Save migrants drifting at sea
The UN, US and rights bodies yesterday urged regional governments to take swift action to save migrants as around 6,000 Rohingyas and Bangladeshis are still believed to be stranded in the sea in Southeast Asia.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm that some Southeast Asian countries might refuse entry to several thousand people believed to be stranded on smugglers' boats in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca.
The UN chief urged the leaders in the region to keep their borders and ports open for these migrants.
“The secretary-general is concerned about the crisis evolving in the Andaman Sea and Straits of Malacca where several thousand people are believed to be stranded on smugglers' boats,” says a statement issued on Thursday in New York through his spokesperson.
Ban also urges the governments concerned to ensure that obligation of rescue is upheld and prohibition on 'refoulement' is maintained. Refoulement is forcible return of individuals to their country of origin where they could face persecution.
The Secretary-General “also urges governments to facilitate timely disembarkation and keep their borders and ports open in order to help the vulnerable people who are in need,” the statement reads.
THE US
The United States urged the governments in the region to work together to save lives on the sea and accommodate the people who are on the seas in their vicinity.
“This is an urgent regional challenge that needs to be addressed regionally through a coordinated international effort and in accordance with international conventions and with maritime law,” said Jeff Rathke, director, Press Office of the US Department of State on Thursday in Washington DC.
“The priority is to save lives. And we appreciate that the governments of the region have accommodated many Rohingya and other refugees and we urge them to continue to do so,” said the US official during a regular press briefing.
UNOHCHR
In a separate statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed alarm at reports that some countries are threatening to criminalise vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers who have crossed borders irregularly.
“Governments in Southeast Asia need to respond to this crisis from the premise that migrants, regardless of their legal status, how they arrive at borders, or where they come from, are people with rights that must be upheld. Criminalising such vulnerable people, including children, and placing them in detention is not the solution,” he said.
“I am appalled at reports that Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have been pushing boats full of vulnerable migrants back out to sea, which will inevitably lead to many avoidable deaths. The focus should be on saving lives, not further endangering them,” Zeid said.
He, however, praised Indonesia for disembarking 582 migrants on May 10 and Malaysia for disembarking 1,018 others the following day.
UNHCR
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also expressed alarm at reports suggesting that Indonesia and Malaysia may have pushed back boats carrying vulnerable people from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The UNHCR says it has asked countries in Southeast Asia to approach this issue as a regional one with real human consequences and has offered to support states to interview the different groups and help target solutions to their specific needs.
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein in his statement issued in Geneva said the number of people leaving Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat is estimated to have climbed to around 53,000. Some 920 migrants are known to have perished in the Bay of Bengal between September 2014 and March this year.
“They have been predominantly Rohingya fleeing persecution from Rakhine State in Myanmar, with increasing numbers of impoverished Bangladeshi migrants taking to the seas over the last year,” Zeid added.
“Until the Myanmar government addresses the institutional discrimination against the Rohingya population, including equal access to citizenship, this precarious migration will continue,” he said.
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