By Owen Daniels, Rafik Hariri
Center for the Middle East
On Saturday, December 7, 2014, a
small boat set out from the Horn of Africa bound for the Yemeni port of Mocha. Seventy
Ethiopians, hoping
to pass through the country in search of employment abroad, had anxiously
packed onto a trafficker’s vessel. As they neared their destination the weather
began to turn, and before long strong winds and rough waves capsized the boat.
Despite the valiant efforts of search and rescue teams, all the African
migrants aboard perished. Yemen’s interior ministry set about tracking down the
boat’s owner; unfortunately, this small step pinpoints only one symptom of a
larger illness. Human trafficking is a malaise endemic to Yemen that thrives on
political instability, official indifference, and low-level governmental
compliance. As the country has plunged into unrest caused by the recent
military activities of the Houthi group, migration and trafficking trends to
Yemen have been dangerously exacerbated.
