Ethiopian Migrants Abused And Unwelcome In Yemen: Desperately Seeking A
Future – OpEd
By: <
http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/graham-peebles/> Graham Peebles
December 18, 2012
Year on year the numbers of men women and children leaving Ethiopia in
search of work and freedom from repression in one of the Gulf States and
beyond is increasing. Lured by the often hollow prospect of earning enough
money to support their family, United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR)i estimate around 85,000 men women and children, desperate and naïve,
have this year, no matter the severe risks, made their way to Yemen, the hub
of migration out of the Horn of Africa. In the last six years around 250,000
Ethiopians have made the dangerous journey into this very poor, deeply
divided country besieged with internal problems, which has limited
resources, the second highest rate of chronic child malnutrition in the
world and where 45% of the population live in poverty.
Into this chaos step the Ethiopian migrants, who, unlike Somali’s have no
refugee status, suffer from poor consular support and are seen by most
Yemenis as an unwelcome burden. They sit low on the domestic workers
hierarchy and, along with other African nationals are discriminated against
throughout the Gulf region where xenophobia and racism has found expression
in the region’s politics and government policies.
The majority of migrants leave the security of their home, the love and
comfort of their families, not because they want to, but because they have,
they believe, no alternative. Overwhelmingly young, 18–30 years of age, from
rural or semi-rural environments, poorly educated with many lacking basic
literacy, driven by poverty the majority go in search of work, whist around
25% are estimated to be from political opposition parties. The Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF) who make up almost 50% of all registered migrants
arriving in Yemen, and the Ogoden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
Legitimate groups persecuted and branded terrorists, by the EPRDF government
that in all but name, rules over a single party state and allows no form of
political dissent or opposition, no matter the constitutional content to the
contrary.
The influence of smugglers, masquerading under the acceptable guise of
‘broker’ on many vulnerable individuals living in rural areas, with no
knowledge of the wider world, is great. Imbedded within the community they
paint a picture of migration coloured by wealth and prosperity, opportunity
and excitement. Accounts of horrific migration experiences are known, but
all too often ignored, ‘smoking kills’ deterring nobody. Arguments of
self-persuasion and denial reinforced by brokers who see another victim,
another human commodity, to be wrung dry. Migrants and smugglers alike are
pushed to extremes, desperately trying to survive in a ‘dog eat dog’ world,
dominated by an unjust, corrupt market economy, that persecutes the poor and
concentrates unlimited wealth and power in the hands of the few; causing
extreme inequality, hardship and unbridled human and environmental
destruction. A system In which huge corporations, banks and financial
institutions of the developed nations along with their allied governments
condition and define developing countries as they try against all odds to
haul themselves out of poverty.
Hopeless journeys made in hope
Djibouti city is the first major stage in the harrowing journey to Yemen,
here or at sea all possessions, including mobile phones, cash and clothes
are stolen, by smugglers, corrupt police or border guards. The journey to
Djibouti’s capital is harsh and dangerous, in which many Ethiopian migrants
die of starvation, dehydration or are killed by bandits. Trafficking is also
serious a danger, Djibouti the US state departmentii say is “a transit,
source, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to
forced labor and sex trafficking… [Migrant] women and girls may fall victim
to domestic servitude or forced prostitution after reaching Djibouti City,
the Ethiopia-Djibouti trucking corridor, or Obock – the preferred crossing
point into Yemen,” and gateway to the Gulf. Here migrants “have no access to
food, safe drinking water or shelter from the sun,” the Danish Refugee
Council (DRC) report, ‘Desperate Choices’,iii states, and wait for days or
weeks for favourable conditions to cross the perilous waters of the Gulf of
Aden, in flimsy boats manned by vicious criminal gangs. They have usually
come from Ethiopia by truck, although occasionally the entire journey is
made on foot, over weeks through one of the hottest, most inhospitable areas
in the world. Some aren’t lucky enough to get to the port, in September last
year, IRIN 15/11/11iv report, 60 Ethiopian migrants were found dead about
120 km west of Djibouti’s capital.
