Yemeni army is cracking down on human trafficking

Source : Yemen Post

After rights groups and NGOs expressed their growing concerns over illegal smuggling activities in Yemen, warning traffickers were using a lapse in security to run profitable criminal rings, the government has sough to address the situation by appointing more men on the ground. Earlier this month at a conference in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards painted a grim picture to his audience "Yemen is frequently used as a transit point by Ethiopians looking to travel to the Gulf States and beyond. Few Ethiopians decide to seek asylum. There are many reports of mistreatment, abuse, or torture among people who make the journey by smugglers boats. Conflict and instability in Yemen have limited the ability of the authorities to address trafficking, particularly along the Red Sea coast where Yemeni smugglers and traffickers are often waiting to receive new arrivals from the Horn of Africa." For the past two years, slavery and human trafficking have been rife in the impoverished nation, putting the coalition government in a difficult situation as its resources and men are already stretch pretty thin. However, months of careful planning and strong political will are eventually bearing fruits. Several military units have been sent to crackdown against smugglers in the northern town of Haradh, a village which was first identified as a traffickers' hub in 2012. As stated by Medecin Sans Frontieres a reported 1620 migrants including women and children have been freed in the last four weeks. Many bore the marks of torture. “There are clear signs of extreme violence. Fingernails have been pulled out and many are badly beaten. We welcome this clampdown, but there are almost certainly thousands more migrants in captivity, and for those released, welcome centers and humanitarian NGOs are seriously overstretched,” Tarek Daher, MSF’s head of mission in Yemen, told the press.