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RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 SANAA 000341 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, NEA/RA, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC ELAB KCRM KFRD KWMN PHUM PREF SMIG
SUBJECT: SEVENTH ANNUAL TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS REPORT: YEMEN 
 
REF: A. A: STATE 00202745 
     ¶B. B: SANAA 00516 
 
¶1. This message is post's response to ref A. 
 
¶2. Note: Post requests that no/no name or entity cited in 
this report be publicly mentioned or quoted for any/any 
reason without prior clearance with post.  Post relies 
heavily on these sources and has invested much time gaining 
their confidence.  Each one of them has noted separately that 
they would speak on this issue only after post assured them 
that their names and/or entity would be protected.  End Note. 
 
¶3.  Point of contact for TIP-related issues: 
Pol/Econ: Hala Rharrit 
Email: RharritH@state.gov 
Office:  967-755-2398 
 
¶4. Abbreviations used throughout this cable: 
 
Attorney General's Office                             AG 
Arab Foundation for Supporting Women and Juveniles    AFSWJ 
Force Protection Detachment                           FPD 
The Higher Council for Motherhood & Childhood         HCMC 
International Organization of Migration               IOM 
Ministry of: 
      Foreign Affairs                                 MFA 
      Human Rights                                    MHR 
      Interior                                        MOI 
      Justice                                         MOJ 
      Labor and Social Affairs                        MLSA 
Republic of Yemen Government                          ROYG 
Trafficking in Persons                                TIP 
United Nations Children's Fund                        UNICEF 
Women Foundation for Research and Training            WFRT 
 
¶5. Begin report text: 
 
------------------------ 
Overview of TIP in Yemen 
------------------------ 
 
¶A.  Yemen is a country of origin for internationally 
trafficked children and there are isolated and 
unsubstantiated reports that it is a country of destination 
and origin for sex trafficking of foreign women into Yemen 
and Yemeni women to Saudi Arabia, respectively.  Trafficked 
Yemeni children are smuggled over the northern border into 
Saudi Arabia to work primarily as beggars.  A small number of 
foreign and Yemeni women may be the victims of trafficking 
for the purpose of prostitution.  No reliable estimate on the 
scope of these problems exist.  More information is 
available, however, on child trafficking. 
 
Trafficked Yemeni children are usually transported across the 
border to Saudi Arabia by smugglers known or related to their 
families, and usually with their parents' consent.  UNICEF 
estimates that 97 percent of trafficked children are boys. 
Trafficked children range in age from 7-16, with the majority 
being between 12-14 years old. 
 
The number of possible TIP victims in Yemen currently cannot 
be estimated with any accuracy.  Yemen has poor government 
infrastructure and little ability to collect and maintain 
reliable statistics.  According to the UNICEF representative 
in Yemen, it is impossible to account for the number of Yemen 
child victims of trafficking, or to distinguish them from 
children migrating to Saudi Arabia with their families for 
economic reasons. 
 
Available sources on trafficking in persons in Yemen are: 
UNICEF, the AG's Office, MHR, MOI, MLSA, NGOs, and local 
journalists, members of the foreign refugee community, and 
prostitutes. 
 
¶B.  Yemen is a country of origin for children trafficked to 
Saudi Arabia.  The sources of child trafficking in Yemen are 
the poor northern regions of the country, particularly in the 
governorates of Hajja and al-Mahweet, close to the Saudi 
Arabian border.  Yemeni children are trafficked to Saudi 
Arabia primarily for the purpose of unskilled labor, begging 
 
SANAA 00000341  002 OF 008 
 
 
or street vending.  The traffickers are almost always well 
known by, if not related to, the family; children are usually 
trafficked with parental consent.  Parents are either paid or 
promised money in exchange for allowing their children to be 
trafficked. 
 
There are foreign prostitutes in Yemen, particularly from 
other Arab countries, located primarily in the southern port 
city of Aden and in Sanaa.  Other prostitutes come to Yemen 
as economic migrants from East Africa, most specifically from 
Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.  There have been reports of 
Eastern European women in Aden.  Most recent unconfirmed 
estimates place the number of prostitutes in the country in 
the high hundreds during most of the year. 
 
