Yemenis between Migration and Remittances - Role and Hope!
Yemeni migrations began since the great dam of Marib’s collapse in the 7th century BC. The Yemeni tribes then moved to various parts of the globe, especially in the Middle East, to build a civilization in the footsteps of the ancient Yemeni civilizations of Sheba, Himyar, Awsan, Qataban, Ma’in, and Hadramout. Migration has become the habit of the Yemenis since then, and people were sent to the east and west to earn and live. In the modern era, the Yemeni state entity appeared with the global political and administrative developments that organized the form of world migration. Since the beginning of the last century, the Yemenis have been among those people who migrated towards Africa, Southeast Asia, Gulf states, and America. These expatriates support many of their families inside Yemen through cash transfers.
Actually, some estimates indicate that, due to the armed conflict and the political and security instability for long time, the number of Yemeni expatriates reaches about 7 million immigrants in various countries, including nearly 3 million in KSA and over 350 thousand in America. The rest are distributed around the world as merchants, workers, students, scholars, academics, and so on. These expatriates annually transfer more than 4 billion dollars, which is truly greater than the sums provided by international donors to Yemen. It is an advanced rank among the countries to which its expatriates transfer large amounts. Before the war at the beginning of 2015, cash transfers from Yemeni immigrants were more than $3.3 billion and constituted 9.1% of the GDP, compared to a rate of up to one-fifth last year. Nonetheless, government agencies indicate that expatriate remittances exceed that, as unofficial channels acquire them because of the financial and banking system weakness and the expatriates’ lack of confidence in them, especially after the war outbreak and banks’ inability to deliver deposits to people. This raised widespread concerns among expatriates who felt disappointed by being prevented from investing their money or collecting it as wanted, as well as poor banking services and speculation with people’s money without them informed by exchangers who have dominated the currency market and transfers.
The cash transfers of Yemeni expatriates represent the first source of foreign exchange, particularly after the cessation of oil and gas export and Yemeni products export due to the conflict, as well as the interruption of the tourism sector. It seems that directing their cash transfers towards development is an old, modern dream that haunts successive Yemeni governments, yet the war made that difficult with the increasing need for their families owing to the interruption of salaries and the loss of a huge percentage of transfers in consumption, though that dream is not impossible. This issue was viewed from an angle that the Yemeni human resources are more important than the non-renewable resources in the country, since Yemenis outnumber the neighboring countries in the Gulf countries and the Horn of Africa. Unexpectedly, they are the only ones who can move the development wheel due to the availability of manpower and diverse national competencies inside and abroad. Investing in human resources is seen as an important strategic plan that can globally raise Yemen’s status, benefiting from the experiences of Southeast Asian countries, India, and China.
The hope of establishing peace in Yemen may enable the expatriates to play an important role in the reconstruction process and building the national economy. This may be easily accomplished by enacting a wide range of means at all levels, primarily in the financial and banking sectors, making it easier for expatriates to send money home legally and encourage them to participate in all industries. This is an encouragement to turn the national capital of the migrants toward the interior.
Every Yemeni expatriate has an interesting and distinctive story about what they offer to their family in Yemen despite the bitterness of how he suffers abroad, but Yemenis by nature are dedicated to giving others a real opportunity to have an honorable life away from the misery imposed by the war and its makers. The expatriates participate - if not the main, then an important part of every aspect - in many life activities for their families in Yemen, such as building houses, providing health, providing basic food, supporting students in the various educational stages, adopting community initiatives, and supporting the poor, widows, and orphans. What we see of development since the outbreak of the war, especially in the field of urbanization, is due to the expatriates, who have been working hard to help their relatives in Yemen. This is not a denial of the efforts of international organizations working to save Yemenis from the specter of hunger. However, the role of expatriates was truly effective in alleviating the impact of war and poverty. Overall, this effort did not get what it deserves to be studied so as everyone can understand it.
