A/HRC/45/CRP.7 Yemen as a transit destination.471 IOM reports that it is the busiest maritime migration route in the world. The organization registered 11,101 migrants entering Yemen during January 2020.472 The number of migrant arrivals progressively reduced from February onwards, due to COVID-19 movement restrictions. The total number of migrants who have arrived in Yemen in 2020 - as of July 2020 – was 32,189.473 IOM’s monthly monitoring indicates that approximately 85 per cent to 90 per cent of migrants are Ethiopian, while the remaining migrants are mainly Somalian. 311. Ethiopian migrants interviewed by the Group came from rural areas, most of them belonging to the Oromo, Amhara, and Tigrayan ethnic groups. The main trigger for their movement appears to have been to escape from poverty and a lack of opportunities. For many the dream was to reach Saudi Arabia. Those interviewed included girls and boys, as young as 15 years old, who chose to leave school and travel independently or as a group without informing their families. Interviewees often had relatives, or friends, or had seen or heard of people sending money back from Saudi Arabia and had seen neighbours benefiting from this. Smugglers also encouraged them, saying that the journey would only take one week, and that transportation would be provided throughout the whole journey. Some were even told that a plane would be waiting for them upon arrival in Yemen. Most migrants told the Group that they were not even aware at the time of their departure that there was an ongoing war in Yemen. “When we were in Ethiopia, they told us that crossing the Yemeni border to Saudi Arabia will take only 15 minutes, but it took three days. We walked for two days”. 18year-old Ethiopian male migrant 474 312. Migrants interviewed by the Group arrived in Yemen in large groups, up to 700 adults and children at a time, in boats disembarking at Ras al-Ara beach (South-West Lahj Governorate, bordering Ta‘izz Governorate). There was no presence of any civil or security authority. Smugglers (Yemeni and Ethiopian men dressed up in civilian clothing and heavily armed) were there waiting for them. Most migrants interviewed stated that they were forced to get into open pick-up trucks with as many as 80 other migrants, or into mini vans. They assumed that they would be transported en route to Saudi Arabia. Instead, according to the accounts received, migrants, including unaccompanied children, were kidnapped by smugglers and taken to informal captivity camps in Lahj Governorate, from which they were only released upon payment of a “ransom”. Public reports mention that there are approximately 80 smugglers camps in Ras al-Ara.475 313. Migrants interviewed by the Group described how, while held in these camps, they were physically abused by smugglers for days, weeks, and even months until the payment of the ransom by their relatives was received. One of the most common forms of physical abuse was forcing migrants into painful stress positions. The most described abuse consisted of being forced to crouch on the floor, with their arms and legs tied to a stick behind their back. One young male migrant recalled: “If we were moving, they would beat us with metallic pipes and sticks, they also hang people by their legs up and head down. They also pushed the bodies to hit the heads against the walls. One friend had his arms and legs destroyed like this, one 471 See https://www.iom.int/news/journey-africa-yemen-remains-worlds-busiest-maritime-migrationroute 472 See IOM Yemen Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), Flow Monitoring Points, Migrant Arrivals and Yemeni Returns from Saudi Arabia in January 2020, available at: https://displacement.iom.int/system/tdf/reports/YEMigrants_FMR_%20Jan%202020%20Dashboard_V2.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=7784 473 See IOM Yemen Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), Flow Monitoring Points, Migrant Arrivals and Yemeni Returns in July 2020, available at: https://displacement.iom.int/system/tdf/reports/YEMigrants_FMR_%20July%202020%20Dashboard_16082020_v2_1.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=9460 474 Confidential source on file. 475 See Report from Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, 14 January 2020, Ras Al Ara... Ethiopian Asylum Seekers’ Gateway to Hell , available at: https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/3392/Ras-Al-Ara...-Ethiopian-Asylum-Seekers%E2%80%99Gateway-to-Hell 79