Yemen - Flow Monitoring Registry | Non-Yemeni Migrant Arrivals and Yemeni Migrant Returnees in June 2024

OVERVIEW: The Flow Monitoring Registry (FMR) of the IOM Yemen Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) monitors the arrival of migrants along Yemen’s southern coastal border and the return of Yemeni nationals along its northern border with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to identify migration patterns and provide quantitative estimates of the irregular migrant population entering the country. It’s crucial to understand that the FMR does not capture all migration flows in Yemen; instead, it provides indicative insights into migration trends based on a known total number of migrants arriving along monitored coast and land borders during the reporting period.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: In June 2024, the IOM Yemen DTM tracked 1,820 migrants entering Yemen, an eight per cent increase from the total figure reported in the previous month (1,685 migrants). All migrants (100%) left from Bari Region in Somalia.

Among the total migrants recorded, 17 per cent were children, 24 per cent were women, and 59 per cent were men.

Typically, Lahj serves as an entry point for migrants departing through Djibouti whereas Shabwah serves as an entry point for migrants departing through Somalia. During this reporting period, all migrants departed from Somalia to the coastal area of Shabwah Governorate. During the same period, no migrants departed from Djibouti to Lahj due to a military campaign in Lahj Governorate. The campaign aims at reducing and stopping the arrival of migrants by intercepting boats and detaining smugglers. Since it started in August 2023, the campaign resulted a near-zero arrival of migrant flow through this route in the subsequent months with a single exception in December 2023 when boat transported 110 migrants ashore.

The DTM team identified 3,556 Yemeni returnees in June 2024, an 11 per cent decrease compared to the number of returnees in May (4,010 individuals). Additionally, the team recorded a total of 267 migrants that were deported from Oman back to Deifen Point in Shahan district of Al Maharah Governorate, Yemen. All deported migrants from Oman were Ethiopian nationals.

While the worsening humanitarian crisis in Yemen has compelled some migrants to make the difficult decision to return to their home countries in the Horn of Africa, others have reportedly been deported by authorities. In June 2024, DTM recorded a total of 847 migrants leaving Yemen either voluntarily or deported by boat from Yemen. This group was composed of 89 per cent men, eight per cent women, and two per cent children.

Furthermore, in June 2024, the Djibouti DTM team reported a total of 642 migrants (92% men, 6% women, and 2% children) arrived in Djibouti from Yemen. These figures underscore the significant challenges migrants in Yemen face and the desperate circumstances that have led them to risk dangerous sea voyages.