For some fleeing conflict, even Yemen is a haven
Thousands of Africans fleeing the misery in their countries continue to seek refuge in Yemen, which itself is suffering the ravages of civil war.
SANAA, Yemen — One of the most striking paradoxes generated by war and migration in the Middle East is that the war in Yemen, raging since the spring of 2015, has not scared off boats packed with African immigrants heading toward this impoverished country.
Africans fleeing the despair and hell of conflicts on the other side of the Red Sea, in Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea, still flock to Yemen, which is also plagued by misery and a bloody armed conflict.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported Jan. 19 that around 92,000 people reached Yemen’s shores by boat in 2015. It said the number is one of the highest annual totals recorded over the past decade, and two-thirds of these immigrants reached Yemen since March 2015, when the conflict began.
Yemen is the only country on the Arabian Peninsula that is a state party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. The convention, signed by 139 countries, is designed to protect refugees, provide them with aid and reinstate their social rights.
