UNHCR appeals against human smuggling

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has urged governments to work to combat illegal smuggling after a boat carrying Ethiopians and Somalis capsized on Saturday in the Gulf of Aden. By Sunday, 22 of the 120 passengers on their way to Yemen were reported dead, while another 28 were missing. Less than a week earlier, on 16 January, 20 Africans – four Ethiopians and 16 Somalis – died while making the crossing from a port near to Bossaso in the Puntland regon of Somalia, according to a UNHCR press release. Six had thrown themelves overboard because they could no longer bear the thirst, while a further fourteen died on board of hunger and thirst, the agency reported. UNHCR spokesman William Spindler noted that the incidences of smuggling and trafficking that came to light were probably only “the tip of the iceberg”. “There has to be a big effort to combat this phenomenon of trafficking, while still allowing these same people access to protection,” he said from Geneva. The Somalis and Ethiopians were typically fleeing either poverty and hunger or persecution and war, he said. Authorities in Somalia needed to sensitise potential migrants and asylum seekers to the dangers of such journeys, he said: “They should still be allowed to leave, but they should know the dangers,” he said. It was essential, he added, that messages about the associated risks came from “neutral” media sources as well as the government. This way, potential migrants would “see it’s not an attempt to stop them from leaving,” Spindler noted. Every year, thousands of asylum seekers and migrants arrive in Yemen, a party to the 1951 refugee convention. In the period from 12-17 January alone, 22 boats carrying an unknown number of Somalis and Ethiopians arrived in Yemeni ports. While there are some 80,000 registered refugees currently in Yemen, 75 percent of whom are Somalis, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of migrants go unregistered. Somalis reportedly pay between US $30 and US $50 for the voyage to Yemen, often seen as a transit point to the job markets of other Gulf States, such as Saudi Arabia. “In many cases trafficking is the only option,” said Spindler. “These people can’t afford commercial flights or boats.” Yemeni authorities automatically grant refugee status to Somali citizens who register with UNHCR.