UN Says African Migrants Face Perils Of War, Abuse In Yemen

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2022) The UN's International Organization for Migration warned on Tuesday that thousands of African migrants crossing into Yemen risk being hurt or abused on the way to rich Gulf nations.

"Our teams meet migrants every day who have been injured in the conflict or become stranded on their journeys," IOM Yemen's Chief of Mission Christa Rottensteiner said.

More than 27,000 migrants, most of them from drought-hit Ethiopia, entered the war-ravaged country between January and May.

The same number was recorded during the whole of 2021.

The UN agency said migrants often travel across conflict front-lines, facing grave human rights violations such as detention in inhumane conditions, exploitation and forced transfers across lines of control.

About a thousand migrants have died in attacks in northern Yemen this year and hundreds more are treated for gunshot wounds every month, IOM estimates. Further 4,500 have been stranded in Marib, east of the capital Sanaa.