In the early hours of Monday 28 April, a US airstrike is reported to have struck a detention facility in Yemen’s northern Sa’ada Governorate, killing dozens of migrants confined in the building. This is not the first time that a detention centre holding migrants has been struck in Yemen: another facility within the same compound was struck in 2022 leaving more than 90 dead. […]
Migrants and Asylum Seekers Face Violent Attacks, Then Detention, At Saudi Border.
In a new report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) details the horrific killing of hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers at the Saudi-Yemen border. According to the report, Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot at groups of people–largely Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers–killing hundreds, amongst them women and children. Those who survive have […]
Yemen: Covid-19 and Detention
On 21 January, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrike in Yemen struck a detention centre in the Sa’ad province under the control of rebel Houthi forces, killing at least 82 people and injuring 266 others. Médecins Sans Frontières reported that the al-Gumhourriyeh hospital in Sa’da had taken in around 200 wounded but that there were “many […]
Yemen: Covid-19 and Detention
Amidst an ongoing conflict that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and widespread famine, migrants and refugees in Yemen–most of whom are from Ethiopia or Somalia–continue to face detention and physical threats in the country, in part because of rumors that they are spreading COVID-19 (see the 4 August 202 update on this […]
Yemen: Covid-19 and Detention
Although it has been devastated by ongoing civil war and famine, Yemen has continued to serve as an important migrant and refugee transit country–with many people often enduring torture, rape, and extortion, as well crossfire and airstrikes. In 2019, the IOM estimated that some 138,000 migrants departed from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in […]
Last updated: May 2019
Migrants in Yemen Languish in Detention as Ramadan Begins
From: International Organization for Migration
Date: 7 May 2019
Aden - Some 3,000 migrants continue to be held in two temporary detention sites in Yemen's Aden and Abyan governorates. Among those detained are Ethiopian nationals, many practicing Muslims, who are embarking on thirty days of Ramadan fasting while detained.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been providing clean water and emergency food at the 22nd of May Stadium in Aden where nearly 2,500 migrants are detained.
On 21 April, authorities in Yemen began detaining nearly 5,000 irregular migrants in two sports stadiums and a military camp in the Aden, Abyan and Lahj governorates. The detainees predominately are Ethiopians, who entered Yemen to seek livelihoods and opportunities on the Arabian Peninsula.
On Friday (03/05), IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) teams confirmed that 2,473 migrants remain under detention in Aden’s 22nd May Stadium. Of those, the DTM determined 873 are children.
Since last week’s headcount, more people have been brought to that site. An estimated 500 migrants are also being held in a second sports stadium in Abyan.
At the stadium in Aden, IOM is combatting the spread of communicable disease by providing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health services. Between 26 April and 5 May, IOM has conducted over 1,800 health consultations and rehabilitated 30 latrines.
In recent days, more than 1,400 people detained at the military camp in Lahj reportedly were released. IOM is making efforts to confirm the locations and wellbeing of all migrants released in Lahj, particularly because some had been suffering from acute watery diarrhea (AWD).
At Lahj’s Ibn Khaldoon Hospital, IOM is treating more than 70 former detainees with AWD in its newly-opened diarrhea treatment centre. Tragically, since Wednesday (01/05), 14 migrants have perished from the illness
Twenty-three-year-old Abdi* comes from a farming family in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. As Ramadan commences, he wishes he could go home, or anywhere rather than stay in detention in the sports stadium in Aden. “I wanted to come to an Arabian country to make my life better than my parents’, but when I arrived here [in Yemen] they caught me and brought me to this place,” said Abdi, who left his home just over a month ago without telling his parents. Starting his journey with only 2,000 birr [USD 70], he eventually he arrived in Djibouti, where he called his parents explaining he needed funds, some 11,000 birr [USD 380], to continue his journey. His parents sold a cow. He said he knew he would perish in the desert without a smuggler to help him complete this “hard journey.” *Name changed to protect identity |
IOM remains extremely concerned for the people being held in inhumane conditions in Aden and Abyan. Alongside humanitarian partners, IOM is providing lifesaving services, while engaging with authorities to advocate for the release of those detained.
