Creation of exclusion, inanity and inaction

OVER the last few weeks the international community has witnessed yet another round of human disaster. It is aghast at the reports, photos and television footages of the new boat people of Asia. This is not a homogenous group. It is a mix of refugees, economic migrants and trafficked victims. Many among those are desperate Rohingya refugees, fleeing systemic persecution of an apartheid regime in Myanmar, who were denied refuge in adjoining Bangladesh. Some in the group are economic migrants from Bangladesh trying to reach a destination that has jobs to offer to eke out a living. The third group consisted of the new slaves, who were either forcibly abducted from Cox's Bazar, Ukhia and Teknaf areas or were lured with promises for well paid employment overseas and who mostly hailed from non-migration intensity climate change affected districts of Satkhira, Barisal and Sirajganj. 

Revelation of the existence of a series of mass graves of the boat people and rescue of a few victims in the Thai side of the Thai-Malaysian border the week before had stirred international attention to this forsaken group.  This week harrowing details are emerging from the Langsa makeshift camp of boatpeople who were rescued from the sea by Achenese fishermen defying instructions of their government. 

Narratives of survivors provide a chilling account of vessels being marooned on high seas for lack of fuel, of abandonment of ship by the navigators, of denial of ration to additional members of the families, of murders committed by the traffickers and human smugglers, of passengers killing each other for control over dwindling supplies of food and water, of sexual violence against women and throwing of corpses overboard. The images of emaciated bodies of the survivors provide only an inkling of the sufferings they had to endure in their search for refuge and of life with dignity. 

The question that comes to any discerning mind why all these should have to happen. Although it is difficult to account for this complex phenomenon involved a wide range of actors and interests, one can identify a number factors that have contributed to the emergence of this new set of boatpeople. Foremost among them is the denial of citizenship rights of the Rohingyas and persistent discriminatory policies pursued against them by the Myanmarese state. In the last few years the resurgence of communal and religious violence by the Rakhines against the Rohingya in the northern Arakan and other regions, that were aided abetted by the state agencies, created conditions for fresh round of exodus for the members of the community. 

The altered stance of Bangladesh government in denying access to the incoming Rohingyas and pushing them back to the high seas left the victims of violence from across the border with very little choice but to move on to new destinations through uncharted routes. Bereft of any protection they did not enjoy the right to work, had no access to any kind of support unlike the their registered counterparts (the camp based refugees), were subjected to various forms of exploitation and had no recourse to legal redress even if grievous harms were done to them. 

Under such circumstances they looked for options for survival  and became easy victims to what was still a small incipient group of human smugglers. These human smugglers with the support of their overseas patrons facilitated movement of the Rohingyas. Malaysia became the favoured destination of the distressed Rohingyas. Some aspired to join their relatives who had reached there earlier. This route for them was a means of family reunification. For the vast majority of other Rohingyas Malaysia was a destination to secure refuge. The volume of flow of Rohingyas through sea route became more pronounced since 2012 as violence against them increased in Myanmar. Their movement to Malaysia encouraged other Bangladeshis to seek fortune through the same route. Within a short time they began tapping the services of the human smugglers to take them across to Malaysia for work. 

The massive profit accrued from this human trade created conditions for the traffickers to cash in. They lured unsuspecting Bangladeshis with lucrative jobs in Malaysia. The traffickers targeted regions that generally do not produce large scale international migrants. In these areas information and awareness about pitfalls of migration through irregular channel is scarce. These victims were subsequently made targets of extortion and when they failed to pay hefty amounts of ransom that was demanded of them, they (the victims) were subjected to servitude in the plantations.

The nefarious activities of the human smugglers and traffickers were subjects of intense media scrutiny. Bold and creative investigative reporting by the Bangladesh media provided enough clues about the extent and modalities of operation of the traffickers, points of departure and routes taken, and even about the operators including masterminds. Despite such forewarnings little was done to stem the flow and bring the perpetrators to justice. The discovery of 170+ incarcerated Bangladeshis in Thai plantations several months ago was a stark reminder of the extent of the illegal human trade.

Initially there was a degree of denial about the extent of the crisis from the official quarters. The recent unfortunate unfolding of events have led the concerned agencies to come to terms with the grim reality. However, the senior functionaries tasked with public administration and law enforcement are beginning to acknowledge that locally influential persons are scuttling all efforts. The Director of Operations of Border Guard Bangladesh at a recently held workshop organised by the National Human Rights Commission claimed "members of Counter Trafficking Committee are in some cases involved in human trafficking". While the additional deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar blamed Coast Guards and BGB for their roles, the Cabinet Secretary lamented that despite comprehensive laws to address the problems "their implementation is weak and monitoring over their implementation is even weaker". The Upzilla Nirbahi Officer of Teknaf was more pointed in his remarks when he stated that local administration cannot always play its role in preventing human trafficking due to involvement of local public representatives in the racket".  The Additional Inspector General in his address also referred to "the big fishes involved in this heinous crime". 

Thus one finds that while exclusion of Rohingyas by the Burmese state is the principal cause of the emergence of the new boat people, the neighbouring governments' refusal to grant asylum partly contributed to this illegal flow. The inaction of the Bangladesh administration to take stern action against the criminals at the early stages had allowed the latter to bolster their network and capacity. It is gratifying to note that state functionaries are now acknowledging the reality. This gives hope that the problem will finally be addressed.

The writer teaches International Relations and coordinates the Refuge and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka. He is president of Odhikar.