United Nations. The UN on Monday considered the report by the NGO Human Rights Watch accusing Saudi border guards of having killed “hundreds” of Ethiopian migrants “very worrying”, although it said it is difficult to “confirm” those accusations.
The report presents “very serious accusations”, according to the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric.
The organization’s Human Rights office, he said, is “aware of the situation and has had contacts although it is very difficult for them to confirm the situation at the border.”
Dujarric recalled that “preventing migration with the barrel of a rifle is intolerable.”
According to the HRW report, released Monday, Saudi border guards shot and killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants trying to cross into the wealthy kingdom via Yemen between March 2022 and June 2023.
The HRW report is based on interviews with 38 Ethiopian migrants who tried to cross Saudi Arabia from Yemen, and on satellite images and videos and photos on social media or from other sources.
“All those interviewed described scenes of horror: women, men and children scattered across the mountainous landscape, severely injured, dismembered or already dead.”
A Saudi government source told AFP that the report’s allegations “are unfounded and not based on reliable sources.”