The evidence suggests that the overwhelming majority of 
prostitutes over the age of majority are not/not victims of 
trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.  Isolated 
and uncorroborated reports further suggest that, if they 
exist, the number of women subject to sexual trafficking or 
debt-bondage situations would be small and most likely 
present in Sanaa. 
 
Before reaching this conclusion, post conducted interviews 
with officials from the MOI, MHR, a senior editor of 
"Al-Wasat" Newspaper, and several NGO heads, including the 
head of the AFSWJ.  Post also informally interviewed 
approximately 20 prostitutes and/or belly dancers and three 
unnamed pimps.  Interviews occurred throughout the year and 
involved embassy personnel from the political/economic 
section and the U.S. military's Force Protection Detachment 
(FPD).  Research for sex-trafficking was conducted most 
heavily by FPD and poloff was able to ascertain much of the 
information from Aden due to FPD's site visits.  Interviews 
provided consistent assertions, which were heavily weighed 
against possible alternatives. 
 
Interviews with our sources, including local prostitutes and 
NGOs, indicate that the overwhelming majority of women are 
here of their own volition and that most prostitutes 
acclimate each other to prostitution and act as each other's 
support system.  Interviews also indicate that women choose 
different vehicles to provide sexual services, including 
employing a pimp.  There is no evidence to indicate that men 
who act as pimps use force, threat or coercion against the 
prostitutes.  Many prostitutes also indicated that they 
returned to their home countries intermittently throughout 
the year. 
 
There are allegations that women under the age of consent are 
trafficked -- per definitions specified in Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and the UN Protocol on 
Trafficking in Persons -- into and within the country.  AFSWJ 
confirms this allegation, noting that some of its clients are 
in fact underage women coming out of prostitution.  AFSWJ 
notes, however, that they had no new under-aged clients in 
2006, but one remained from previous years, who is currently 
17 years of age.  AFSWJ asserts that most women under the age 
of legal consent are Yemeni nationals trafficked from their 
homes to other regions within the country for the purposes of 
prostitution. 
 
During follow-up site visits to Aden in 2007, FPD ascertained 
from Yemeni government contacts that two under-aged Yemeni 
prostitutes were arrested, after running away from their 
homes.  The two girls were kept in juvenile detention for 
approximately one to three months before being returned to 
their families.  The (female) pimp was arrested by 
authorities as well, and sentenced to approximately three 
months in jail.  Post cannot determine the exact time of 
these arrests, and FPD notes that the pimp may still be in 
incarceration.  Local contacts stated that cases of run-away 
under-aged Yemeni girls are common.  Girls, coming from all 
areas of Yemen, run-away to escape an arranged marriage or 
other form of family pressure.  They flee to Aden, as it is 
considered the most liberal city in Yemen.  In Aden, they 
find pimps to employ them or pimps find them, through their 
vulnerabilities of being alone in a strange city. 
 
In the past, AFSWJ has indicated that virtually all 
prostitution may be organized and speculates that low-level 
 
SANAA 00000341  003 OF 008 
 
 
government and security officials operate or are complicit in 
sex trafficking within the country.   There are also 
intermittent rumors of gangs running prostitution rings; 
however. site visits and interviews produced no evidence to 
support these allegations. 
 
Smuggling of migrants from the Horn of Africa (HOA) is a 
problem.  Some of these women find employment as prostitutes. 
 There is no evidence that these migrants are trafficked for 
the purpose of sexual exploitation. 
 
No affirming evidence can be found on trafficking of Yemeni 
women to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 
 This is an extremely sensitive subject for Yemenis, more so 
than foreign prostitution in Aden.  Yemen as an origin 
country for sex trafficking is not discussed nor recognized, 
unlike the other forms of trafficking previously mentioned. 
Poloff was able to conduct interviews with the senior editor 
and founder of Al-Wasat (independent) newspaper, who related 
that sex trafficking of Yemeni women to Saudi Arabia does 
occur.  He emphasized that this was not a generalized 
"phenomenon," but rather a few individual cases.  He 
explained that during the 1990s, sex trafficking of Yemeni 
women was a significant problem that subsided after 
unification. 
 
