The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has called on the international community to increase its support to Yemen to help it deal with the growing influx of African asylum-seekers, mostly Somalis.
UNHCR head António Guterres said Yemen would not be able to cope on its own. "It needs more from us, more meaningful solidarity from the international community," he said.
"When we compare the needs with what we do, we have to confess that we are doing very little compared to what is needed. I make a strong appeal to the international community to help Yemen. But Yemen is a very poor country. The international community needs to give solid support to Yemen to help the country cope with its challenges."
The UN Development Programme’s Human Development Index for 2007-08 ranks Yemen 153rd out of 177 countries.
"We need to step up efforts at the departure points to discourage those crossings which can be avoided. This will require resolving the root causes of this movement, including the conflict in Somalia, which requires concerted long-term efforts by the international community," Guterres said.
Guterres told IRIN the UNHCR’s budget for Yemen had tripled, and now stood at about US$20 million.
Guterres was speaking at a two-day conference on migration in Sanaa, on 19 May, attended by senior government officials from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, the Gulf states and Yemen, and entitled Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden. The conference, which was funded by the European Commission (EC), was organised by the UNHCR and the Mixed Migration Task Force for Somalia, a body composed of international agencies working in Somalia and funded by the EC.
Guterres said more and more people were risking their lives to get to Yemen - driven by fighting, persecution, environmental degradation and deprivation - and he praised Yemen’s role in protecting them: "Aware of the protection needs of these people, the government of Yemen extends prima facie recognition to Somalis," he said.
Over 500,000 refugees
Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said Yemen had been burdened by ever increasing numbers of African asylum-seekers since the 1990s. "The number of refugees exceeds 500,000, while those registered with the UNHCR represent only the tip of an iceberg," he told conference participants.
He agreed that the problem must be solved by finding solutions in Somalia and that Yemen could not tackle the problem on its own without effective support from international agencies and donor countries.
The UNHCR said over 15,300 people had arrived in Aden in the first four months of 2008. This compared to 7,166 arrivals in the same period in 2007.
Smuggling operations
According to an unpublished paper (Mixed Migration Through Somalia and Across the Gulf of Aden) presented at the conference, the illegal sea crossings start from areas around the ports of Bossaso (Puntland) and Obock (Djibouti). It said most people attempting to use these routes came from three areas: the Oromo/Tigrinya regions of Ethiopia, the Somali national regional state of Ethiopia, and south-central Somalia.
The paper noted that a relatively new development was that Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians were also beginning to make the hazardous voyage from Puntland to Yemen.
"In Bossaso, several hundred people are involved in the smuggling network, including boat owners, boat crews, restaurant and cafe owners, telephone centre owners, policemen, businessmen, truck owners and landlords. Smugglers use agents to make radio calls to Mogadishu and other places."
The paper said a Puntland police report had indicated that there were 12-14 boats involved in the smuggling operations, while locally there were rumours that up to 26 boats had been operating on the route at the end of 2007, with each boat making an average of two journeys a month. The average cost of a trip to Yemen was US$50-$80 per person, with a faster boat costing US$150.
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UNHCR head António Guterres said Yemen would not be able to cope on its own. "It needs more from us, more meaningful solidarity from the international community," he said.
"When we compare the needs with what we do, we have to confess that we are doing very little compared to what is needed. I make a strong appeal to the international community to help Yemen. But Yemen is a very poor country. The international community needs to give solid support to Yemen to help the country cope with its challenges."
The UN Development Programme’s Human Development Index for 2007-08 ranks Yemen 153rd out of 177 countries.
"We need to step up efforts at the departure points to discourage those crossings which can be avoided. This will require resolving the root causes of this movement, including the conflict in Somalia, which requires concerted long-term efforts by the international community," Guterres said.
Guterres told IRIN the UNHCR’s budget for Yemen had tripled, and now stood at about US$20 million.
 Photo: Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN  |
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"When we compare the needs with what we do, we have to confess that we are doing very little compared to what is needed. I make a strong appeal to the international community to help Yemen." |
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UNHCR head António Guterres |
Guterres was speaking at a two-day conference on migration in Sanaa, on 19 May, attended by senior government officials from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, the Gulf states and Yemen, and entitled Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden. The conference, which was funded by the European Commission (EC), was organised by the UNHCR and the Mixed Migration Task Force for Somalia, a body composed of international agencies working in Somalia and funded by the EC.
Guterres said more and more people were risking their lives to get to Yemen - driven by fighting, persecution, environmental degradation and deprivation - and he praised Yemen’s role in protecting them: "Aware of the protection needs of these people, the government of Yemen extends prima facie recognition to Somalis," he said.
Over 500,000 refugees
Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said Yemen had been burdened by ever increasing numbers of African asylum-seekers since the 1990s. "The number of refugees exceeds 500,000, while those registered with the UNHCR represent only the tip of an iceberg," he told conference participants.
He agreed that the problem must be solved by finding solutions in Somalia and that Yemen could not tackle the problem on its own without effective support from international agencies and donor countries.
The UNHCR said over 15,300 people had arrived in Aden in the first four months of 2008. This compared to 7,166 arrivals in the same period in 2007.
Smuggling operations
According to an unpublished paper (Mixed Migration Through Somalia and Across the Gulf of Aden) presented at the conference, the illegal sea crossings start from areas around the ports of Bossaso (Puntland) and Obock (Djibouti). It said most people attempting to use these routes came from three areas: the Oromo/Tigrinya regions of Ethiopia, the Somali national regional state of Ethiopia, and south-central Somalia.
The paper noted that a relatively new development was that Kenyans, Ugandans and Tanzanians were also beginning to make the hazardous voyage from Puntland to Yemen.
"In Bossaso, several hundred people are involved in the smuggling network, including boat owners, boat crews, restaurant and cafe owners, telephone centre owners, policemen, businessmen, truck owners and landlords. Smugglers use agents to make radio calls to Mogadishu and other places."
The paper said a Puntland police report had indicated that there were 12-14 boats involved in the smuggling operations, while locally there were rumours that up to 26 boats had been operating on the route at the end of 2007, with each boat making an average of two journeys a month. The average cost of a trip to Yemen was US$50-$80 per person, with a faster boat costing US$150.
maj/ar/cb
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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