Nearly 100,000 migrants fled last year to Yemen, itself gripped by war and impending famine, to escape poverty and violence at home, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday (May 8th).
Some 7,000 migrants entered Yemen each month, with the total number of arrivals in 2017 reaching near 100,000, the IOM said.
Fleeing violence and poverty in the Horn of Africa, and at the mercy of smugglers, they hope to ultimately reach the more prosperous Gulf countries, AFP reported.
Once in Yemen -- where nearly 10,000 people have been killed in three years of war -- the lucky ones find "irregular work", the IOM said.
"Both en route and once in Yemen, many migrants suffer at the hands of cruel smugglers and other criminals, including physical and sexual abuse, torture for ransom, arbitrary detention for long periods of time, forced labour for no pay and even death," the IOM said.
