December 25, 2025 (Tigray Mass Media Agency) The Commission of Inquiry on Tigray Genocide (CITG), in its August 2025 report titled “The Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Tigray: A Special Assessment Report,” has documented widespread human rights violations and severe humanitarian suffering affecting internally displaced persons across Tigray, based on assessments conducted at 92 IDP sites and host communities.
According to the CITG report, these sites have witnessed large-scale killings, enforced disappearances, injuries, and sexual violence, compounded by extreme shortages of food, shelter, healthcare, and education. The Commission warns that the cumulative impact of these conditions has pushed displaced communities into life-threatening vulnerability.
The CITG report identifies Hitsats IDP camp in Asgede district of Northwestern Tigray, as one of the hardest-hit sites. During the March–April 2025 assessment period, the Commission recorded 325 deaths at the camp alone, primarily caused by lack of food, medical services, and other basic necessities.
As detailed in the CITG findings, Hitsats camp hosts more than 4,625 displaced households, most of them from Western Tigray, with others originating from Northwestern Tigray, various regions of Ethiopia, and Sudan. The report notes that IDPs are grouped by seven weredas according to their areas of origin, living in highly congested conditions under extreme heat.
The CITG report further describes how shelters in Hitsats are largely made of torn plastic sheets, forcing many IDPs to spend their days under trees to escape the sun. It also documents that humanitarian assistance has been irregular and below standard, leaving many households, some of whom have never received aid, in urgent need of support.
According to the Commission, more than 76 elderly people and orphaned children were found living outside the main camp area, excluded from assistance because they were unable to walk long distances for registration. The CITG report also records two additional deaths caused by the collapse of makeshift shelters.
The CITG concludes that displacement to Hitsats is ongoing, with new arrivals continuing to enter the camp, including households coming from Sudan. The Commission warns that without immediate and sustained humanitarian intervention, conditions at Hitsats and other IDP sites in Tigray will continue to deteriorate, turning displacement itself into a direct cause of preventable death in Tigray.
