A/HRC/10/85 page 11 27. Apart from conditions on the boats, the journey itself is very treacherous because of rough sea conditions. Many perish at sea when their boats capsize. Many others are thrown overboard by ruthless crew if there are differences of opinions or other altercations between them and the passengers, if the passengers disobey their orders, if the boat is deemed to be excessively crowded under given circumstances, or if their children cry or make noises that may draw attention of patrol boats nearby. Many are pushed overboard near the Yemeni shores because of fear by the smugglers of being caught by patrol boats. 28. As a result of all these hazards, out of the 43,000 persons - mostly Somalis but some Ethiopians as well - who arrived in 850 boats in Yemen through early December 2008, more than 380 persons have perished at sea and another 360 are missing. In 2007, out of 29,500 persons who arrived in Yemen by boat, again mostly Somalis, some 1,400 persons had either perished at sea or were missing. 29. In fact, on the last day of our stay in Yemen, i.e. on 2 December, UNHCR reported the drowning of at least 20 Somalis, with 2 missing, when the passengers on a boat carrying 115 persons were forced by the boat crew to jump overboard in deep water near the shore of Yemen. The problem of people thus perishing at sea and being washed ashore has assumed such a proportion that UNHCR had to intervene with the Yemeni authorities to grant burial grounds in three different sites. 30. When I spoke with the refugees about the hazards of the boat trips and asked them whether they would advise their friends and relatives back home to risk such a trip to come to Yemen, I was not surprised that many said they would, except for one who said that she would not ask her daughter, who was left behind, to take this path to escape. It was the most traumatic experience in her life. Most of the refugees gave me the same reasons for their flight as those who fled to Kenya, namely insecurity of life in Somalia (most were also from Mogadishu), loss of close family members, loss of or lack of livelihood, lack of or high cost of food etc. In describing her situation when she was in labour pain in Somalia, a woman who arrived recently told me that she had waited for an opportunity to go out of her home for medical help for more than 70 hours, but failed to do so because of raging armed conflict in her neighbourhood all that time. As a result she had to give birth at home without any help. Fortunately the child survived but for another 70 hours she was unable to go out to get food for herself. She finally decided to flee the country, leaving the child with its grandmother. 31. The above provides an eloquent picture of the desperate conditions of life in Somalia today. It is the insecurity of life, lack of food, medical service and schooling, and more importantly the lack of livelihood opportunities that cause the Somalis to flee their country. And when one recalls that this has been going on for the ordinary people for close to two decades, one can understand the extent of their desperation. 32. However, there was also a brighter side of my trip to Yemen. This relates to the generosity of the Government of Yemen not only to accept the Somalis as refugees on a prima facie basis, thereby assuring their legal stay in the country until circumstances change, but also their cooperation with the United Nations in making the lives of the refugees as bearable as possible. Given the fact that Yemen is not a resource-rich country and is a developing nation itself, this