People smuggling in the Gulf of Aden

People smuggling in the Gulf of Aden, originally uploaded by UNHCR.

The body of a Somali woman washes up on the shores of South Yemen. In order to avoid detection, smugglers often force passengers off their boats and into the shark-infested waters far from shore.
© UNHCR/J.Björgvinsson/March 2007

Gulf of Aden: In peril on the sea
Every year thousands of people in the Horn of Africa – mainly Somalis and Ethiopians – leave their homes out of fear or pure despair, in search of safety or a better life. They make their way over dangerous Somali roads to Bossaso in the northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland. In this lawless area, smuggler networks have free reign and innocent and desperate civilians pay up to US$150 to make the perilous trip across the Gulf of Aden.

Some stay weeks on end in safe houses or temporary homes in Bossaso before they can depart. A sudden call and a departure in the middle of the night, crammed in small unstable boats. At sea, anything can happen to them – they are at the whim of smugglers. Some people get beaten, stabbed, killed and thrown overboard. Others drown before arriving on the beaches of Yemen, which have become the burial ground for hundreds who many of those who died en route.

Uploaded by UNHCR on 10 Nov 08, 12.55PM PDT.