Saudi Forces Killed Hundreds of Migrants at Yemeni Border, Report Says

Saudi border guards have killed hundreds of mostly Ethiopian migrants at the country’s border with Yemen, according to a Human Rights Watch (Center bias) report. 

The Details: According to HRW, Saudi forces engaged in “widespread and systematic” mass killings of “at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023.” 

Key Quotes: “If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings would be a crime against humanity,” HRW said. The report quotes a 20-year-old Ethiopian woman, who said, “When we were one kilometer away, the border guards could see us. We were resting together after running a lot…and that’s when they fired mortars on our group. Directly at us. There were 20 in our group and only ten survived.” 

For Context: Around the world, young people are migrating from poor countries to richer ones. In this case, however, migrants came to Saudi Arabia through a country mired in civil war — often taking routes controlled by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, against whom Saudi forces have launched airstrikes and other military interventions. Still, the migrants find a way; according to HRW, an estimated 750,000 Ethiopians live and work in Saudi Arabia. 

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was common in mainstream media outlets and generally did not reflect American partisan divides. Al Jazeera (Lean Left bias), a Qatar-funded outlet, appeared to remove an article about HRW’s report but left up a short article saying Saudi Arabia denied the accusations.