Number of migrants to Yemen nearly doubles

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The number of refugees and asylum-seekers crossing from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2011 nearly doubled to a record 103,000, the U.N. relief agency said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the number of migrants crossing the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea rose from 53,000 in 2010 and 79,000, the previous record, in 2009.

Last year, more than 130 of those making the crossing drowned and those reaching Yemen often suffered dehydration and malnourishment. From their countries of origin to their arrival in Yemen, they face risks of physical and sexual violence as well as human trafficking, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said in a news release.

Violent physical and sexual abuse of migrants by smugglers while at sea or on land has been increasing, UNHCR said.

"Those crossing the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden face extreme risks and challenges at every stage of their journey -- in their countries of origin, during transit, and on and after arrival in Yemen," Edwards said.

In Yemen, migrants face inadequate food, water, shelter, emergency and health care as well as limitations on freedom of movement and a lack of access to means of making a living, the U.N. agency said.

Ethiopians, many of whom leave because of economic conditions and a lack of work, accounted for three of four arrivals. Until 2008, the majority had come from Somalia.

The Ethiopian migrants avoid contact with authorities as they try to reach other Gulf states, because they fear detention and deportation. They often endure robbery, abuse and extortion by smugglers and traffickers, UNHCR said.

Last Friday, UNHCR said, three Ethiopians were fatally shot by smugglers in the city of Taiz along Yemen's Red Sea coast and their bodies were left on the outskirts of a village.