Yemen has become a haven for refugees.  Thousands of refugees have fled from Iraq, Ethiopia, and Somalia to Yemen.  They have sought shelter from warfare and to begin a new life.  This massive influx of people has overwhelmed the Yemen government and is creating a possibility of a future “human disaster.”  (News Yemen) 

Since the Iran-Iraq war, many Iraqis have fled to Yemen.  They have been treated better in Yemen than in Jordan or Syria, and thus, it is an attractive destination for educated and skilled Iraqis.  The 70,000 Iraqis in Yemen have thrived.  They have been treated by the principles of Arab Unity.  This means the Yemeni government has extended “rights to work, education, and social benefits on the basis of their being Arabs.”  (YEMEN: Iraqi migrants, refugees await brighter future IRIN.)   Although the Iraqis have spurred the Yemen economy, the Yemeni government recently passed legislation requiring Iraqis entering the country to obtain a visa to slow down immigration.

The Oromos from Ethiopia have poorly treated in Yemen.  They have sought refuge from Eithopia.  “We have come to Yemen in order to escape persecution, torture and killings by the Ethiopian government,” according to Jamal Abdowaday, an Oromo leader in Sana’a. (ETHIOPIA-YEMEN: Oromo migrants fear deportation.   IRIN).  Their fear of the Ethiopian government has placed them in position without bargaining power, since their greatest fear is deportation.  This has made them susceptible to abuses.  Oromos claim local Yemenis mistreat them. “We are subject to harassment, arrests, and discrimination . . .  Our children can’t go to school. They are deprived of education… They have become like animals confined in small rooms. They can’t play in the streets for fear of being beaten or harassed by local children,” Abdowaday added.  Id.  However, the Yemen government denies these allegations and claims that it has treated the Oromos fairly.

The largest influx of refugees lately has been Somalis.  In July alone, 18,000 Somalis have fled Mogadishu.  This has lead to Somalis flooding to Yemen, creating dangerous situations for both the migrants and the Yemen government.  Recently, the UN reported that at least 367 Somalis have died trying to cross into the border.  (Voice of America.)   However, 10,000 Somali refugees enter in Yemen every year, bringing the Somali refugee court to about 64,000 in Yemen.  This influx of refugees has created a strain on the government as it struggles to provide for the refugees. 

The large numbers of refugees has become a difficult problem for the Yemen government.  It strains the nation’s weak economy, and compounds Yemen’s other problems, such as stabilizing the Sa’ana region and eradicating Yemen’s ties with terrorist groups.  Yemen has more closely monitored its media, furthering the problem for the refugees as the voices raising awareness of the refugees’ plight are being quieted.  This could create a future disaster for the refugees, if the Yemeni government cuts corners for the refugees and ignores them to focus on the nation’s other problems, because the plight of the refugees would not be focused on by the official state sponsored media.

News Yemen. Yemen faces critical troubles due to refugees influx. 28 July 2007.

IRIN. ETHIOPIA-YEMEN: Oromo migrants fear deportation. 30 May 2007.

IRIN.  YEMEN: Somali refugees protest perceived injustices. 27 November 2005.

IRIN. YEMEN: Iraqi migrants, refugees await brighter future. 1 July 2007.

Somalia News.  Somalia: Yemen deports Somali refugees. 26 July 2007.

Voice of America. UN: At Least 367 Somali Refugees Killed Trying to Cross Into Yemen. 10 July 2007.

Relief Web. Somalia: Situation Report. 27 July 2007.

A summit was held in Amman, Jordan to discuss the refugee crisis.  War and sectarian violence in Iraq has caused over two million Iraqis to leave the country and over two million displaced within Iraq.  During the international conference, Muhammad Hajj Hamoud, secretary general of Iraq’s foreign ministry, warned of a humanitarian crisis.  He urged host countries to help ease the burden of the refugees and not to forcibly deport these refugees back to Iraq while Iraq remains unstable.  He also urged the international community to help the countries shouldering much of the burden by providing more aid and helping asylum-seeking refugees find permanent homes.

