This archive report was first published on 6 November 2019.
On November 6, 2019, Ethiopia welcomed back 840 nationals who had been serving prison sentences in Saudi Arabia, according to an Ethiopian official.
Speaking to Xinhua, Nebiat Getachew, Spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, revealed that the 840 Ethiopians were released from Saudi prisons and returned home after consultations with Saudi authorities.
Getachew stated that most of the 840 Ethiopians returned home from Saudi Arabia were serving prison sentences for entering Saudi Arabia illegally.
He also mentioned that Ethiopia is working with the UN's migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM), to return home Ethiopians stranded in war-torn Yemen while trying to cross to Saudi Arabia.
Despite growing awareness campaigns on the dangers of human trafficking, thousands of Ethiopians are estimated to be trafficked to Saudi Arabia and other countries, where they often face imprisonment and other challenges.
Desperate migrants also risk encountering deadly calamities as they attempt to cross the Red Sea route to reach the Middle East via war-torn Yemen.
