IOM Yemen DTM’s Flow Monitoring Registry (FMR) monitors migrant arrivals on the southern coastal border and Yemeni return locations on Yemen’s northern border with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Enumerators placed at Flow Monitoring Points (FMPs) record migrant arrivals and returning Yemeni nationals in order to identify dierent patterns of migration, and to provide quantitative estimates to help define the population of irregular migrants entering the country. FMR is not representative of all flows in Yemen and should be understood as only indicative of migration trends of the unknown total number of migrants arriving in Yemen at FMPs during the time frame indicated.
Access constraints limit the ability to collect data at some migrant arrival points.
In February 2022, IOM Yemen DTM recorded 8,358 migrants entering Yemen, compared to 5,940 migrant arrivals in January 2022. This increase is likely due to improved weather conditions and the deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia.
The Eastern Route, one of the busiest maritime migration routes in the world, witnessed a decrease in migration flows due to COVID19-related movement restrictions. With the recent loosening of restrictions on international movements, there has been a steady increase in the number of migrant arrivals into Yemen.
Due to the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the challenges in moving onwards towards KSA, many migrants have opted to return to the Horn of Africa. DTM teams in Djibouti and Somalia recorded that during February 2022, a total of 668 migrants took the risky return by boat form Yemen to travel home. Moreover, DTM recorded 4,685 Yemeni returns from KSA during the month of February 2022, compared to 5,760 in January 2022. Between 1 January and 28 February 2022, an estimated 14,298 migrants and 10,445 Yemeni migrant returnees arrived in Yemen.
Source: International Organization for Migration