Senior officials recognize the need to address the problem of 
child-labor oriented trafficking, although there is no 
government-wide understanding of the issue.  In 2006, several 
ministries cooperated with UNICEF and the IOM to combat child 
trafficking.  The government has taken some practical steps, 
but some confusion still remains as to the difference between 
migrant smuggling and trafficking.  MOI officials recognize 
that trafficking exists and must be remedied, yet are still 
sensitive to the idea.  Government officials' willingness to 
seriously combat sex trafficking is untested, although minor 
arrests (see part B) show progress in combating TIP.  There 
is no credible evidence that ROYG officials are themselves 
involved or complicit, yet it is unlikely that prostitution 
could occur without some type of approval or monitoring from 
the government. 
 
¶C. The ROYG has limited resources to devote to TIP.  Although 
the ROYG continues to step up its TIP assessment efforts and 
has implemented training of security forces, its ability to 
prevent TIP, prosecute traffickers, and protect victims is 
extremely limited due to limited resources, including 
funding, skills, extreme poverty, low literacy, weak 
institutions, and a porous 1400-kilometer border with Saudi 
Arabia.  The ROYG also lacks sufficient resources to 
effectively protect TIP victims.  Although there is a general 
lack of education on TIP among ROYG officials and the Yemeni 
population as a whole, there has been a considerable change 
in the attitude towards this issue and acceptance of the 
reality by many senior authorities.  Officials at MOI, MLSA, 
and MHR have expressed a willingness to partner with the 
United States in programs to raise TIP awareness and educate 
and train security and law enforcement officers, as well as 
court officials. 
 
Corruption is a serious problem in Yemen.  In February 2006, 
President Saleh formed a new cabinet, citing the need to 
combat corruption throughout the government.  The ROYG passed 
legislation in December 2006 to create an independent 
anti-corruption body, but it has not yet been fully 
implemented.  It is likely that corruption affects TIP, as it 
does virtually every other issue, but  there is no 
substantial proof to support this link. 
 
¶D. The government does not systematically monitor its 
anti-trafficking efforts.  The MOI receives internal reports 
on illegal movement of children crossing the border but does 
not systematically share these reports with other ministries 
or international organizations.  MLSA, MHR, and HCMC 
regularly provide information on their prevention and 
assistance efforts to international organizations.  No formal 
mechanism exists, however, by which to distribute information 
or assess the effectiveness of anti-trafficking programs. 
Despite this, there has been a significant increase in 2006 
of media coverage on TIP-related issues, often with unnamed 
government sources. 
 
SANAA 00000341  004 OF 008 
 
 
 
----------- 
Prevention 
----------- 
 
¶A. TIP is still relatively new as an issue of public 
discussion in Yemen.  Ministers and officials at the MOI, 
MSLA and MHR recognize that child trafficking is a problem in 
Yemen, although the term "trafficking" causes sensitivities 
and many officials habitually refer to child trafficking as 
"smuggling."  Not all ROYG officials recognize trafficking as 
a distinct problem, with many directly attributing 
trafficking to poverty and illiteracy.  Sex-trafficking is 
even less recognized and discussed.  The MHR discussed with 
poloff the predicament of Yemen as a destination country for 
sex-trafficking, yet commented very little on it, as it did 
not have much information gathered on the subject; its major 
focus was child trafficking to Saudi Arabia.  Yemen as a 
country of origin for sex-trafficking was not discussed by 
any ROYG officials. 
 
When specific TIP-related problems are raised with the ROYG, 
officials usually acknowledge the situation and often look 
for practical solutions.  For example, the ROYG has 
consistently cooperated with UNICEF in establishing anti-TIP 
measures and programs in the affected northern governorates. 
 
¶B. ROYG agencies involved with anti-trafficking efforts 
include:  MHR, MOI (including immigration and border 
control), MLSA, MFA, MOJ, and the AG's office.  No agency has 
been tasked to lead the anti-trafficking effort. 
 
