Yemen: humanitarian situation dire as ceasefire fails
Briefing Notes, 22 September 2009
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 22 September 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The situation in Yemen's northern Sa'ada province remains volatile despite an announced two-week suspension of military operations on the occasion of the Eid al Fitr at the end of Ramadan and in response to appeals to allow humanitarian aid to reach the displaced and stranded civilians.
This is the second failed ceasefire in less than a month. Relative calm was reported in the city of Sa'ada at the end of last week, but renewed clashes erupted over the weekend in several neighbourhoods. During the brief lull in fighting some 1,600 people in the city of Sa'ada received assistance through UNHCR's local NGO partner. Our stocks in Sa'ada are diminishing and establishment of humanitarian corridors for delivery of aid to this area remains a top priority for UNHCR.
In neighbouring provinces, UNHCR is assisting IDPs both inside and outside the camps. Every day new families arrive in the Al Mazraq camp in Hajjah province, which is now sheltering some 5,000 IDPs. Some walk for days before reaching the site. People in the camp are struggling to survive daily hardships as well as brutal weather. Heavy rain damaged more than 50 tents at the camp over the weekend, leaving hundreds of families without shelter. A UNHCR team has rushed to repair or replace tents. To provide better assistance, UNHCR entered into a new partnership with Islamic Relief – Yemen (IRY).
Pending finalization of the layout of the newly identified camp site in Khaiwan in Amran province, UNHCR and our partners continue to register IDPs outside the camp, especially those who sought shelter in schools and with host families. UNHCR is also distributing aid to some 2,100 IDPs registered in the cities of Amran and Khamir.
The internally displaced seek safety in other parts of their country, where they need help.
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Gulf of Aden People-Smuggling: International Help Needed
An alarming number of people are dying trying to reach Yemen aboard smugglers' boats crossing the Gulf of Aden from Somalia. Over a three-week period in late 2005, at least 150 people perished while making the journey. These deaths are frequently the result of overcrowded boats capsizing or breaking down and going adrift without food or water. Those who survive the voyage to Yemen often give brutal accounts of smugglers beating passengers or forcing them overboard while still far off shore – in some instances with their hands and feet bound.
In response, UNHCR has issued an urgent appeal for action to stem the flow of desperate Ethiopian and Somali refugees and migrants falling prey to ruthless smugglers in a bid to reach Yemen and beyond. The refugee agency has also been working with the authorities in Puntland, in north-eastern Somalia, on ways to inform people about the dangers of using smugglers to cross the Gulf of Aden. This includes production of videos and radio programmes to raise awareness among Somalis and Ethiopians of the risks involved in such crossings.
Gulf of Aden People-Smuggling: International Help Needed
2011 Yemen: Risking All for a Better Future
Plagued by violence, drought and poverty, thousands of people in the Horn of Africa leave their homes out of desperation every year. Seeking safety or a better life, these civilians - mainly Somalis and Ethiopians - make the dangerous journey through Somalia to the northern port of Bossaso.
Once there, they pay up to US$150 to make the perilous trip across the Gulf of Aden on smugglers' boats. They often wait for weeks in Bossaso's safe houses or temporary homes until a sudden call prompts their departure under the veil of night, crammed into small rickety boats.
Out at sea, they are at the whim of smugglers. Some passengers get beaten, stabbed, killed and thrown overboard. Others drown before reaching the beaches of Yemen, which have become the burial ground for hundreds of innocent people who die en route.
The Yemen-based Society for Humanitarian Solidarity (SHS) has been helping these people since 1995. On September 13, 2011 UNHCR announced that the NGO had won this year's Nansen Refugee Award for its tireless efforts to assist people arriving from the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
2011 Yemen: Risking All for a Better Future
Yemeni humanitarian aid group wins 2011 Nansen Refugee Award
The founder and staff of the Society for Humanitarian Solidarity (SHS), a humanitarian organization in Yemen, has won the 2011 Nansen Refugee Award for their work in aiding and rescuing refugees and migrants who make the dangerous sea journey across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa. View a slideshow of the group's life-saving work, patrolling the beaches of southern Yemen for new arrivals and providing food, shelter and medical care to those who survive the dangerous journey.
Yemeni humanitarian aid group wins 2011 Nansen Refugee Award
Yemeni NGO wins Nansen Award
The Society for Humanitarian Solidarity wins the 2011 Nansen Refugee Award for helping tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who make the treacherous journey to Yemen on smugglers' boats.
Yemen: Waiting for peace
The Yemeni government has declared the war in the north is over. But most of the roughly 280,000 people uprooted by the violence are reluctant to return home.
Yemen: Further Displacement
In Yemen the fighting continues in the north. UNHCR reports that the numbers of families fleeing is mounting and camps for the displaced are becoming crowded.
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