Thousands of migrants are stranded in other locations throughout Yemen. From Sana'a starting this past Monday, IOM intends to move a total of 327 Ethiopian migrants to Addis Ababa, under IOM’s voluntary humanitarian return (VHR).
For more information, please contact Olivia Headon at IOM Yemen, Tel: +353833022648, +967730552233, +967730552233, Email: oheadon@iom.int
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Migrants Die While Detained in Inhumane Conditions in Yemen
United Nations Information Centre
2 May 2019 – Aden
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is alarmed by reports of migrants dying of preventable illnesses, being shot and suffering other inhumane treatment in makeshift detention centres in Yemen, now in its fifth year of conflict.
IOM is monitoring the conditions of some 5,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa held across three sites –-two sports stadiums and a military camp–in Yemen’s Aden, Lahj and Abyan governorates.
IOM learned yesterday (01/05) that at least eight migrants died from complications related to acute watery diarrhea (AWD) at the Ibn Khaldoon Hospital in Lahj governorate. Those migrants—predominantly Ethiopian—had been held at a military camp in Lahj where more than 1,400 people are detained. Authorities at the camp report they have detected at least 200 AWD cases. IOM is establishing a diarrhea treatment centre at Ibn Khaldoon Hospital, which is currently struggling to treat 53 AWD cases, including eight severe cases.
This morning, 14 migrants with signs of AWD were brought to Aden’s 22nd of May stadium where IOM is providing critical life saving assistance. IOM’s health team, who has carried out over 1,000 health consultations at the site since 26 April, acted fast to ensure the patients were evacuated to a nearby hospital.
In Geneva, Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s Director of Operations and Emergencies said, “I am deeply saddened by the deaths of these eight migrants, who were among the thousands of migrants being held in deplorable conditions across Yemen. We have decried this policy to the authorities, urging them to take a humane approach to irregular migration.”
IOM’s team in Aden became aware of the mass arrest and detention of thousands of migrants on 21 April and their detention in cramped buildings, not fit for human inhabitation. Abdiker noted these migrants, “at best, have only limited access to basic services or protection.”
On Tuesday (30/04), guards fired on migrants detained at the Aden sports stadium, two of whom suffered gunshot wounds, leaving a teenage boy likely paralyzed for life. That, Abdiker said, “demonstrates the inability of authorities to care for the expanding detained population as well as the immediate need to have a dedicated civilian authority humanely managing these sites. Our teams could see that without ensuring immediate access to sufficient food, clean water, safe sanitation and medical attention, a catastrophe was waiting to unfold.”
Abdiker added: “IOM stands ready to support Yemen and other regional partners to identify sustainable responses to irregular migration, which do not involve the shortsighted abuse of vulnerable migrants and fully respects international law.”
“I am greatly concerned that this dire situation will further deteriorate,” he concluded. “Our team on the ground has been making strides with local advocacy among the different levels of government. However, it is time to see these words turned into action that puts an end to this abuse before more innocent lives are lost.”
For more information please contact Olivia Headon in Aden. Tel: +967 730 552 233. Email: Oheadon@iom.int
DETENTION STATISTICS
DETAINEE DATA
DETENTION CAPACITY
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Does the Country Have Specific Laws that Provide for Migration-Related Detention?
Detention-Related Legislation
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
Immigration-Status-Related Grounds
Non-Immigration-Status-Related Grounds in Immigration Legislation
Criminal Penalties for Immigration-Related Violations
Grounds for Criminal Immigration-Related Incarceration / Maximum Length of Incarceration
Has the Country Decriminalised Immigration-Related Violations?
LENGTH OF DETENTION
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
Access to Detainees
Lawyer
Family
NGOs
Int. Monitors
Consular Reps.
