Ethiopian Orthodox Christians are facing severe, sustained, and systematically targeted persecution in multiple regions of Ethiopia. Verified documentation collected between 2023 and 2025 demonstrates a consistent pattern of identity-based violence directed at Orthodox believers, their clergy, their churches, and their communities.

Arsi Zone is presented as a documented case study because its evidence is complete, verified, and representative of a wider national pattern affecting Ethiopian Orthodox Christians in several regions. In Arsi Zone alone, verified records confirm more than nine hundred Orthodox Christians killed, over two hundred abducted or forcibly disappeared, more than forty churches burned, looted, desecrated, or forcibly closed, and at least one hundred nineteen homes destroyed. Victims include priests, deacons, elderly men and women, mothers, infants, children, and entire families. Thousands of survivors have been forcibly displaced into forests, farmland, and temporary shelters following repeated attacks on their villages.

Survivors consistently report night-time assaults on Orthodox households, roadside abductions following religious identity checks, targeted killings of clergy, destruction of churches, and attacks on sacred objects, including the Tabot (Ark). Across affected areas, communities report the absence of effective protection, delayed or nonexistent responses, and no credible investigations or accountability.

These acts constitute grave violations of fundamental rights under international law, including the right to life, freedom of religion or belief, and protection of religious and cultural heritage. The scale and persistence of these violations represent a serious international religious-freedom and humanitarian crisis requiring urgent action.

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አማርኛ (Amharic)
[Amharic translation here]