SIDA Member Mary’s Meals were special guests at a private event held in the Scottish Parliament this January hosted by Sarah Boyack MSP and Secure Scotland. The event aimed to highlight the disturbing rise in atrocity crimes worldwide, concentrating on the interlinked human rights abuses that are starvation and Conflict Related Sexual Violence, both of which are experienced widely in Tigray, Ethiopia today.
It is now 40 years since the reportage of the Ethiopian famine of 1984, when Live Aid put a focus on mass starvation in Tigray, awakening the attention of the world’s citizens and parliamentarians. Although the most recent war in Tigray has been described as the deadliest conflict of the 21st century and has claimed 800,000 lives, this remains hidden from the world. Despite a ceasefire, the region continues to experience incredible instability and a return to war looks likely.
The event saw members of the Ethiopian diaspora community in Scotland come together in parliament both in-person and virtually to ask for action from the Scottish Government in support of the people of Tigray and to watch extracts from Mary’s Meals film, ‘On the Frontlines of Hunger’.
The film is a documentary highlighting Tigray’s hidden hunger crisis. Filmed in 2024 in Tigray and London, ‘On the Frontlines of Hunger’ gives voice to the people of Tigray: people whose lives have been devastated by conflict and the threat of famine and drought, yet whose hope and resilience remain apparent and truly steadfast. The documentary reveals a reality the world has largely overlooked and calls on all of us to listen, to act, and to stand in solidarity.
On the night of the event Sarah Boyak MSP stated,
“Somewhere like Tigray might seem remote and distant, but we need to think about it now…what remedy can a small country offer? I think it is more than we let on.”
Alex Keay, former Head of Programmes at Mary’s Meals was at the event and talked of the surprise he felt when visiting school feeding sites ravaged by war in Tigray, sharing moving stories of classrooms that had been shelled and finding piles of charred spoons set alight by soldiers, that had previously been used for the school feeding programme.
Substantial aid cuts have severely hampered the humanitarian response in Tigray. In April 2025, the World Food Programme announced the suspension of food aid for 650,000 women and children living in hunger in Ethiopia, and warned food aid for a further 3.6 million people in the country was at risk. When cuts were first announced, Magnus McFarlane Barrow, CEO of Mary’s Meals, commented:
“They are happening at the worst possible moment, whilst the world’s poorest communities are already suffering extreme hunger as a result of conflicts and climate change.”
Mary’s Meals currently provide meals to 245,000 children experiencing unimaginable suffering in Tigray. You can watch their film, ‘On the Frontlines of Hunger’ below.
At the event on 8 January the Scottish Parliament was asked to consider what it might do to support the work of the Atrocity Standing Group to draw more attention to the nature of appalling war crimes being perpetrated against women and girls in Tigray and elsewhere in the world. Find out more here.
To find out more about Mary’s Meals work in Ethiopia and the other countries they work in across the world, you can visit their website here or contact Philanthropy and Institutional Partnerships Manager, Gemma Love.