Abduction murder and rape
More shocking even than the numbers of people is the violent treatment they
face. Murder, abduction and ransom demands, torture, rape, sexual abuse and
more rape, are the nightmares many are subjected to by criminal gangs and
smugglers. And all in the pursuit, not of happiness, which they left behind,
but $100 a month, to feed and clothe their families 1000 kilometers or more
away.
On arrival in Yemen men and women are separated, wives taken from husbands,
daughters from Fathers brothers from sisters. Trafficking and multiple rape
of women is widespread, IRIN 12/03/12 state “the majority of the
approximately 3,000 women held by smugglers in Haradh [on the border with
Saudi Arabia] over the past year were raped, many of them repeatedly.” DRC
relate this account from a 15-year-old boy, who “was captured by Abd
al-Qawi’s gang. They tied a rope round my legs and hung me upside down and
beat me almost to death for three days. I was made to watch an Ethiopian
woman being raped and an Ethiopian baby about one year old being killed.”
Cases of male rape, punishment for trying to stop the rape of a wife or
sister, have also been documented.
On a positive note, deaths at the hands of smugglers have dramatically
decreased, only to be replaced by another atrocity – abduction, the
terrifying experience of the majority. With $100 – 300 being demanded from
family members who can barely feed themselves, let alone pay a ransom.
Torture and violence at the hands of hostage takers is brutal; pulling
teeth, gouging eyes, driving nails through hands and feet, cigarette burns
are all reported, and if ransoms are not paid, migrants, after this hell are
often beaten to death. In March this year 70 Ethiopian men and women were
discovered in Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate, again near the border with Saudi
Arabia, the UN humanitarian news and analysis,v reports, “their captors,
they said, had beaten them with pipes, burned them with cigarettes and
poured liniment in their eyes making them scream in pain.” This horrific
incident indicative of many follows close on the heels of the killing of
three Ethiopian men in January, shot while trying to escape from smugglers.
They had made the arduous journey from rural Ethiopia to Yemen, full of
hope, only to be tortured and finally murdered.
The ordeal of women begins in Djibouti, DRC report an Ethiopian man
recounting the sea passage when “four Yemeni smugglers were on board the
boat. They raped the girls in front of us, we were not able to move or to
speak, and those girls were already sold to Yemeni traffickers.” Many are
abducted and held captive, sometimes for months on end, their experiences
are harrowing in the extreme, DRC tell of a 16 year old girl from Wollo who
was imprisoned for six months and repeatedly raped by gang members. Far from
being the exception the majority relate incidents of sexual abuse, with
“many reporting being raped at almost every stage in their journey and stay
within Yemen.” They “are often captured, kidnapped and disappear and it is
believed they are trafficked for sexual or domestic slavery”. It is unclear
where women are trafficked, it is suggested they are sold to Saudi families
as “virtual slaves”, many no doubt end up in some kind of sex trade, those
that eventually make it out of Saudi Arabia relate incidents of rape at the
hands of brokers or employers. The horrific stories are endless, extreme
abuse and brutality by vicious criminals who are destroying lives in the
thousands, and it seems, with impunity. Those victims lucky enough to make
it home need therapeutic support and time to gently heal, the Ethiopian
government in partnership with international and national NGO’s, in addition
addressing the reasons why their citizens are leaving home, need to provide
professional care to help the victims overcame such trauma.
Yemeni collusion
The smugglers are organized and well armed, raiding their houses, the Chief
of Police for Haradh District that borders Saudi Arabia, where 4,000
Ethiopians currently await repatriation, said, Reutersvi report, “we face
fierce resistance and shootouts. It’s like fighting an insurgency… As long
as these people keep arriving the smugglers will keep taking them. There is
nothing we can do.” The Yemeni and Ethiopian governments have been
discussing ways to present “all facilities required to return the Ethiopian
refugees to their home,” said the Yemeni Interior Minister, with standard
political ambiguity, failing to mention the brutal criminality taking place
inside his country, the security services corruption and the complete lack
of police activity to apprehend the smugglers, protect the migrants and
bring the trafficking to an end.
