The International Community Must Act to Stop the Humanitarian Catastrophe at the Saudi Border and Hold Authorities Accountable

As the Saudi regime continues its brutal crimes against Ethiopian migrants at the kingdom’s border with Yemen, new reports have unveiled horrifying atrocities and grave violations that may amount to crimes against humanity. Indiscriminate killings, artillery shelling, rape, torture, and the treatment of migrants as live targets are not isolated incidents but rather a systematic policy implemented by Saudi authorities against thousands of migrants seeking safety and livelihood. This ongoing scandal, which unfolds day after day, cannot go unpunished.

According to survivor testimonies and human rights reports, Saudi forces have used machine guns and artillery to fire on groups of Ethiopian migrants between 2019 and 2024, killing hundreds and leaving many others with severe, life-threatening injuries. Survivors have described seeing decomposing bodies scattered along the border, migrants being forced to choose where they would prefer to be shot, and others being coerced into raping women at gunpoint after surviving direct bombardment.

These reports confirm that what is happening is not a series of isolated incidents but a deliberate and systematic policy pursued by Saudi authorities to drive away migrants, with no regard for human rights or international law.

Together for Justice strongly condemns these horrifying violations and calls on the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and international human rights organizations to take urgent action to halt the massacres being committed by Saudi forces at the border. The organization warns that continued international silence in the face of these crimes amounts to complicity—the world cannot continue to ignore this ongoing slaughter.

The brutality of these crimes, confirmed through survivor testimonies and verified by human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, demands an independent international investigation and the prosecution of those responsible. Saudi Arabia must face concrete consequences, not just meaningless verbal condemnations.

While Saudi Arabia continues to murder and brutalize migrants at its borders, it is spending billions to buy the silence of the international community through massive investments in sports and global events. The decision by FIFA to grant Saudi Arabia the right to host the 2034 World Cup—despite these ongoing atrocities—is a disgrace that makes the organization complicit in covering up crimes against humanity.

Together for Justice demands that FIFA reassess its ethical commitments and publicly threaten to revoke Saudi Arabia’s hosting rights unless these horrific violations cease immediately. A country cannot be promoted as a global hub for sports while it slaughters innocent people at its borders. FIFA is obligated to ensure that it does not provide a sportswashing platform for a regime engaged in massacres against refugees and migrants.

It is no longer acceptable for Saudi Arabia to continue buying political and diplomatic influence with money while its hands are stained with the blood of innocent people. The international community must act urgently to hold those responsible for these crimes accountable and impose severe sanctions on the Saudi authorities.

The persistence of these crimes against migrants exposes the true nature of the Saudi regime, which does not hesitate to crush innocent lives to serve its political and economic ambitions. Remaining silent in the face of these massacres is nothing short of complicity in murder, torture, and rape.

Together for Justice warns that failure to act against these violations will only embolden the Saudi regime to escalate its crimes, making the world an accomplice in this brutality. The time to act is now—before more lives are lost.