The two countries hosting the majority of the refugees are Jordan and Syria.  The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 750,000 Iraqis sought refuge in Jordan and 1,200,000 fled to Syria.  In May, Jordanian officials claimed that the government spent one billion dollars a year hosting these refugees.  However, despite this large sum of money, many children are not able to receive medical treatment or attend school.  In Syria, refugees have turn to prostitution and child trafficking as means to earn money.

A day prior to the conference, Amnesty International released a statement addressing the refugee crisis.  In the statement, the organization called for “urgent international action” to assist Syria and Jordan to supporting their growing numbers of refugees.  Without international help, especially in the form of aid money, Iraq’s neighbors will not be able to continue to support these large numbers of refugees.  If these countries are not able to support the refugees, many incoming Iraqis will be turned away at the border, forced to return to unsafe and unstable conditions.  In addition, it is likely that many more refugees will be forcibly deported back to Iraq.

For more information please see:
Amnesty International:  “Iraq refugees crisis nears breaking point”  26 July 2007. 

Amnesty International:  “Iraq:  International support urgently needed to address spiraling refugee crisis”  26 July 2007. 

Amnesty International:  “Iraq:  The situation of Iraqi refugees in Syria”  26 July 2007. 

BBC:  “Crisis warning on Iraq refugees”  26 July 2007. 

Canada.com:  “Iraq urges neighbors to end abuse of refugees”  26 July 2007. 

UNHCR:  “UNHCR deplores forced return of 135 Iraqis by Turkey”  26 July 2007. 

Boston Globe:  “Amnesty urges help for Iraqi refugees”  25 July 2007.

Shaymaa Muhammad al-Sayed was born a Muslim, but got married to a Coptic man and became a Coptic Christian in 2003. This angered her family greatly.  In 2003, she fled her family, fearing the repercussions of her conversion and marriage.  Her father submitted three missing person reports after she fled, even though she was not a minor.  Reportedly, on July 16, 2007, they saw her in Alexandria, and voiced their desire to harm her. She was arrested July 21, 2007.  According to the police, she was arrested as protective custody to protect the women from her family.  However, while she was arrested she was mistreated.  She claims that the police tortured her through beatings, electric shocks, and even took a photograph of her while she was naked.

Although she had been arrested under the guise of protective custody by being protected from her family, five days later she was released to her family against her will.  While in prison she tried to press charged against her family but was repeatedly denied.  However, the police returned the woman to her family against her will, because of the missing person reports.  She was not a minor, and therefore should not have been returned to her family.  Furthermore, she they had openly threatened her she should have been protected from them, especially without ensuring the woman’s safety.   

The police’s action shows the Egyptian government’s willingness to cater to the Muslim Brotherhood at the expense of the Coptic Christians.  The woman chose to flee her family. Yet, she was arrested and tortured by the police, then returned to her family.  Although she had broken the law by converting from Islam, the police should not have released her to a family that openly expressed its desire to kill her.  According to the reports, when the woman was taken away by her family she was immediately dragged and beaten in the graveyard behind the station.  Yet, the police did not interfere.  Furthermore, she was denied her right to press charges against her family for abuse and other related charges. 

This incident by the State Security Investigation force in Egypt compounds the fears of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt. Although Mubarak takes a strong stance against the Muslim Brotherhood and extremist Islam, his stance is undercut with rules making it illegal to convert from Islam to another religion or for a Islamic woman to marry a Coptic man.  These laws give radical Islamics reign to attack those who violate the law.  Also, the laws create more tension to erupt when a person converts to Islam or Coptic Christianity.  The government must eliminate such laws and take a stance to protect its citizens irregardless of the person’s religious background.

BosNewLife. Egypt Police Hands Over Christian Convert To “Fanatical Muslim” Family. 23 July 2007.
Compass Direct News. EGYPT: POLICE RELEASE CHRISTIAN TO HER VIOLENT FAMILY. 23 July 2007.
Compass Direct News. EGYPT: SECURITY POLICE TORTURE CHRISTIAN CONVERT WOMAN. 18 July 2007.

