Yemen - IOM and UNHCR have co-organized a two-day workshop: “Protection at Sea: Promoting Cooperation and Identification of Good Practices” hosted by the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sana’a and funded by the Netherlands. 

The workshop built on the 2013 Sana’a Declaration and on a previous UNHCR - IOM joint initiative on Asylum and Migration, held in the port of Aden earlier this year. Speakers included IOM Chief of Mission in Yemen Nicoletta Giordano and UNHCR Representative in Yemen Johannes Van Der Klaauw.

The event also brought together various key Yemeni government representatives, including from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Human Rights, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the Immigration, Passport and Nationality Authority, the Judiciary, the Coastguard, District Officers from coastal border areas, and representatives of the international community and civil society organizations.

Every year, thousands of desperate migrants and refugees embark on the perilous journey from their places of origin in the Horn of Africa through Puntland and Somaliland to Djibouti and across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to Yemen.

As of September 2014, it is estimated that over 70,000 migrants and refugees from the Horn of Africa have landed on Yemeni shores this year. Deaths at sea this year are also at their highest since 2010 – over 200 according to the latest figures. 

To combat human smuggling and trafficking in the region, participants noted an immediate need to strengthen regional and national law enforcement mechanisms through enhanced coordination among security and legal apparatus and by securing the effective prosecution of criminal organizations engaged in these activities.

Outcomes and lessons learned from the workshop will provide a policy framework leading up to the UNHCR’s Dialogue on Protection at Sea. It also reflects IOM’s theme for International Migrants Day 2014 on December 18^th – “Saving Migrants’ Lives.”

Between July and November 2014, IOM Yemen has provided life-saving assistance to over 5,000 stranded migrants, with over 4,000 receiving health assistance at IOM migrant response points in Basateen, Sana’a and Haradh. Some 800 migrants were provided with voluntary return assistance to their country of origin. Of these, nearly 150 were unaccompanied minors.

For more information, please contact IOM Yemen

Nicoletta Giordano

Tel+ 967 (1) 410 568

Email: ngiordano@iom.int

or

Dax Bennett Roque

Tel. +967 (1) 410-568/572

Email: droque@iom.int