Amid security reports pointing to a large increase in border infiltration at the Yemen-Saudi border, Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Saudi Arabia Interior Minister entrusted a high-powered committee with the reorganization of its southern border security in collaboration with the Yemeni authorities.
With Yemen still battling a multitude of crises, smugglers, human traffickers and criminals have used Yemen security vacuum to their advantage, having turned the impoverished nation into a by-pass country, a point of entry to rich Saudi Arabia and beyond.
Security officials both in Saudi Arabia and Yemen have warned against weapon smuggling and terror migration, stressing Yemen norther territories needed to be better managed.
Saudi Arabia estimated that as many as 3,000 individuals are entering its territories illegally every day, most of whom Yemeni economic migrants in search for paid work or African refugees.
Social workers in Yemen working in collaboration with UNICEF and the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor - IPEC - are also implementing projects in the country northern provinces aimed at stifling child trafficking.
In a desperate attempts to fight off poverty and hunger Yemeni families decided to send their children across the border into Saudi Arabia hoping they would find work as domestic workers, manual laborers or even beggars.