    The Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is the world’s tallest tower at 512 meters.  Recently, it passed Tapai 101 at 508 meters.  The construction is ahead of schedule and still has another year and a half of construction.  It is being built by a migrant force of 4,000 Indians. The final completed height of the building is rumored to be around 700 meters tall.  Dubai has been growing at a tremendously rapid pace, because of the rising prices of oil.  As the oil has increased, it has poured money into United Arab Emirates, making it is the central business hub of the Gulf Region.

    The rapid growth of the United Arab Emirate region has created thousands of jobs for construction workers.  In response to the surplus in jobs, Dubai has responded by opening itself to many migrant construction workers, especially from South Asia, to fill the void.  However, since the workers are not United Arab Emirate citizens, they have not been protected by the government.  For example at the Burj Dubai, the 4,000 Indians have been working round-the-clock shifts in the brutal Dubai summer heat.  Also, the workers have no set minimum wages.

    Human Rights Watch created a publication on the topic, “Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates.”  The report shows the slave-like conditions of the migrant worker.  For example, the average salary of the construction worker in 2006 was $106-$250 dollars a month, whereas the nation average salary for a person in the UAE, including the migrant workers, was $2,106 dollars a month.  The workers are being paid less than 10% of the typical salary for the country.  Also, it is common for employers to engage in “security” practices to ensure that workers do not quit such as withholding monthly salaries and denying the workers access to their passports.  The migrants work in poor conditions, causing premature deaths of the workers.  In 2005, 880 corpses of construction workers were returned to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh alone.

    The government has not protected the migrant construction workers.  In 1980, the UAE passed a law requiring the passage of a minimum wage, however, a law has never been passed complying with the regulation.  Also, the law does not allow a worker to accept a job at a rival company without the consent of his current employer, further tying down workers to bad jobs.  Additionally, the workers cannot assemble themselves into unions to create leverage to force employers to pay them, but instead, the workers who strike will be deported home.  The government has forced employers to pay back wages, yet have not yet publicly penalized an employer for withholding wages, giving the employers no disincentive to treating the workers badly.

    The workers need to be protected by the government.  They are a necessary resource for the UAE to continue to develop into the business capital of the Gulf Region.  The migrant construction workers must be given a minimum wage, and also more substantial rights to be able to protect themselves.   

Al-Jazeera. Burj-Al Dubai ‘world’s tallest tower’. 21 July 2007.
Human Rights Watch. Building Towers, Cheating Workers: Exploitation of Migrant Construction Workers in the United Arab Emirates. November 2006.
Human Rights Watch. UAE:Worker’s Abused in Construction Boom. 12 November 2006.

On July 18, Israel’s Justice Minister, Daniel Friedman, and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Amar reached agreement on legislation that would allow limited civil marriages in Israel.  Currently, there is a difference between the state’s and religious requirements to be considered Jewish.  Under Israel’s Law of Return a person needs only to have a Jewish grandparent to be considered Jewish.  However, according to religious authorities, a person needs to have a Jewish mother or convert to Judaism.  This difference leaves about 270,000 Israeli Jews unable to marry in their own country.

This limited bill will apply only to couples where both partners are not considered Jewish according to Jewish law.  However, many criticize that this law is too limited and many will still be forced to get married outside of Israel.  The proposed legislation does nothing to address marriages between a Jew and a non-Jew, gentile.  Therefore, while gentile couples and Jewish couples will be able to marry inside Israel, mixed couples will not.

In addition to the limited scope of the legislation, critics also state that the law may isolate and discriminate against immigrants.  Most of the people who fall between the state and Jewish law’s definition of Jew are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.  So this legislation marks a first step in recognizing civil marriages and expanding marriage rights.  However, more can be done to recognize full marriage rights of every Israeli citizen.

For more information please see:

Jerusalem Post:  “Amar OKs civil marriage for non-Jews”  19 July 2007. 

Ha’aretz:  “Bill would let non-Jews wed in civil ceremony”  19 July 2007. 

Ha’aretz:  “Government to support non-Jewish civil marriage law”  19 July 2007. 

Middle East Times:  “Limit civil marriage in Israel for first time”  19 July 2007. 

Ynetnews.com:  “‘Green light’ for civil marriage in Israel”  18 July 2007.