Smuggling across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen on the increase
Briefing Notes, 15 September 2006
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 15 September 2006, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Despite the danger and UNHCR's repeated warnings, the number of people being smuggled across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen appears to be accelerating. In the first 12 days of the new sailing season, UNHCR staff recorded the arrival of 1,441 people in 15 boats. If the present trend continues, this month could set a new record for the number of arrivals.
These are desperate people – mainly Somalis but also large numbers of Ethiopians – who are fleeing insecurity and poverty. For a fee of $40 each, they are crammed into rickety, open fishing vessels. Many making the hazardous voyage will not survive. Those arriving on Wednesday said two male passengers had drowned when they were forced overboard while still in deep water. Four were reported to have drowned from the first boat to arrive this season on September 2.
The smugglers are operating from the commercial port of Bossasso in Puntland, a self-declared autonomous area of north-east Somalia, over 300 km from Yemen. UNHCR has worked in the region to inform people about the dangers and has called on the international community to press authorities in Puntland to crack down on smugglers. Hundreds die before reaching shore each year. At the same time, UNHCR has asked donors to back international efforts to help in Puntland, where living conditions encourage acts like sailing to Yemen.
Yemen is one of the few countries in the region that has signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, and has been generous in receiving refugees. There are currently more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of whom 84,000 are Somalis. UNHCR operates a reception centre and camp in Yemen.
Share this story on Facebook
The situation continues to deteriorate in Somalia. UNHCR is struggling to help victims of one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Donate towards our Somalia refugee appeal.
Somali Bantu refugees gaining citizenship in Tanzania
UNHCR is mapping the real state of people of concern through a Global Needs Assessment.
A blueprint for planning and action that gives donors an accurate picture of what is needed.
Implementation of the 10-Point Plan in Different Regions
Expert Roundtables
All in the same boat: The challenges of mixed migration around the world.
Migrants are different from refugees but the two sometimes travel alongside each other.
The link between movements of refugees and broader migration attracts growing attention.
The makeshift camp at Patras
Thousands of irregular migrants, some of whom are asylum-seekers and refugees, have sought shelter in a squalid, makeshift camp close to the Greek port of Patras since it opened 13 years ago. The camp consisted of shelters constructed from cardboard and wood and housed hundreds of people when it was closed by the Greek government in July 2009. UNHCR had long maintained that it did not provide appropriate accommodation for asylum-seekers and refugees. The agency had been urging the government to find an alternative and put a stronger asylum system in place to provide appropriate asylum reception facilities for the stream of irregular migrants arriving in Greece each year.The government used bulldozers to clear the camp, which was destroyed by a fire shortly afterwards. All the camp residents had earlier been moved and there were no casualties. Photographer Zalmaï, a former refugee from Afghanistan, visited the camp earlier in the year.
The makeshift camp at Patras
The Gulf of Aden: Sharp Rise in Crossings and Deaths
The number of people arriving on the coast of Yemen after being smuggled across the treacherous Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa has more than doubled this year. So far this year, more than 18,000 people have arrived in Yemen across the Gulf of Aden, and nearly 400 have died attempting the journey.
This surge in arrivals is largely due to the continuing conflict in Somalia and the use of new smuggling routes from Somalia to Yemen and across the Red Sea from Djibouti. Many of the new arrivals also tell of crop losses due to drought, which forced them to leave home. This photo set focuses on those people leaving from Djibouti.
UNHCR has been calling for increased action to save lives in the Gulf of Aden and other waters. We have stepped up our work in Yemen under a US$17 million operation that includes extra staff, provision of additional shelter and assistance, and protection for refugees and internally displaced people.
Posted on 20 May 2008
The Gulf of Aden: Sharp Rise in Crossings and Deaths
Flood Airdrop in Kenya
Over the weekend, UNHCR with the help of the US military began an emergency airdrop of some 200 tonnes of relief supplies for thousands of refugees badly hit by massive flooding in the Dadaab refugee camps in northern Kenya.
In a spectacular sight, 16 tonnes of plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, tents and blankets, were dropped on each run from the C-130 transport plane onto a site cleared of animals and people. Refugees loaded the supplies on trucks to take to the camps.
Dadaab, a three-camp complex hosting some 160,000 refugees, mainly from Somalia, has been cut off from the world for a month by heavy rains that washed away the road connecting the remote camps to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Air transport is the only way to get supplies into the camps.
UNHCR has moved 7,000 refugees from Ifo camp, worst affected by the flooding, to Hagadera camp, some 20 km away. A further 7,000 refugees have been moved to higher ground at a new site, called Ifo 2.
Posted in December 2006
Flood Airdrop in Kenya
Somali Refugees: Ethiopian Camps
Increasing numbers of Somali refugees in Ethiopia are stretching the resources of the UN refugee agency.
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.
Dialogue on Asylum & Migration
Delegates from about 70 nations recently met in Geneva and grappled with the complex issue of how to identify and better protect refugees who travel alongside irregular migrants on dangerous journeys in search of safety.
| 
| 
| 