¶C.  MLSA sponsors a limited TIP awareness campaign in 
targeted northern areas to educate families and local leaders 
on the dangers of child trafficking.  In 2005, the ROYG 
created a more comprehensive plan to raise public awareness 
of the issue.  The information campaign, created with the 
assistance of UNICEF and IOM, distributed printed materials, 
videos and radio messages to educate parents and local 
leaders on the negative consequences of child trafficking. 
This program was implemented in 2006. 
 
A documentary video and an album of traditional songs were 
produced.  A cartoon series was produced tackling issues 
related to child trafficking.  Several other messages are 
regularly broadcasted from radio Hajja and the TV program of 
the MOI.  According to UICEF, in 2006, 4000 children, 
families, local concils, religious leaders, and teachers 
have acqured a better understanding of TIP and are more 
aare of the risks and consequences of child trafficing 
through awareness campaigns. 
 
With the supprt of UNICEF, the MHR established a telephone 
holine for citizens to report suspected cases of 
tafficking.  The MHR also distributed information o the 
hotline in the four regions where child traficking is most 
prevalent - Hajja, Al-Maharah, Saada and Al-Mahweet.  As of 
January 2006, 102 susected cases of trafficking had been 
reported thrugh the hotline.  However, due to a lack of 
techical capacity and cooperation from the Ministry of 
Communications, the hotline is no longer operatioal.  The 
MHR expressed the need for this hotline and asked for any 
technical assistance to have it re-launched. 
 
¶D. The ROYG supports many programs that do not specifically 
target TIP but aid in TIP prevention, such as government-wide 
efforts to increase literacy among women, combat violence 
against women, expand women's awareness of their legal rights 
and increase the role of women in political life.  The ROYG 
also has an active program for combating child labor. 
 
¶E.  The MLSA, MHR and MOI actively cooperated with UNICEF and 
IOM on a variety of anti-trafficking efforts.  There are no 
NGOs in Yemen that are focused solely on TIP issues.  Post 
believes that the ROYG would cooperate with NGOs to combat 
TIP in Yemen because it has a record of working well with 
NGOs on women's and children's issues, including: combating 
violence against women, promoting women's rights, and 
improving child labor regulations.  There is a network of 
organizations that works with women victims of violence and 
prostitution. 
 
SANAA 00000341  005 OF 008 
 
 
 
¶F. Yemen is surrounded by ocean, rugged mountains and desert, 
making its borders difficult to control.  Smuggling and 
illicit trade are common problems.  The United States is 
assisting the ROYG with border security control through the 
Terrorist Interdiction Program and by providing equipment and 
training assistance to the Yemen Coast Guard.  Effective 
border control remains nascent and the capacity of the ROYG 
to monitor emigration and immigration patterns for 
trafficking in persons is limited.  In 2005, UNICEF provided 
equipment and training to MOI officials to create a database 
for information collected on child trafficking and smuggling, 
which is still in use today.  Government officials continue 
to produce monthly reports on how many children are taken 
into custody at border crossings for suspicion of being 
illegal emigrants or trafficking victims. 
 
¶G.  HCMC, under the authority of the Council of Ministers, 
coordinated government efforts against child trafficking 
through the Technical Committee to Combat Child Smuggling, 
which was formed February 2006.  This committee brings 
together members from all relevant government ministries. 
There is no mechanism to survey the effectiveness of this 
committee, and thus, the head of HCMC, Dr. Nafisa al-Jaifi, 
expressed the need for capacity building in order to 
establish such a mechanism. There is no equivalent committee 
for sex-trafficking.  The government does not have a single 
point of contact for TIP-related issues.  The government does 
have a high-level committee to combat corruption. 
 
