Hundreds of Thousands of Refugees Unregistered by UNHCR
I’ve recently been corresponding with some Somali refugees in Yemen. One who converted to Christianity says when he goes into the UN offices, he gets overtly harassed and insulted by the UN employees for converting. Other refugees report little assistance and open hostility from the office. The open letter below says refugees are beaten and intimidated by Yemeni security forces outside the UN offices. Three refugees were killed and two women raped by the security during a protest outside the UN offices in 2005. To date, the Yemen UN office has failed to register hundreds of thousands of refugees. Maybe it is time for a “new registration mechanism” to deal with the abysmal situation. A note from Yemen to the UN office on refugees:
Dear Mr.Andrew Kinght.
Really I read your answer about the Iraqi refugees protest. But really you comment or answer is very wrong as I understanding. You are side that there is not any protest, I am asking you not about protest but your office have interest to cooperate with refugees problem in this difficult country?
Dear Sir, how many refugees are (beaten) by the Yemeni Police Guard in front of your office every day, especial most of them they are old women.
Mr. Andrew, I hear from your good behave and humanity for refugees in this country, but I am asking you to keep this behalves my dear.
Yours
(redacted)
Sana’a Yemen
Yemen Post notes the UNHCR seeks aid and reform, good! Many of the international orgs dance around the regime because otherwise they make it impossible to get anything done. The ICRC still (!) has problems getting unfettered access to Sa’ada.
More than 700 thousand Somali refugees in addition to thousands of other African nationalities in Yemen most of which are not registered with the Office of High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Deputy Foreign Minister and Chairman of the National Commission for Refugees, Muthana Ali Hassan.
According to UNHCR, 50,091 African refugees arrived in Yemen in 2008 (70 percent more than the 2007 figure); at least 590 drowned and another 359 went missing at sea. “We are concerned that this increase might continue through 2009. In 2008, more than 50,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, straining UNHCR’s capacity and resources,” UNHCR said.
A Yemeni delegation headed by Mohammed Hussein Al-Shami, head of Africa Department at the Foreign Ministry attended the 44th Permanent committee meetings session held in Geneva during 2-6 March.
In this regard, the Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ‘UNHCR’, Rudwan Noiaser, appealed to the international community to ease Yemen burden caused by the influx of refugees from the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia. Noiaser said that the speech of Yemen is congruent with the trends and the objectives of the High Commissioner Office.
He added that a new registration mechanism for refugees is needed in collaboration with the National Commission for Refugees in Yemen, emphasizing that the Office will take into account all Yemeni observations and suggestions regarding this complex situation.
