Methodology

This report is based primarily on a two-week mission to Yemen by a Human Rights Watch researcher in mid-2009. Human Rights Watch interviewed about 100 Somalis and Ethiopians in Yemen. They included community leaders, individuals with refugee status, asylum seekers, and undocumented migrants. Many had suffered serious human rights abuses in Yemen and been subjected to violence or other crimes during their maritime crossings to Yemen from Puntland or Djibouti. Human Rights Watch interviewed UNHCR and NGO officials who work with refugees, asylum seekers, and new arrivals from Bosasso and Djibouti along the coasts. The names of many interviewees and dates and locations of interviews have been withheld to protect those who helped facilitate this research. Human Rights Watch also provided UNHCR some of our findings and incorporated into this report UNHCR’s response to criticisms about its engagement with the Yemeni government over protection issues facing Ethiopian and other non-Somali asylum seekers and refugees.