Year
Limited or Some Detention Centres Only
Limited or Some Detention Centres Only
Limited or Some Detention Centres Only
Limited or Some Detention Centres Only
Limited or Some Detention Centres Only
2021
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
Transparency Score on Migration-Related Detention
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOS)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1991
1991
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 10/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§ 76. "The Committee recommends that the State party adopt a comprehensive legal framework in line with international standards for refugees and asylum seekers , and develop an efficient and well - founded cooperation mechanism with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to identify and provide assistance to children in need of protection, especially unaccompanied refugee and asylum - seeking children. The Committee also urges the State party to:
(a) Establish a mechanism to provide protective measures for unaccompanied children, including the appointment of guardians to, inter alia, assist children with the relevant processes and procedures;
(b) Ensure that unaccompanied children, refugees and asylum-seeking children are not detained because of illegal entry/stay and have effectively the right to seek asylum and to stay in the State party until the end of asylum procedures;
(c) Ensure the provision of adequate medical treatment, mental health care and psychosocial support to refugee, asylum-seek ing and internally displaced childr en who fall victim to sexual violence;
(d) Ensure that all children born on its territory are properly registered at birth, without dis crimination and regardless of the status of their parents , and that they fully enjoy their economic, social and cultural rights;
(e) Ratify the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons , 1954, and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness , 1961."
2014
2014
Committee against Torture
"The Committee recommends that the State party:
... (g) Ensure that the expulsion, refoulement or extradition of a person to another State is in compliance with article 3 of the Convention"
2004
2004
Committee against Torture
"The Committee calls upon the State party to establish an effective national system to monitor and inspect all places of detention and to follow up on the outcome on such systematic monitoring. It should also ensure that forensic doctors trained in detecting signs of torture are present during these visits. The Committee requests the State party to clarify whether the Political Security Department, the National Security authority and the Department of Anti-Terrorism under the Ministry of the Interior are under the control of the civil authorities, and whether the Prosecutor-General has access to the said detention centres, military prisons and private detention facilities. The State party should formally prohibit all detention facilities that do not come under State authority...
Under no circumstances should the State party expel, return or extradite a person to a State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture or ill-treatment. The State party should ensure that it complies fully with article 3 of the Convention and that individuals under the State party’s jurisdiction receive appropriate consideration by its competent authorities and guaranteed fair treatment at all stages of proceedings, including an opportunity for effective, independent and impartial review of decisions on expulsion, return or extradition."
2010
2010
Human Rights Committee
"The State party should take concrete measures to ensure the adequacy of the refugee determination process and asylum procedures for migrants of all nationalities. Asylum seekers and refugees should not be held in penal conditions."
2012
2012
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
"50. The Committee calls upon the State party to continue to strengthen its cooperation with UNHCR and adopt the draft refugee law, in compliance with the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol. The Committee also calls upon the State party to grant full access to UNHCR to detention centres for refugees, not to deport refugees without previous UNHCR verification of their status and to ensure refugees their right to security, especially for women and children due to their exposure to violence, including sexual violence."
2008
2008
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
The Committee recommends that the State party establish a legal framework to govern the application process of asylum. The Committee further recommends that the State party adopt specific measures aimed at promoting the coordination of the process of issuing refugee certificates with UNHCR in order to ensure that their certificates are recognized and that the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers are protected. The Committee further recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts in the provision of humanitarian assistance to IDPs and ensuring their immediate return to their communities.
2011
2011
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
§44. In line with its general recommendation No. 32 and general recommendation No. 30, the Committee recommends that the State party:
(a) Provide internally displaced women and girls who are victims of gender-based violence, including child marriage and trafficking in persons, with free and immediate access to medical services, legal assistance and a safe environment, as well as to female health-care providers and services, such as reproductive health care and counselling;
(b) Address the specific risks and particular needs of migrant women, who are subject to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, ensuring their access to basic services without fear of detention on the basis of irregular migration status;
(c) End the arbitrary detention and forced movement of migrants;
(d) Ensure border police and immigration officials are adequately trained, supervised and monitored for gender-sensitivity and non-discriminatory practices when dealing with women migrants, with the support of relevant agencies.
2021
2021
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
Relevant Recommendations or Observations from the UN Universal Periodic Review
Observation Date
Yes
133.32 Put an immediate end to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and forced displacement, which particularly affect migrants, as well as to torture and ill-treatment, and release those arbitrarily detained and also reveal the fate of missing persons (Switzerland);
2024
4th
2024
No
Continue efforts for the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as persons with disabilities (Iran);
2009
1st
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
On 21 January, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrike in Yemen struck a detention centre in the Sa’ad province under the control of rebel Houthi forces, killing at least 82 people and injuring 266 others. Médecins Sans Frontières reported that the al-Gumhourriyeh hospital in Sa’da had taken in around 200 wounded but that there were “many bodies still at the scene of the airstrike. … It is impossible to know how many people have been killed.” Among those killed at the facility were African migrants.
