Deputy Minister of Expatriate Affairs, Zayed Al-Riyami, revealed that the Saudi regime has detained nearly ten thousand Yemeni expatriates in its prisons, including nearly 500 women.
The Deputy Minister of Expatriate Affairs said in an interview with the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) that the ministry is preparing and processing files on violations of the Saudi regime against Yemeni expatriates and submitting them to international courts.
He touched on the conditions and issues of the Yemeni expatriates and the problems they face in the countries of expatriation and the Diaspora.
The following is the text of the dialogue:
- We welcome you to this dialogue and would like to inform us about the process of documenting the data of citizens wishing to emigrate, which the Ministry has been carrying out for two years?
At the outset, we would like to point out that counting expatriates is one of the tasks and competence of the ministry to know who has gone and who has come, and this process is a database for all expatriates.
- The project to establish the Expatriate Bank is a long-awaited dream... Why did it fail?
The Council of Ministers decided to establish the Expatriate Bank project years ago, and we formed a preparatory committee in partnership with several government agencies, including the Central Bank of Yemen and a number of ministries. As it was among the projects of 1444 AH, it was transferred to the year 1445 AH as a result of our lack of financing, and God willing, if financing is available, it will be announced next year.
- What is the ministry's role regarding the violations that Yemeni expatriates are exposed to in Saudi Arabia and other countries?
The Ministry is responsible for all expatriates and was established to take care of them. A higher committee was established to receive complaints of expatriates and forcibly displaced persons, headed by the Assistant Undersecretary for the Planning and Investment Sector, Ahmed Abdo Qaed. The committee receives complaints, studies them, prepares files and submits them to local or international courts to prosecute the Saudi authorities.
Despite the aggression and the blockade, we are working as much as possible to provide service to expatriates.
The ministry faces the problem of lack of information due to the expatriates' fear of being harassed in the country of expatriation.
Therefore, we deal with several possible and available methods and means, even at a minimum, to solve and follow up on expatriate issues.
- What are the most prominent violations that have been monitored against expatriates in Saudi Arabia?
With regard to the violations and crimes committed by the Saudi authorities against expatriates and detainees in Saudi prisons, there are approximate figures for the number of Yemenis in prisons, ranging from eight to ten thousand distributed in deportation prisons.
Judicial rulings were issued against them, such as in Tariq, Al-Kharj and Ha’ir prisons, due to residence permits, fingerprints, and reports from the sponsor, while the number of women who are subjected to torture and gross violations ranges from 300 to 500 in Al-Kharj prison.
- Since the segment of Yemeni expatriates is targeted in the framework of the aggressive war against Yemen...why were their cases, especially forced deportation and the imposition of unfair fees, not included in the humanitarian file?
Indeed, the Saudi regime is waging a war against the Yemeni people as a whole, whether at home or abroad, and it is an aggressive war that began a long time ago.
The issues of rights and freedoms of Yemeni expatriates in Saudi Arabia fall within the framework of the humanitarian file because the Saudi regime uses cases from the expatriate segment and includes them in the exchange of prisoners.
Accordingly, the issues of Yemeni expatriates must be included in the negotiations, because there are charters and agreements between Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
However, the Saudi regime retracted what was signed, as the Saudi regime committed itself in the Taif Agreement to treat the Yemeni citizen residing in Saudi Arabia as a Saudi citizen.
However, he practices many violations against expatriates, such as insults and arrests due to the expiration of residency permits, imposing fees exceeding 20,000 Saudi riyals, and taking the expatriate’s money under the pretext that he is not a Saudi.
One of the most important forms of exploitation that the Yemeni expatriate is exposed to in Saudi Arabia, for example, is the value of the visa, which amounts to fifteen thousand Saudi riyals, and when the expatriate arrives, he does not know the sponsor, and this visa is through an intermediary or an office.
He is forced to sign his rights, salaries, and a receipt deed, then he is given a period of six months to transfer the sponsorship to another person in order to double the fees and apply the Nitaqat program, which is applied by the Saudi system to evaluate establishments operating in the market according to localization rates, the number of workers, and the calculation of wage rates, as establishments are classified into four Levels: Platinum, Green, Yellow and Red.
