Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 4 (EI) — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its partners have appealed for 54 million U.S. dollars to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to an estimated 113,000 vulnerable migrants in transit or stranded in Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen.
The UN migration agency and its partners made the appeal as part of the latest Regional Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) for the Horn of Africa and Yemen, which is a three-year migrant-focused humanitarian and development strategy to vulnerable migrants from the Horn of Africa moving to and from Yemen.
The RMRP appeal for 2019 is also said to include development-oriented durable solutions that address the root causes of migration in the Horn of Africa, as well as support to governments with capacity building activities to address the humanitarian and protection needs of migrants.
According to IOM, along the Eastern migration corridor, at least 160,000 migrants are estimated to enter Yemen from the Horn of Africa by the end of 2019, and nearly 130,000 migrants are expected to return home to the region from Saudi Arabia during the same period.
It also indicated that approximately 5 percent of all migrant arrivals into Yemen tracked in the first six months of 2019 are unaccompanied or separated children.
“Many migrants on the perilous journey to and through Yemen experience exploitation and abuse as they attempt to reach the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in search of economic opportunities,” the UN migration agency said.
“Migrants undertaking this journey do so in search of a better life for themselves and their families. These migrants are often young people – in many cases children – unaware of the dangers on the route to Yemen, including exposure to extreme heat, encountering conflict and violence, and potentially falling prey to human traffickers,” the statement quoted Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa, as saying.
“Migrants on the route to Yemen are amongst some of the most vulnerable and meeting the humanitarian needs of this population must remain a priority for the international community,” Abdiker added.
The latest RMRP update by IOM and its partners mainly reflects major priorities in each of the target countries, which include providing life-saving humanitarian assistance to stranded migrants in Yemen, ensuring adequate protection for unaccompanied children, and scaling-up assistance to the thousands of vulnerable migrants returning from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Horn of Africa.