Migrants have frequently been targeted in the conflict in Yemen. In March 2021, Houthi forces launched projectiles into an immigration detention centre in Saana, killing 44 people detained in the centre (for more information see 16 March 2021 Yemen update on this platform).
The impact of the conflict on migrants in Yemen has been severely exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of whom were stranded in the country after the onset of the pandemic. In June 2020, it was estimated that some 14,500 African migrants remained in the country. Humanitarian officials, local security guards and residents have said that the Houthis have used the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to expel unwanted migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, driving them towards the Saudi Arabian border or rounding up truckloads of people and dumping them outside Houthi land.
The International Organisation for Migration estimates that from April to June 2020, northern authorities had arrested and relocated 1,500 migrants to southern Yemen and that thousands were stranded in the port city of Aden, many of whom were living on the street. Local officials in Houthi territory reported that at least 390 migrants were deported to Al Jawf in April 2020 and from mid-April to mid-May 2020, at least 486 were expelled south to the city of Taiz. According to the UNHCR, in 2020, there were 166,906 refugees, 10,693 asylum seekers and 4,042,836 internally displaced persons in the country.
On 31 March 2021, Yemen received 360,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses shipped through the COVAX Facility. The doses arrived together with 13,000 safety boxes and 1,300,000 syringes. In December 2021, the IOM began vaccinating migrants stranded in Yemen, aiming to vaccinate around 7,5000 people at its Migrant Response Points in Aden and Ma’rib. According to the IOM, as of December 2021, an estimated 36,000 migrants have been stranded on their journeys due to COVID-19 related mobility restrictions since the start of the pandemic with many sleeping rough or in overcrowded and unsanitary accommodation where the virus can easily spread. The IOM’s Chief of Mission, Christa Rottensteiner said: “We welcome the Government’s commitment to protecting migrants against COVID-19 and immunising people on the move is key to combating the spread of the disease. There are still not enough doses to protect everyone in Yemen from this disease. More support from the international community to supply the country with enough vaccines will save lives.”
The Global Detention Project has been unable to confirm whether any immigration detainees have been released as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Houthi rebels released 2,361 prisoners from March to April 2020 as part of the precautionary measures against the virus. As of 1 April 2020, the Yemeni government had released 500 prisoners from different provinces across the country.
Amidst an ongoing conflict that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and widespread famine, migrants and refugees in Yemen--most of whom are from Ethiopia or Somalia--continue to face detention and physical threats in the country, in part because of rumors that they are spreading COVID-19 (see the 4 August 202 update on this platform for more background). According to the IOM (27 July 2020), “the spread of COVID-19 has increased discriminatory attitudes and behaviours and further compromised migrants’ access to essential services such as food, water, shelter and health assistance. Additionally, migrants stranded in Yemen are facing increased detention and are being subjected to forced transfers across frontlines. IOM is concerned that COVID-19 restrictions are being instrumentalied to implement migrant encampment, detention and forced relocation agendas.” In December 2020, the IOM estimated that at least 6,000 migrants were detained in centres across Yemen.
Unable to cross Yemen’s northern border into Saudi Arabia, many migrants are returned to southern territories and subsequently held in detention facilities. These centres have then been targeted by armed forces. On 7 March 2021, for example, “scores of migrants burned to death ... after Houthi security forces launched unidentified projectiles into an immigration detention center in Sanaa,” reported Human Rights Watch (16 March 2021). The facility, which was the Immigration, Passport and Naturalization Authority (IPNA) Holding Facility at Sana’a airport, was detaining around 900 detainees, 350 of whom were in the hangar-like building that caught fire. The 44 killed and hundreds of surviving migrants were of African, mostly of Ethiopian, origin. Before the fire, detainees had been staging a hunger strike over their living conditions at the facility — cramped cells, a lack of mattresses, limited food and drinking water, unsanitary conditions, and abuse from guards. According to surviving detainees, the guards responded by identifying and isolating the organisers outside, beating them, locking them in the hanger, and calling Houthi security forces, who threatened that they would hear their “final prayers.” Afterwards, they said that two projectiles were launched into the hangar room by the security forces, which produced gas, exploded and started a fire.
