Yemen on the map.
According to the U.S. Department of State, Yemen is on the “Travel Warning List” of countries that US citizens should avoid traveling to:
“The Department urges U.S. citizens to defer travel to Yemen and those U.S. citizens currently living in Yemen to depart. This supersedes the Travel Warning for Yemen issued on January 29, 2014. “
Despite this explicit warning, it appears that ICANN officials took a trip to Yemen recently, for the sake of performing “outreach activities” – whatever that means:
“During the week of August 17-21, I had the privilege; along with my colleague from RIPE NCC Mr. Hisham Ibrahim, to travel to Sana’a; the capital of Yemen, to do some outreach activities; educating the local stakeholders on what our respective organizations do, as well as introducing them to Internet Governance and the role of our respective organizations in the Internet ecosystem. This visit was initiated by an invitation from the ISOC Yemen Chapter, who was also our generous host for the duration of our visit.”
With the upcoming ICANN 51 conference taking place on US soil, in Los Angeles, California and the recent elevation of global security measures, it would be important to ensure the safety of the ICANN conference; its continuous rhetoric on globalism, shifting control of key Internet functions away from US control coincides with an increase in anti-American sentiment.
For the full ICANN coverage of the trip of ICANN officials to Yemen, click here.
Umm, I bet they travel to a lot of places with “warnings”
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html
Andrew – My point exactly.
Agreed, try getting in the usa with a foreign passport stamped in Yemen, see what happens.
This is just the State Department’s warning to travelers that if you get into a fix in Yemen, don’t expect help from the U.S. government.