The expatriate also pays an amount ranging from three to five thousand and 650 riyals in exchange for the card and renewal of residency, and the rest to the sponsor upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia. As for the work, it is the share, and it is impossible to find a job while he is a newcomer.
In the absence of another sponsor, the first sponsor files a report against the worker under the pretext of absence from work or his escape so that his fictitious establishment is not placed in a red zone.
And here begins the journey of torment and suffering, and in order to cancel this communication, the expatriate needs from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand riyals, and if he does not find work, he will be arrested and deported.
In addition to all of the above, we would like to point out that the professions allowed for the Yemeni expatriate are limited and are minimal jobs, such as porters, shepherds and others, and in order to move from one profession to another, modifying the profession requires an amount of up to ten thousand Saudi riyals.
In addition, the Yemeni expatriate cannot work in closed markets and continues to be threatened with arrest and deportation imprisonment on the pretext of violating the system, and the expatriate is also subjected to insults .
- How many Yemenis are expatriates in different countries of the world?
The number of Yemenis abroad exceeds 14 million and 200 thousand, between expatriates and immigrants, of whom more than two million are in Saudi Arabia, excluding the expatriates who have been deported by the Saudi regime since the start of the aggression against Yemen, and their number is estimated at about one and a half million expatriates.
- What role did the Ministry of Expatriate Affairs play regarding the right-wingers stranded in Sudan?
The Ministry played a pivotal role in the evacuation process by communicating with international organizations, the United Nations and the International Red Cross, and pressing for the evacuation of Yemeni nationals who were in the city of Port Sudan.
Praise be to God, nearly five thousand citizens have been evacuated to Sana'a and Aden by air, and part of them are by sea, and they are students and expatriates, leaving only those who are stable and most of them hold Sudanese nationality.
During our meeting with the Humanitarian Coordinator, we expressed our objection to their deportation to Aden due to the security chaos in the occupied areas and the danger of crossing through Aden, and there are incidents that occurred for some expatriates returning through the southern provinces, and in view of that it was agreed with the UN Coordinator that they be deported by air to Sana'a airport or by sea to Hodeida.
How many Yemeni expatriates are in Sudan?
The number of Yemenis in Sudan is about 27,000.
- What is the extent of the aggression's impact on the ministry's activity?
The aggression left a great impact on the Republic of Yemen, on land, people, and destroyed the infrastructure, killing women and children, and affected all Yemenis.
Like other institutions and government agencies, the ministry's activity was affected by the aggression, the blockade, and the interruption of salaries, which had a direct impact on the various administrative and service activities.
The expatriate was also affected by travel difficulties due to the blockade and the closure of Sana'a airport, as well as the transfer of the Central Bank's jobs. All these factors directly affected the ministry and the expatriate.
Can you brief us on the implementation of the Ministry's plan... and what has been accomplished?
The ministry has a basic plan and there is a plan linked to the national vision, and many projects have been implemented, such as the ministry’s regulation and the networking of popular diplomacy with Yemeni expatriates in more than 92 countries, who held demonstrations, vigils, and events that disgraced the Saudi regime and revealed the reality of the aggression against Yemen.
And the facts that the Saudi regime used to hide from world public opinion, and the expatriate had a major role through popular diplomacy, and we are in constant contact with them.
We have also started work on creating the database, and the Expatriates Care Fund has been approved and completed, while there are projects under implementation in addition to the Expatriates Bank project, which was carried over to next year due to the lack of funding.
What is the future vision of the ministry?
We aspire in the Ministry of Expatriate Affairs to be a service ministry and to provide its services free of charge to expatriates in a way that contributes to directing their investments inwards.
If the migrant capital moved to the homeland, we will achieve a quantum leap and a great gain for Yemen, and this will not be achieved without the presence of a modern administration that cares about the expatriate, and provides him with all services, and Yemen possesses great wealth represented in the capital of expatriates.
- What message would you like to send to Yemeni expatriates?
We assure all Yemeni expatriates that the Ministry of Expatriate Affairs provides its services free of charge, in implementation of the directives of the Revolution Leader, Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badr Al-Din Al-Houthi, and the President of the Supreme Political Council, Field Marshal Mahdi Al-Mashat.
I also say to the expatriates that we were found to serve them, and in the event of any violation of their right, or any theft of their money, they only have to go to the Ministry and we will act as the authorized agent free of charge.
Source: Yemen News Agency