¶H.  The ROYG does not yet have a formal national plan of 
action to address TIP.  However, in partnership with IOM, the 
national action plan was drafted by the technical committee 
with the support of an international expert.  A one day 
national consultation workshop was conducted.  One-hundred 
and two representatives of related ministries at local and 
national levels, local councils, NGOs, and parliamentarians 
were consulted in the components of the plan.  The draft will 
be revised based on the recommendations of the consultation. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Investigation and Prosecution of Traffickers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶A.  There are no laws that specifically outlaw TIP.  In 2005, 
MOJ and the Higher Council for Motherhood and Childhood 
completed a comprehensive review of all laws and regulations 
pertaining to children.  In 2006, HCMC, with MSAL, MOJ, MOI, 
MHR, MLA, and concerned organizations drafted amendments to 
current laws addressing child protection, and submitted them 
to Parliament, which is currently discussing them.  There are 
laws that can be applied specifically to TIP.  The laws fall 
within the categories of personal status law, juvenile law, 
law of crimes and punishment, child rights law, and the law 
of military crimes and punishments.  The amendments include 
an addition to the crimes and punishment laws, with the title 
of "child exploitation crimes."  This entails various 
punishment criteria on child smuggling, sexual exploitation 
of children, and exploiting children for the purpose of 
begging.  Article 262 under child smuggling, for example, 
stipulates, "any person who transports a child under 18 years 
of age to another state with the purpose of illegal 
exploitation shall be penalized with imprisonment not more 
than five years and the punishment shall be a period of 
imprisonment not more than seven years if the criminal uses 
deception or coercion.  If the act of transporting involves 
sexual harassment or physical harm, the criminal will 
penalized with an imprisonment period not less than three 
years and not more than 10 years." 
 
The current Article 248 of the Yemeni Penal Code stipulates a 
prison sentence of 10 years for "anyone who buys, sells, or 
gives as a present, or deals in human beings; and anyone who 
brings into the country or exports from it a human being with 
the intent of taking advantage of him." 
 
The penalty for traffickers under Article 248 of the Yemeni 
Penal Code is up to ten years in prison.  If the offense 
prosecuted under Article 248 is committed against a child, 
the prison term can be extended to 15 years. 
 
 
SANAA 00000341  006 OF 008 
 
 
Article 47 of the Yemeni Constitution stipulates, "The State 
shall guarantee to its citizens their personal freedom, 
preserve their dignity and their security." 
 
¶B.  Article 249 carries a penalty of seven years in prison 
for kidnapping and the death penalty in kidnapping cases that 
include sexual assault or murder.  Articles 146, 147 and 161 
of the Child's Rights Law protect a child from sexual 
molestation, economic exploitation, prostitution and other 
illegal activities.  While only Article 248 appears to 
explicitly punish trafficking, the other articles outlined 
above could presumably be used to prosecute traffickers as 
well. 
 
¶C.  There is no formal law on labor trafficking; however, a 
law has been drafted by the Ministry of Legal Affairs in 2006 
and is now before the Cabinet, which must approve it before 
Parliament can act on it. 
 
¶D.  The penalty for rape is up to seven years in prison. If 
two or more persons jointly commit the rape, the punishment 
is a maximum of ten years. If the victim of the rape is less 
than 14 years, the penalty carries a maximum of 15 years. 
 
¶E.  All aspects of prostitution are criminalized, including 
the activities of brothel owners and operators.  Laws against 
prostitution are intermittently enforced. 
 
¶F.  The ROYG significantly increased its efforts to prosecute 
child trafficking cases in 2006.  The MLSA reports that 12 
traffickers of children were successfully convicted and 
sentenced in 2006.  Although the exact length of each 
sentence is unknown, the range is from six months to three 
years in prison.  At the end of 2005, there were at least 14 
traffickers apprehended by authorities.  The number of 
convictions has decreased from previous years.  There were no 
cases of prosecutions against traffickers for sexual 
exploitation.  The inability of Yemeni authorities to provide 
detailed case information is not unusual; the Yemeni judicial 
and law enforcement system is fragmented and disorganized, 
with court decisions still hand-written and court records 
decentralized. 
 
