A prominent international rights group on Thursday called on UN agencies to react to the dire situation of Ethiopian migrants in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, where they were targeted both by the rebel movement and by the Saudi forces
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) A prominent international rights group on Thursday called on UN agencies to react to the dire situation of Ethiopian migrants in Houthi-controlled northern Yemen, where they were targeted both by the rebel movement and by the Saudi forces.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Houthi movement in April forced thousands of Ethiopian migrants to flee from northern Yemen to the Saudi border and used the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext for it. The Saudi forces then opened fire on fleeing migrants and forced them to hide in a mountainous border area. HRW has said that dozens of people were killed by both sides.
"The lethal disregard Houthi and Saudi forces have shown civilians during Yemen's armed conflict was replayed in April with Ethiopian migrants at the Yemen-Saudi border ... United Nations agencies need to step in to address the immediate threats to the Ethiopian migrants and press for accountability for those responsible for the killings and other abuses," Nadia Hardman, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at HRW, said, as quoted by the organization in a press release.
Ethiopian migrants told HRW that they were stranded for days without food or water, while people that were allowed to enter Saudi Arabia were detained in "unsanitary and abusive facilities." According to the rights group, detainees in Saudi Arabia had no right to legally challenge their arrest or deportation to their home country. The rights group estimates that hundreds of migrants may still be stranded in the border region.
Interviewed migrants mentioned that Houthi forces expelled thousands of Ethiopians from an unofficial migrant settlement area in Yemen's northwestern Sa'dah province, and many fighters were shouting to the fleeing people that they were "coronavirus carriers."
The majority of migrants passing through Yemen come from Ethiopia, and the dangerous journeys have not stopped despite the ongoing conflict between the Houthi forces and the Yemeni government. Nearly 140,000 migrants arrived in Yemen last year, according to the International Organization for Migration.
