At least 30 people, deported from Saudi Arabia to the Yemeni border area of Haradh, died in the last four weeks after being stranded without food or water.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that the latest deaths highlight the urgent need to help an increasing number of ill-treated African migrants being left by Saudi Arabia at its border with Yemen.
IOM spokeswoman, Jemini Pandya, said that irregular migrants are picked up inside Saudi Arabia, put on buses and then taken to the border area.
The migrants, who mainly are from Ethiopia, Somalia, or Sudan start their journey in hope of going to the Gulf or beyond in search of work. Citizens from the Horn of Africa are victimized by brutal smugglers, who on the other hand are allegedly aided by Yemeni and Saudi border police.
IOM and its partners recently began assisting a group of 2,000 Ethiopian irregular migrants at Haradh. Since mid-November, IOM has convinced 785 of the migrants to voluntarily return home, including 154 women and minors who had been held in Yemeni detention centers.
Haradh is becoming increasingly infamous for its role in the trafficking of African migrants in search of work in Saudi Arabia, in addition to drugs and arms smuggling.