¶G.  Most child smugglers are freelance operators who are 
often related to their child victims, or at a minimum known 
to their families.  Child smuggling to Saudi Arabia appears 
to be due to dire economic conditions and there are no 
indications of international organizations being involved. 
UNICEF, local journalists covering the issue of child 
smuggling, and MOI and MLSA officials describe the child 
trafficking network as loosely organized.  UNICEF notes in 
its 2005 report that the organization is "not on the scale of 
an international crime syndicate."  This is still indicative 
of the situation in 2006.  Taxi drivers or smugglers pick up 
some children who start the journey on their own along the 
routes. Families that allow their children to go to Saudi 
Arabia live in extreme poverty, have large families and are 
either given or promised money.  In some cases, families of 
victims approach the traffickers.  There are no reports that 
government officials are involved, but it is a possibility. 
 
Post does not believe that organized gangs or syndicates are 
behind prostitution in Aden.  Post does not have information 
on how prostitution operates in Sanaa.  For women over the 
age of majority, there is no evidence to indicate that 
prostitution in Yemen involves sex trafficking.  Many allege 
that prostitution rings in Yemen, should they exist, might 
involve government officials, including customs, border and 
law enforcement officials, who are at least aware of the 
practice.  For example, hotels in Aden where Yemeni and 
foreign prostitutes ply their trade are always monitored by 
officers of the MOI and Political Security Organization 
(PSO).  In the past, AFSWJ has speculated that low-level 
government and security officials operate or are complicit in 
prostitution within the country. 
 
In cases where there may be a sex trafficking problem with 
victims under the age of 18, it is unknown who is behind it 
or whether or not it is organized. 
 
¶H. In 2006 the ROYG intensified investigations of child 
 
SANAA 00000341  007 OF 008 
 
 
smuggling, although the MOI's investigation and surveillance 
skills and capabilities remained limited and rudimentary.  In 
Yemen migrant smuggling and trafficking cases are many times 
intermingled.  For example, many times children who are 
billed as "trafficked" in fact emigrated to Saudi Arabia with 
their families.  Other times, children apprehended in Saudi 
Arabia and repatriated to Yemen lie to authorities in order 
to protect their families who were still living in Saudi 
Arabia. 
 
¶I.  In 2005, the government stepped up specialized training 
to border guards on how to recognize instances of 
trafficking.  In conjunction with IOM and UNICEF, the ROYG 
trained 40 MOI personnel on TIP law enforcement and 
assistance to victims of smuggling.  To assure continuity, 10 
additional border officials were selected to act as future 
trainers.  UNICEF, however, did not continue the training 
program in 2006.  There were no reports of ROYG officials 
receiving any specialized training on how to investigate or 
prosecute trafficking cases. 
 
¶J.  Saudi Arabian authorities routinely repatriate smuggled 
children to Yemen.  In 2004, Yemen and Saudi Arabia 
established a bilateral committee to combat child 
trafficking.  The committee, facilitated by UNICEF, has met 
twice in Riyadh and Sanaa, respectively.  A Memorandum of 
Understanding was drafted during the meetings; a third 
meeting is scheduled for March 2007 to further discuss 
anti-TIP initiatives dealing with children. 
 
¶K.  The Yemen Constitution prohibits the extradition of its 
citizens.  Post is unaware of any extradition of persons 
charged with trafficking. 
 
¶L.  Post cannot confirm any government involvement in, or 
tolerance of, child trafficking.  Should the prostitution 
problem be identified as sex trafficking, it is likely that 
low-level ROYG officials would be at minimum aware of the 
practice. 
 
¶M.  The ROYG has not taken any action against officials for 
involvement in TIP. 
 
¶N. Although there are reports that some prostitutes are under 
the age of 18, Yemen is not identified as a child sex tourism 
destination.  There are no confirmed reports on the number of 
child prostitutes. 
 
