Yemen a transit point for trafficking

Yemen a transit point for trafficking
Updated 24 March 2013
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Yemen a transit point for trafficking

Yemen a transit point for trafficking

Yemen remains a major transit point for the trafficking of Africans into the Kingdom despite security measures taken by Riyadh and Sana'a, a local newspaper reported.
The two countries find it difficult to monitor the mountainous terrain along the border of over 1,400 kilometers. On some of the routes in north Yemen, traffickers force Africans to travel on foot to the Kingdom.
Non-government and social organizations in Yemen say that Africans face all kinds of abuse and torture at the hands of trafficking "gangs." In some cases, the African workers are tied up and only released for a ransom of $ 1,000.
It costs smugglers seven thousand Yemeni riyal ($ 32) for each vehicle crossing the border.
Yemeni Minister of Human Rights Affairs, Horiya Mashhour, stressed the need to formulate laws to ban human trafficking, taking into consideration all social, economic and security issues.