Recent reports from Human Rights Watch and other sources highlight serious and ongoing human rights violations against African migrants and asylum seekers in Yemen, committed by Saudi border forces and the Iran-backed Houthi group. These abuses expose some of the most vulnerable populations in Yemen to severe risks.
According to Human Rights Watch’s 2025 Annual Report, hundreds of Ethiopian migrants attempting to cross the border from Yemen into Saudi Arabia were killed by Saudi border guards between March 2022 and June 2023. The report described these mass killings as systematic, raising concerns that they may constitute crimes against humanity if carried out as part of an official or tolerated policy targeting migrants.
Since the outbreak of the armed conflict in Yemen in 2014, both the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthi group have detained migrants and asylum seekers under inhumane conditions, subjecting them to arbitrary abuse, torture, mistreatment, and unlawful detention. Migrants are often trapped between warring parties, without protection or access to basic humanitarian services.
Preliminary reports indicate that these attacks have continued into 2026. Between December 31, 2025, and January 3, 2026, four African migrants of Ethiopian nationality were seriously injured, including one who sustained an eye injury and another who lost a leg, due to gunfire and mortar shelling in the districts of Shada, Qatabir, Munabbih, and Baqim in the border governorate of Sa’ada. These attacks appear to be part of a broader pattern of repeated assaults targeting civilians and migrants along the Yemen-Saudi border. It should be noted that this information is preliminary and has not yet been independently verified.
These events underscore the extreme vulnerability of migrants and asylum seekers in Yemen, particularly African migrants seeking safety across the border. They are subjected to lethal force, arbitrary detention, physical abuse, and other severe human rights violations, leaving them trapped in one of the most dangerous humanitarian crises in the world.
We call on the international community, humanitarian organizations, and human rights defenders to:
- Conduct thorough investigations and document these violations;
- Hold accountable all parties responsible for attacks on migrants, including Saudi border forces and Houthi militias;
- Provide immediate humanitarian assistance, protection, and safe pathways for African migrants and asylum seekers in Yemen.
This Press Release is issued in solidarity with the victims of these abuses and in support of the findings reported by Human Rights Watch, as well as based on preliminary reports from local sources. The rights and safety of migrants and asylum seekers must be prioritized, and urgent action is needed to prevent further violations.
Sources: Human Rights Watch 2025 Annual Report; preliminary reports from Sa’ada Governorate, Yemen
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