¶O. Yemen ratified the Slavery Convention of 1926 in 1987.  In 
1989 the government ratified the Convention for the 
Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and Exploitation of the 
Prostitution of Others.  The government ratified the Rights 
of the Child Convention in 1991, along with the Optional 
Protocol on the Rights of the Child in Armed Conflict.  ILO 
Convention 182 Concerning Prohibition and Immediate Action 
for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor was 
signed and ratified in 1999.  In July 2004 the ROYG ratified 
the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the 
Child on the Sale of Children. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Protection and Assistance to Victims 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶A.  The government provides limited assistance to trafficked 
children.  For repatriated trafficked children, there is one 
fully operational reception center in the Harath region 
established in May 2005.  The center, run jointly by the ROYG 
and UNICEF, provides social services, limited medical care, 
and attempts to reunite TIP victims with their families.  In 
2006, the center received 796 children, of which 758 were 
returned to their parents after a pledge that their children 
would not be smuggled again.  Twelve children were sent to 
other care centers in Sanaa, Hodeidah and Hajja, while 25 
children continue to remain in the center.  All children who 
entered the center were male, except for one female, aged 9, 
who entered with her brother.  After four days in the center, 
both were handed back to their father. 
 
There is not enough evidence to indicate that prostitution in 
Yemen involves sexual trafficking for women over the age of 
 
SANAA 00000341  008 OF 008 
 
 
majority and the government did not care for prostitutes. 
With underage prostitution, the traditional nature of Yemeni 
society and sexual taboos make it difficult to assess or to 
investigate what aid, if any, may be given to potential 
victims.  If there is government or NGO assistance to victims 
of underage sex trafficking, it is likely limited and 
sporadic and closely guarded by the women and their families. 
 At this time, without assistance, Yemen is mostly incapable 
of handling TIP victims since the ROYG lacks adequate 
funding, resources, and capacity to deal with such an issue. 
 
The ROYG has begun to demonstrate political will in dealing 
with child trafficking.  It is not possible to assess whether 
or not the same political will exists to combat sexual 
oriented trafficking since it has not proven to be a 
significant problem in Yemen. 
 
¶B.  The Government does not provide funding to NGOs to help 
victims of trafficking. 
 
¶C.  While no referral process for NGOs exists, law 
enforcement officials do transfer repatriated children from 
Saudi Arabia to the Harath Reception Center or a smaller MLSA 
facility in Hajja.  If children cannot be re-united with 
their families, MLSA places children in public orphanages. 
 
¶D.  There are credible reports that several returned children 
were initially held in custody for up to a month before being 
returned to their families.  Child prostitutes who are picked 
up by authorities are routinely incarcerated and prosecuted, 
although nothing is known about the outcome of their cases. 
Some children prostitutes are released to third parties, most 
likely pimps, while others are reportedly let go in the 
streets without any support system. 
 
¶E.  There is no known judicial program to aid victims of 
trafficking in understanding their rights or seeking legal 
redress. 
 
¶F.  Yemen does not provide any significant assistance to 
protect victims or witnesses of trafficking.  The government 
provides limited support through the Harath and Hajja 
reception centers to trafficked children, including temporary 
shelter, social services, and limited medical care. 
 
¶G.  In 2005, in cooperation with UNICEF and IOM, the ROYG 
trained 17 staff of the new Harath reception center on 
shelter management and trafficking victim assistance.  Two 
additional individuals -- one with the MLSA and the other 
with a Yemeni NGO expected to take over the center in 2006 -- 
they were also trained in order to maintain continuity.  It 
is presumed that this continuity has taken place, yet there 
is no system in place to measure the sustainability.  The 
ROYG has been cooperating with Saudi Arabia, but not 
specifically on training.  There are no reports of 
cooperation with any other foreign countries or embassies to 
provide training on TIP victim protection.  The ROYG also 
does not urge those embassies to develop on-going 
relationships with NGOs that serve TIP victims. 
 
¶H.  The ROYG provides limited assistance to repatriated 
Yemeni children by providing temporary shelter and assistance 
in reuniting children with their families. 
 
¶I.  UNICEF and IOM are the sole international NGOs that focus 
on trafficking in persons in Yemen.  They both worked with 
TIP victims in the last year.  The AFSWJ works with 
prostitutes, but does not focus specifically on sex 
trafficking.  AFSWJ provides limited legal and rehabilitative 
services to women.  The Saleh Foundation is expected to take 
over the administration of the new Harath reception center. 
HCMC works within the Presidency of Council of Ministers to 
lobby for child protection laws.  These NGOs are all possible 
partners for TIP assistance programs that could focus on the 
protection of trafficking victims. 
 
End of text. 
KRAJESKI