Detention conditions and violent abuses of migrants have been criticised for years by human rights bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council’s Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts. In 2018, they reported sexual abuse, physical violence, and killings of women and boys at the hands of guards in the Bureiqa migrant detention centre in Aden, where hundreds of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Somali migrants, asylum seekers and refugees were held. In 2019, Security Belt forces arbitrarily detained around 5,000 migrant men, women, and children, placed them in ad-hoc facilities with “appalling conditions” in Lahij and Aden, and subsequently subjected them to sexual violence. According to the Group of Experts, “these sexual violence acts were situated in a broader context of structural discrimination against the survivors, all of whom were Ethiopian migrants. The caste-like system in Yemen reinforces the ‘subordinate’ status of black African communities.”
Although the sea route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen remains a busy and dangerous maritime migration route, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic decreases in migrant traffic. According to the IOM (23 February 2021), there has been a “nearly three-fourths decline in migration from the East and Horn of Africa regions towards Gulf Council Countries during 2020. … Data released by IOM show that the number of migrants crossing via Yemen from the Horn dropped from a high of 138,213 in 2019 to 37,537 in 2020. Forced returns from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were also significantly reduced, passing from nearly 121,000 Ethiopian migrants in 2019 to 37,000 in 2020.”
Despite this downward trend, the route continues to be used, often with tragic consequences. On 4 March 2021, smugglers on a boat carrying 200 migrants from Djibouti to Yemen threw 80 people into the sea, killing at least 20. This was the third incident in the last half year, leading to more than 70 migrants deaths. After arriving in Yemen by boat, migrants are often kidnapped and taken to informal captivity camps in Lahj, of which there are reportedly around 80 in Ras al-Ara, where they are further subjected to abuse and violence in the absence of state protection.
Wracked by war, Yemen was unprepared to respond effectively to the COVID-19
pandemic. Only around half its health facilities were functional but under equipped, and the government and de facto authorities adopted inadequate measures. As of 16 March 2021, the country had recorded 2,912 cases and 699 deaths. The pandemic has also increased food insecurity in the malnourished population and restricted humanitarian access and response. The UN Group of Experts received reports that COVID-19 measures were used as a cover to commit further violations on vulnerable communities such as detainees and migrants.
Although it has been devastated by ongoing civil war and famine, Yemen has continued to serve as an important migrant and refugee transit country--with many people often enduring torture, rape, and extortion, as well crossfire and airstrikes. In 2019, the IOM estimated that some 138,000 migrants departed from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in the hope of finding jobs as housekeepers, servants, and construction workers in oil-rich neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
During the pandemic however, thousands of migrants have found themselves stranded in the country, witnessing growing anti-migrant sentiment and stigmatised as carriers of the virus. Unable to leave the country, more than 14,000 (the majority of whom are Ethiopians) have been rounded and forcibly moved away from urban centres (although it remains unclear whether these round-ups were conducted by Iran-allied Houthi rebels or Saudi-backed government forces). Many are reported to have been abandoned in empty buildings or forced to live on the streets, while others have been confined in detention facilities where they face overcrowding, lack of access to medical services, and inadequate food provision.
Others have reportedly been shot by Houthi militia in an attempt to force migrants out of the area they control--with some forced across the border into Saudi Arabia, where they have also subsequently faced arrest, detention, and deportation (see 14 April update on Saudi Arabia). At one point in April, humanitarian organisations estimated that some 20,000 migrants had been abandoned in “slaughter valleys” along the Yemen-Saudi border, with no food, water, or aid.
Government Agencies
Republic of Yemen Government Portal: http://www.yemen.gov.ye/portal/
International Organisations
UNHCR Yemen Country Profile: http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2647#_ga=1.222590811.1574793458.1466088472
IOM Yemen Country Profile: https://www.iom.int/countries/yemen
Media
Yemen Times: http://www.yementimes.com
National Yemen: http://nationalyemen.com
NGOs and Research Institutions
Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/yemen
Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/yemen/
