VOA慢速英语2023--Rights Group: Saudi Border Guards Shot, Killed Ethiopian Migrants

Rights Group: Saudi Border Guards Shot, Killed Ethiopian Migrants

The rights group Human Rights Watch has accused border guards in Saudi Arabia of killing¹ Ethiopian migrants who tried to cross over into the kingdom from Yemen.

The group said it got its information from eyewitness² reports of attacks being carried out on the migrants by border troops. It also examined images that appeared to show dead bodies and burial sites in areas where the migrants attempted to cross. Human Rights Watch said government forces sometimes fired machine guns and launched bombs in their attacks.

The border attacks had led to the killings³ of hundreds of unarmed migrants – possibly thousands – in recent years, the group said in a new report released Monday.

The United Nations has already questioned Saudi Arabia about its troops opening fire on migrants along its southern border with war-torn Yemen. A Saudi government official told The Associated Press the Human Rights Watch report was "unfounded" and not based on dependable information. The official did not want to be identified and did not offer specific evidence of how the information was unfounded.

Yemen's Houthi rebels did not answer requests for comment. The AP reports the rebels are thought to earn tens of thousands of dollars every week smuggling⁴ migrants over the border.

About 750,000 Ethiopians live in Saudi Arabia. As many as 450,000 of them likely entered the kingdom without permission, the International Organization for Migration⁵ reported in 2022. The two-year civil war in Ethiopia's northern Tigray area displaced tens of thousands of people.

Saudi Arabia has been cooperating with Ethiopia's government to send thousands of migrants back to Ethiopia as it struggles with youth unemployment at home.

Human Rights Watch said it spoke⁶ to 38 Ethiopian migrants and four relatives of people who attempted to cross the border between March 2022 and June 2023. They said they saw Saudi guards shoot at migrants or launch explosives at groups.

The report said the group also examined over 350 videos and photographs posted to social media or gathered from other places between May 12, 2021, and July 18, 2023.

It also examined several hundred square kilometers of satellite imagery captured between February 2022 and July 2023. "These show dead and wounded migrants on the trails, in camps and in medical facilities..." the report said.

Migrants from Ethiopia have found themselves detained, abused and even killed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen during the war. But in recent months, U.N. officials have expressed concern about Saudi forces attacking migrants coming in from Yemen.

An Oct. 3, 2022, letter to the kingdom from the U.N. said its investigators⁷ had received concerning accusations⁸ "of cross-border artillery⁹ shelling and small arms fire, allegedly by Saudi security forces causing the deaths of up to 430 and injuring 650 migrants."

The U.N. letter states that if migrants are captured, they are reportedly often "subjected to torture by being lined up and shot through the side of the leg to see how far the bullet will go or asked if they prefer to be shot in the hand or the leg." The letter added, "Survivors¹¹ of such attacks reported having to ‘play dead' for a period of time in order to escape."

A letter sent by Saudi Arabia's mission to the U.N. in Geneva in March strongly denied the kingdom carries out any "systematic¹²" killings on the border. Saudi Arabia also said the U.N. had provided "limited information" so it could not comment further on the allegations.

Words in This Story

unfounded – adj. not based on facts

smuggle¹³ – v. to take something into or out of a place in an illegal or secret way

facility – n. a place where a particular activity happens

allege¹⁰ – v. to say that someone has done something wrong or illegal, but not prove it

prefer – v. to like one thing over another thing

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 eyewitness   

n.目击者，见证人

参考例句：

• The police questioned several eyewitness to the murder.警察询问了谋杀案的几位目击者。
• He was the only eyewitness of the robbery.他是那起抢劫案的唯一目击者。

3 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

4 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

5 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

9 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

10 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

11 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

12 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

13 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。