The Yemeni authourities shamefully complicit in the violence are portraying
Ethiopian and other migrants as the cause of and reason for the increased
level of extreme criminality, and as UNHCR report with internal instability
giving rise to “reduced police presence…[that is] giving human traffickers
and smugglers more room to operate.” And in a sign that suggests further
state collusion with criminal gangs, we are informed that police activity
“is also frequently preventing patrols along Yemen’s shores by humanitarian
teams as they try to reach new arrivals before the smugglers.” Corruption is
endemic, with security officials coordinating with smugglers on the border
with Saudi Arabia, “a climate of collusion and low political will to
apprehend and prosecute smugglers is allowing the trade and abuse of
migrants to flourish” (Reuters). The country is run, a military officer on
the payroll of the smugglers to the tune of $2,000 a month says, “by tribes
not policemen: these people are my friends.” ‘These people’ are turning a
bind eye to the murder, rape and trafficking of innocent migrants seeking
work to feed their families.
The right to be free and safe
The realization of freedom for the people is the solemn duty of the
Ethiopian government, it is the foundation of democracy without which no
true and lasting human development will take place, it is however a duty
regarded by the TPLF/EPRDF with contempt and disregarded totally. The quest
and heartfelt desire of the people of Ethiopia is for social justice and
liberty not migration to the Gulf or beyond. They are deeply proud,
dignified and many devoutly religious, who love the land of their birth.
Overwhelmingly they risk life and limb not in search of material wealth but
to escape economic hardship and political imprisonment at the hands of a
highly repressive regime that seeks total control and denies all freedom of
speech, acknowledged as a human right in the federal constitution.
The political space, narrow in the extreme must be opened, to allow, indeed
encourage political and social participation and responsibility.
Participation feared only and always by the dictator, would enrich the
society, allowing the free flow of ideas to address the many issues facing
the country. Such inclusive measures, in keeping with the time and the
aspirations of the people would cultivate an atmosphere of hope and
strengthen the community. A nationwide programme to raise awareness of the
dangers inherent in migration via Yemen and to Gulf countries more broadly,
aimed at deterring the unknowing is an imperative responsibility of the
government, designed and delivered perhaps in collaboration with
international NGO’s working throughout the country, further facilitating
involvement and cooperation.
The non-partisan distribution of development aid, an ignored legal
requirement, would be a positive step in bringing relief from extreme
economic hardship and curtailing migration. Currently, grain fertilizer and
food, are selectively distributed by regime stooges based, not on need, but
on political affiliation. Ethiopia’s primary donors, America Britain and the
European Union, have a responsibility to ensure this is addressed, in
addition to insisting the Ethiopian government observes human rights,
adheres to federal and international law and dismantles mechanisms of state
repression. All such steps would build confidence in change, reducing the
need to migrate. Development that does not address humanitarian needs
justly, and denies the observation of basic human rights enshrined in law,
pollutes the notion of change, allows state corruption and limits government
responsibility to the realization of targets set by international
institutions seeking to maximize their return and build political/economic
models of conformity and control.
In accordance with the responsibilities of office, the Ethiopian government
must take all necessary steps to safeguard its citizens. Appropriate
consular support is essential in offering protection, advice and sanctuary
to migrants, no matter their political affiliation or ethnicity. Urgent,
sustained and coordinated efforts are needed by the affected countries law
enforcement agencies and judiciary to close down the criminal networks,
route out corruption and safeguard migrants. The innocent men women and
children from Ethiopia making an impossible choice, with they see no
alternatives, are not the villains in this ongoing human tragedy they are
the victims trapped in a terrifying nightmare.
Notes:
i. [1]
http://www.unhcr.org/4c907a4a9.html
ii.
http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/index.htm
iii. www.drc.dk/fileadmin/uploads/pdf/IA…of…/RMMSbooklet.pdf
iv.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94210/DJIBOUTI-Migrants-risk-all-for-better-l
ife
v. [1]
http://www.irinnews.org/report/95051/YEMEN-Tortured-for-ransom
vi. [1]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/30/us-yemen-migrants-idUSBRE84T0WU201
20530
Received on Tue Dec 18 2012 - 11:13:08 EST
