U.N. Human Rights office says african refugees poured into Yemen in 2012

Source: Yemen Times

New arrivals‭, ‬who take the risk of heading
 to Yemen by sea‭, ‬usually arrive
malnourished‭, ‬dehydrated and in shock‭.

SANA’A, Jan. 27 — A little more than 107,000 refugees arrived in Yemen from the Horn of  Africa in 2012, with a majority of the refugees making the voyage by sea, according to the U.N.’s Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 

This influx is the highest since OHCHR started collecting statistics on this in Yemen in 2006.

In 2011, roughly 103,000 refugees from the Horn of Africa found their way to Yemen. OHCHR says a vast majority arrived via smuggling on ships.  Nearly 80 percent of the refugees were from Ethiopia.  A Somalian population constitutes the remaining percentage.      

According to the organization, Yemen serves as migration point for refugees on their way to other Gulf countries in search of jobs.  

“There are reception centers along the coast in Kharaz, Hazar, Maifa’a, Ahwar and the Bab Almandab Strait, in which new migrants have been received via OHCHR’s executive partner, a local organization called Humanitarian Solidarity,” said Jamal Alnajar, a communications assistant for OHCHR. 

He said they help the migrants by providing them with water, food, medicine and clothes. 

Alnajar says the voyage across the Red Sea is very dangerous for the migrants.  Many suffer from malnutrition and are under the constant threat of drowning. Refugees have reported to OHCHR that boat smugglers often force them to jump into the sea early before reaching land.  The reception centers say they have rescued thousands from this fate.   

In a press statement from a representative from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Nafeed Hussein, stated the influx of refugees from the Horn of Africa to Yemen is not considered just an issue for Yemen, but is a larger, regional concern that  must be tackled in that context.

Hussein pointed out that OHCHR appreciates Yemen efforts and stances on refugees at a time when the country is facing economic difficulties.