SE Asian lawmakers, UN urge countries in region not to allow tragic loss of 200 people stranded in ocean for weeks
Rohingya migrants are escorted ashore after their boat transporting 119 people arrived, after surviving a five-week journey at sea, on the coast of Bluka Teubai, North Aceh, Indonesia on Nov. 16. (Photo: AFP)
Southeast Asian lawmakers and the United Nations have urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other countries in the region to urgently rescue a boatload of Rohingya refugees reportedly adrift in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea for weeks.
The boat with about 200 Rohingya on board has been adrift on the high seas since late November. Dozens of passengers have reportedly already died on the journey while survivors have no access to food, water or medication, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Eva Sundari, board member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), said ASEAN member states and other countries in the region must fulfill their humanitarian obligations and launch search and rescue operations for the boat if it enters their waters.
“It is disgraceful that a boat filled with men, women, and children in grave danger has been allowed to remain adrift. Neglecting the people on the boat is nothing short of an affront to humanity,” Sundari said in Dec. 20 statement.
“Act to prevent the tragic loss of life at sea”
According to media reports and rights organizations, two other boats carrying Rohingya refugees have also been adrift in ASEAN waters in the past few weeks.
One, carrying 154 refugees, was rescued by a Vietnamese vessel on Dec. 8 and handed over to Myanmar’s navy. Another, carrying 104 refugees, was rescued by the Sri Lankan navy on Dec. 18 and disembarked at Kankesanturai harbor in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
“This is an example in humanity that all states in the region must follow to promptly and swiftly act to prevent the tragic loss of life at sea,” Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR’s director for Asia and the Pacific, said.
The agency repeated its appeal to all responsible states to rescue those in distress and adrift on the boats, allowing them to safely disembark in line with legal obligations and humanitarian traditions.
Rohingya Muslims, who are effectively denied citizenship and freedom of movement in Myanmar, are regularly arrested for attempting to flee dire conditions in Rakhine state.
More than 600,000 Rohingya remain in Rakhine, subject to state persecution and violence, after a 2017 military crackdown that forced more than 740,000 to flee to Bangladesh.
“ASEAN and the international community at large have stood idly for too long”
Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled Rakhine and camps in Bangladesh to board overcrowded and unsafe boats for Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Some 161 refugees have so far been reported dead or missing at sea in 2022, according to the UNHCR.
“ASEAN and the international community at large have stood idly for too long as the Rohingya tragedy has unfolded over the years. Those countries who claim to defend human rights have a moral obligation to address the root causes of the human rights crisis afflicting the Rohingya, or these humanitarian tragedies will only repeat again and again,” Kasit Piromya, an APHR board member and former Thai minister of foreign affairs said.
Myanmar regards the Rohingya as Bengalis, saying that they are interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh despite most of their ancestors having lived in the country for decades.
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