A record 107,500 people reach Yemen in 2012 after risky sea crossing
News Stories, 16 January 2013
Aid workers from a UNHCR partner organization help people who have just
reached the Yemeni shore by boat.
GENEVA, January 16 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency announced on Tuesday that
some 107,500 African refugees and migrants made the perilous sea journey
from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2012, the largest such influx since
UNHCR began compiling these statistics in 2006. The previous record high was
in 2011, when more than 103,000 people arrived in Yemen on smugglers' boats.
Some 84,000, or more than 80 per cent, of the arrivals were Ethiopian
nationals, while Somali refugees constituted the rest. Many migrants use
Yemen as a transit stop en route to states in the Persian Gulf.
Despite economic and security difficulties last year, Yemen continued to
receive and host a record number of people fleeing the Horn of Africa in
search of safety, protection and better economic conditions. All Somali
arrivals are automatically recognized as refugees by Yemeni authorities.
UNHCR conducts refugee status determination for Ethiopians and other
nationalities seeking asylum in Yemen. A very low percentage of Ethiopian
arrivals decide to seek asylum, either due to a lack of awareness and access
to asylum mechanisms or because they do not meet the criteria to be
recognized as refugees. However, for the vast majority of Ethiopian migrants
protection space is nearly non-existent and they are often extremely
vulnerable.
In Yemen, staff from UNHCR and its local partners conduct daily patrols
along the Gulf of Aden coast to provide assistance to all new arrivals that
pass through strategically positioned reception and transit centres.
However, there are substantial difficulties in responding to the various
protection risks that new arrivals face in transit and upon arrival in
Yemen.
Boats crossing to Yemen are often overcrowded and smugglers, in order to
avoid the Yemeni coastguard, sometimes force the passengers into the water,
often far from the shore and in stormy weather. UNHCR estimates that at
least 100 people have drowned or gone missing while trying to cross the Gulf
of Aden or the Red Sea in 2012.
New arrivals are at risk of exploitation, violence and sexual abuse. The
situation is particularly difficult along the Red Sea coast, where Yemeni
smugglers and traffickers are often waiting to receive new arrivals.
Traffickers mainly target Ethiopians looking to travel onwards to Persian
Gulf states.
Conflict and instability in the north and south of the country has curbed
the ability of Yemeni authorities to address trafficking. In 2012, there was
a proliferation in smuggling and trafficking and a significant increase in
reported cases of violence and abuse perpetrated against new arrivals. The
increased presence of armed gangs of smugglers and traffickers is an
additional risk to aid workers.
"The continually growing mixed migration movement from the Horn of Africa is
an issue affecting the region beyond Yemen," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards
said in Geneva on Tuesday. "We welcome the decision of the authorities in
[the Yemen capital] Sana'a to host a regional conference this year with
UNHCR as part of wider efforts to develop a strategy to manage the flow of
mixed migrants, and prevent and reduce smuggling and trafficking in the
region."
Yemen is a historic transit hub for migrants and stands out in the region
for its hospitality towards refugees. The country currently hosts more than
236,000 refugees, virtually all of them of Somali origin. There are also
more than 300,000 internally displaced Yemeni civilians in the north due to
recurring conflict since 2004.
Meanwhile, in the south, more than 100,000 internally displaced people have
returned to their areas of origin in Abyan governorate as the conflict
subsided and conditions improved. UNHCR has been advocating with the
government and international community to ensure the sustainability of these
returns.
On December 30, the UN refugee agency airlifted emergency relief items to
Aden, including blankets, plastic sheets and sleeping mats for the
returnees. The aid and further assistance arriving by sea will help some
30,000 vulnerable Yemeni families.
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Received on Wed Jan 16 2013 - 10:27:38 EST
