Refugees in Yemen, stories from life [Archives:2003/650/Reportage]

Yasser Mohammed Al-Mayyasi
At times in life, there are unfortunate people who are forced to leave their countries for political, religious, social, economic, natural disaster-related or other reasons. They may be forced to leave for good or temporarily be driven out because of wars or epidemics leaving trails of stories that tell suffering of human life in an extremely unfair world.
All this had obliged the United Nations to start the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1950 following World War II in order to provide those unfortunate refugees with means to live a better life and protect their rights.
The countries mostly affected by this phenomenon were the developing countries. For example, the crisis in Somalia after 1991 and wars in the African Horn resulted in extreme suffering for inhabitants of this region. This resulted in a massive influx of refugees to the coasts of Yemen.
Somali refugees starting arriving to Yemen in 1991 and a 2001 census indicated that there are 62,947 registered refugee out of which 61,359 came from Somalia, while the rest came from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Palestine, Sudan, and Iraq.
Those refugees required food, security, health services and other human rights. Yemen had to provide for all those needs because it signed the Geneva Convention in 1951 related to refugees and later the protocol in 1967, resulting in a commitment to implement care for refugees based on international laws.
Yet consequences of accepting refugees especially in a developing country with such a pathetic economic profile are quite grave.
For example, Yemen has to save refugees who attempt to reach Yemeni coasts by vulnerable boats as many drown before arriving at Yemeni coasts. The country also needs to provide shelter, food, and medicine for those who do make it to the coasts. Many refugees then attempt to flee camps and move to cities without control and one can imagine the consequences of this step.
The UNHCR then comes to the picture, as it is responsible for monitoring and controlling the reception of refugees, but the problem is that many disappear into the cities and villages and tracing them becomes a major difficulty.

Risks in the sea:
Refugees' tragedy may well start just as their journey starts when crossing the sea. For example, Somalis fleeing their country, attempt to cross the Bab Al-Mandab straight to reach Yemeni coasts. Methods of traveling are often quite dangerous as Somalis sail on ships owned by greedy merchants who take this as profitable business and stop far from the shore because of coastal guards and therefore the refugees are forced to cross the remaining distance for many hours by small boats and sometimes swimming. Some drown on the way because of their inability to survive the distance. In many incidents, dozens would die all at once on sinking boats, while others would drown while swimming. Those who make it start another journey of suffering when trying to find a place in this unknown country.

On the land
The UNHCR estimates the annual number of refugees flowing to Yemen at around 10,000 persons, mostly coming from Somalia which is suffering from civil wars since 1991. Yemen as such is a country that suffers from a fragile economy and scarce resources. Problems occur not only during maintaining suitable camps for the refugees, which is a burden on the country's budget, but also when many of those escape and merge with the Yemeni people without having any legal documents or registered papers. Some of the refugees suffer from infectious illness and critical diseases such as AIDS. Recent reports said that more than 12 thousand cases have been registered. The parliamentary report referring to this issue strongly recommended not to grant permission to refugees without medical tests that prove them free from critical diseases. A report by UNHCR's stated that 80% of the refugees live in 10 of the Yemeni cities, while the rest continue to live in Kharaz and Al-Jaheen camps and are subjected to international monitoring.
Yemen is the only Asian country that continues to receive refugees from the Horn of Africa and provides them with camps in many districts in spite of the fact that this means a lot of efforts and expenses.

Refugee camps in Yemen
Haifa'a Camp in Shabwa is one of the camps that receive a high number of refugees. Al-Khokha Camp receives Eritrean refugees and includes 2600 person.
Najd Qaseem Camp in Taiz was planned to receive the Ethiopian refugees post 1991 crises and it used to give refuge to 550 refugees, but it closed down after the inhabitants left the camp and refugees infiltrated into the cities.
Al-Makha Camp in Taiz governorate contains about 500 Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees.
Al-Kood Camp in Abyan was designed to receive the Somali refugees but was closed down due to its unsuitable location.
Jiheen Camp in Abyan is where many of the Somali refugees remain before they are transferred to Kharaz Camp.
Kharaz Camp in Lahj is the largest refugee camp in Yemen and was established in a modern way by the UNHCR. It includes schools, a medical center and operates a health aid program. It contains around 500 Ethiopian and 15,000 Somali refugees and still is receiving more every year.
Although Yemen has been putting in great efforts in this field yet it urgently requires more assistance from international organizations and has indeed requested help. In the late 1990s the UNHCR carried out a number of projects in Yemen with the cooperation with 4 international NGOs and 3 local NGOs and the new camp in Kharaz was established at a cost of USD 2.3 Million.
One hundred and twenty tents were set up for sheltering the surplus of refugees and the Common European Group for Humanitarian Affairs contributed an amount of $250,000 and used this amount for water and medical services at the camp. A health aid program covering accommodation, medical, educational, social guidance, technical training and income generating services was also established. In urban areas the aid is focused on the social services, legal help and employment procedures.

Protection of refugee rights
Like in any other country, refugees do live in Yemen with respect and dignity and they have legal problems relating to their lawful stance with the Yemeni legislation. That is because Yemeni laws do not contain any articles that deal with this issue. Recently a seminar was held in Sana'a on the problems of refugees and means to protect their rights as it focused on the legal aspects to tackle the issue.
Finally the issue of refugees in Yemen has now become a major international responsibility and it is every country's responsibility to take part in assisting Yemen in this issue. It is a humanitarian issue that concerns the whole world especially when a developing country opens its door and uses its humble resources to shelter those unfortunate ones who left their country because of natural disasters, warfare, or other causes that could happen in Africa, in Europe, in Asia, and everywhere on this planet. It is important to hold on tight to the values of the Geneva Convention and the principles the UNHCR was built upon because no one knows whether he or she would one day be a refugee some where on this small planet.
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