UNHCR warns about deadly human smuggling from Somalia to Yemen [Archives:2006/980/Local News]
Amel Al-Ariqi
SANA'A, Sept. 10 ) The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a warning Friday about what it called the “deadly business” of human smuggling across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen. The warning follows the drowning deaths of four illegal migrants during the “first wave” of refugees attempting the crossing so far this season.
According to the UNHCR web site, four overcrowded fishing boats carrying 363 people between them have reached Yemen in less than a week, the UNHCR reported Thursday. Survivors from one of the boats stated that four other passengers died when the crew forced them overboard while still far from shore.
The boat that arrived in Yemen last Saturday had 97 survivors aboard, 54 of them Somalis and the rest from Ethiopia.
“Survivors said the crew beat passengers. They also forced them out of the boat last Saturday while still in deep water, causing the deaths of four. Only two bodies were recovered and they were buried, nameless, at the coast,” said Adel Jasmin, representative of the U.N. refugee agency in Yemen.
Two days later, a second boat with 87 passengers – 85 Somalis and two Ethiopians – arrived in Yemen. Two more boats arrived Tuesday carrying 179 people: 111 Ethiopians and the rest Somalis. As is often the case, survivors said the boats carried no food or water.
UNHCR officials voiced fear that a boat carrying approximately 100 people likely will arrive daily in Yemen during the September to April sailing season, thus jeopardizing the lives of countless individuals. During the three previous seasons, hundreds of Africans died on the crossing.
“Though the sea is still rough, the sailing season has begun. Hundreds of people, looking for refuge or better economic conditions, are believed to be lost at sea every year when they're exploited by smuggling rings,” Jasmin said.
“Most of those interviewed by UNHCR said they were leaving Somalia because of the continuous state of insecurity, drought and economic hardship,” he added.
Smugglers operate from Bossaso, the chief commercial port of Puntland, a self-declared autonomous area in northeast Somalia that's one of the world's busiest smuggling hubs. UNHCR has worked with Puntland authorities to inform people about the dangers of using smugglers to cross the Gulf of Aden. Last January, the U.N. refugee agency produced a video and radio program to raise awareness about the risks of such crossings.
Additionally, the UNHCR has called for international pressure on local authorities in Puntland to crack down on the hazardous traffic. But at the same time, it has called on donors to support efforts by the international community to improve protection and assistance to internally displaced people in Puntland, where very difficult living conditions encourage desperate measures like using smugglers to reach Yemen.
Yemen is one of few countries in the region that signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and it has been generous in receiving refugees. There are currently more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of which 84,000 are Somalis.
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