ms. Canneri’s exhibition reminds the world of the tragic consequences on women from the conflict, countless numbers of whom bear on their skin the marks of violence that have turned their bodies into battlefields.
In fact, the photographer decries, “Sexual violence is used as a weapon of war,” both “systematically and for political purposes.”
Largely underreported, rarely investigated
These human rights violations, the photographer warned, risk being ignored because they are rarely investigated and generally largely underreported.
According to Reuters, the war in Ethiopia has killed thousands and uprooted millions.
Tigrayans, the agency notes, tell of many arrests to force people into the local army, and residents say that even the elderly and pregnant woman are among those rounded up.
Institutions often deny the violence
“Meeting them was very special,” the photographer recounted, “because where there is suffering, there is often also a profound ability to connect with others.”
Community life is essential for Eritrean and Tigrayan women.
Abandoned by parents or husbands, women in refugee camps support each other — even by documenting the violence they’ve experienced.
One of Ms. Canneri’s photographs shows this exactly, hands reaching out to the camera, holding pieces of paper.
Staying in villages further exposes to risk of sexual violence
“The women began to write down their names, where the violence occurred, the date, what happened,” Ms. Canneri recalled, suggesting they cannot report it.
“Institutions,” she said, “deny the violence, which becomes a stigma for women. But they want people to talk about what happened. They want to give voice to this pain.”
Some women she suggested also choose to enlist in the army as a form of protection because staying in villages exposes them to the risk of sexual violence, and crossing borders endangers their lives.
Unimaginable horrors
Their stories transmit intense pain, including that, the photographer remembers of Zara (a fictional name), who was raped by three soldiers in her home.
When they entered, the photographer explained, a pot had been boiling on the fire, and when Zara’s little girl began to cry, to silence her, one of the soldiers threw the boiling pot on her, disfiguring her abdomen.
In the photo capturing Zara and her daughter, Ms. Canneri stated, “their faces are covered, because women suffer stigma after such violence.” The photographer, moreover, remembered speaking quite a bit with the mother about whether to take the photo, because of the fear of exposing the child, but in the end, we chose this pose.” Today, she said, the daughter attends an Italian Salesian school thanks to the Amici di Adwa association.
Finally, faced with this traumatic and harrowing reality for these women in Tigray, Ms. Canneri underscored, photography can sometimes be a vehicle for change, suggesting, “a story of suffering doesn’t always end in a single shot but can evolve and become a new narrative.”
Source ፡https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2025-05/women-facing-continued-sorrow-in-the-tigray.html
