ROYG CLARIFIES REFUGEE POLICY: UNHCR WILL NO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SANAA 000223

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

CAIRO FOR REFCOORD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2017
TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM YM
SUBJECT: ROYG CLARIFIES REFUGEE POLICY: UNHCR WILL NO
LONGER MAKE STATUS DETERMINATIONS FOR NON-SOMALIS

REF: SANAA 40

Classified By: DCM NABEEL KHOURY, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a meeting with visiting Refcoord,
Poloff, and Conoff, Deputy Foreign Minister Mohy al-Din
Al-Thibbi confirmed a de facto change in the Republic of
Yemen Government's (ROYG) refugee policy concerning
non-Somalis: UNHCR would no longer be granted access to newly
arriving non-Somali migrants to make refugee status
determinations. Citing the inability of Yemen to continue
absorbing economic migrants, Al-Thibbi claimed that the
Ministry of Interior would be able to make judgments
concerning refugee claims for non-Somalis, and insisted that
the vast majority of non-Somalis seeking entry into Yemen
were not fleeing political or other types of persecution.
Refcoord reminded DFM of the government,s obligations toward
refugees and asylum seekers as a signatory of the 1951
Convention on Refugees. Al-Thibbi requested additional
financial support from the international community, including
the USG, to afford the ROYG not only resources to process
newcomers, but also to effectively manage existing refugee
populations. He implied that with additional funds, the ROYG
would again allow UNHCR access to non-Somali asylum seekers
in order to make refugee status determinations. END SUMMARY


2. (C) Al-Thibbi opened the meeting by acknowledging that
the ROYG,s refugee policy has had to evolve in order to
adapt to new realities. With the conflict in Somalia
continuing to foment instability in the region, the ROYG
could no longer afford to maintain its previous policy of
allowing virtually any would-be refugee arriving in Yemen to
remain here. Al-Thibbi claimed that Somali arrivals -- to
whom the ROYG continues to provide prima facie refugee status
-- are averaging "hundreds per week," and would quickly drain
already scarce resources in Yemen. However, when asked by
Refcoord, Al-Thibbi could not provide specific information
about a large-scale increase in arrivals. With respect to
Ethiopian and other non-Somali arrivals, Al-Thibbi stated
that the ROYG did not consider the vast majority to be
legitimate refugees, but rather seekers of economic
opportunity, using Yemen only as a jumping-off point en route
to neighboring gulf countries.


3. (C) Al-Thibbi claimed that Yemen was straining to cope
with the influx of refugees, already straddled with what he
claimed were between 300,000 and 400,000 arrivals over the
past 16 years. (NOTE: According to UNHCR Sanaa, approximately
48,000 registered Somalis are in country, most of whom live
outside of the Kharaz refugee camp or in urban settings.
UNHCR is awaiting ROYG permission to conduct registration for
the non-Somalis to determine accurate numbers of the total
population, but has not yet received approval. Most
observers believe that up to 90,000 total refugees are
currently in Yemen, although the majority do not seek
assistance from UNHCR. END NOTE) Additionally, Al-Thibbi
complained that refugee camps are often sources of criminal
activity, including prostitution, rape, illicit drugs and
even murder. Moreover, with the local UNHCR office facing a
25 percent budget cut, which will force it to limit its
operations, Al-Thibbi stated that the ROYG had no choice but
to seek to staunch the flow of migrants via immediate
repatriations.


4. (C) When asked by Refcoord to clarify the ROYG,s new
policy regarding non-Somali refugees, Al-Thibbi stated that
the government would seek immediate repatriation for the vast
majority of non-Somali refugees. The Ministry of Interior
would make refugee status determinations to identify and
protect the estimated 2-3 percent of newly arriving
non-Somalis with legitimate refugee claims. Additionally,
Al-Thibbi claimed that permission for non-Somalis to remain
in Yemen while awaiting UNHCR to conduct refugee status
determinations was not nor ever was explicit ROYG policy.
Refcoord reminded Al-Thibbi of the government,s obligations
toward refugees and asylum seekers as a signatory to the 1951
Convention on Refugees, urging the government to work with
UNHCR to ensure that all asylum seekers are given the ability
to have their claims for refugee status evaluated fairly.
Al-Thibbi claimed that had the ROYG been able to predict the
regional instability that was to come, it would not have

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agreed to the provisions, calling signing the Convention a
"mistake."


5. (C) Al-Thibbi asserted that with additional cooperation
and financial assistance from the international community,
the ROYG would be more willing to return to its previous
policy of granting UNHCR the ability to conduct refugee
status determinations for newly arriving non-Somalis. Citing
"hot spots" such as Iraq, Sudan and Pakistan, which siphon
away global attention, Al-Thibbi complained that Yemen,s
plight was no less serious, and was compounded by the
country,s extreme poverty. Yemen,s economy simply could no
longer withstand the strain of new economic migrants. The
Ministry of Interior, the ministry with the most
responsibility for refugee matters, currently does not even
have a budget for dealing with refugees, he stated. Refcoord
pointed out that the USG funds approximately one-third of
UNHCR operations globally and may resettle as many as 70,000
refugees worldwide in FY07.


6. (SBU) Al-Thibbi noted that the ROYG would be calling for
a meeting of UNHCR donor countries to highlight the need for
additional funding to enable Yemen to deal effectively with
its refugee plight.


7. (C) COMMENT: UNHCR estimates that more than 20,000
people arrived in Yemen in 2006 claiming refugee status,
mostly from Somalia. Recently arrived Somalis interviewed by
UNHCR stated that more than 9,000 more people are currently
in Bossasso, Somalia waiting to make the trip to Yemen.
While no one, including the ROYG, can be sure how many
migrants and refugees have arrived in Yemen over the past 16
years, they certainly number in the hundreds of thousands.
There are sections of the city of Aden that are entirely
inhabited by migrants and refugees, and entire villages in
the south made up of Somalis that have arrived over the past
decade. Yemen, with a GDP per capita of less than USD 800
per year, is feeling the economic strain from these arrivals
and al-Thibbi's comments demonstrate the ROYG's concern that
continued instability could bring even more to Yemen.
Al-Thibbi clearly recognizes that the ROYG's policy shift
represents a violation of its commitments under the 1951
Convention, but also seems to feel that the ROYG needs to
make such moves in order to give a louder voice to its plea
for greater international assistance in handling its refugee
load.
KRAJESKI