The Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation in Malaysia (Merhrom) has urged the world community, United Nations, Asean, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to take concrete measures to stop the recurring tragedies of sinking migrant boats in the open seas.
Merhrom president Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani made the appeal following another presumed sinking of a boat carrying 180 Rohingya refugees in the Andaman Sea off the Indian coast last month.
“I am saddened to talk about this as 180 innocent people perished while on their journey searching for greener pastures, and such tragedies will continue until and unless a permanent solution is found for the longstanding Rohingya issues in Rakhine, Myanmar.
“There have been many such tragedies where boats carrying migrants sank in the open seas over the last two decades and thousands of people have perished,” he told Malaysiakini.
On Dec 25, Reuters reported that at least 180 ethnic Rohingya stranded at sea for weeks after leaving Bangladesh in November are feared dead as their rickety boat is thought to have sunk.
Though the sinking was not confirmed, the report quoted the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) as saying that the “unseaworthy” boat probably sank after it went missing and relatives of the migrants onboard lost contact.
Zafar said it is the responsibility of the international community to stop the further death of innocents under similar circumstances.
“I beg the international community, Asean, and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to take bold steps to stop the genocide, violence, and human rights violations in Rakhine, and to find a permanent solution for the issue,” he said.
Zafar further said that more boats carrying Rohingya refugees are expected to make their way to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia in the near future, citing information from refugee camps in Bangladesh and reliable sources from Rakhine, Myanmar.
He added that residents of the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, feel unsafe due to increased crime - including drug-related incidents and rape - but local authorities are not addressing the matter urgently enough.
“The Bangladeshi government has to be serious and act against the drug pushers and drug-related gang fights, violence, and unsafe conditions at the camps as these are chasing off the refugee.
“As the persecution, violence, and military attack against the community continue, it motivates Rohingya to search for human traffickers to transport them to Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, despite the negative experiences of surviving boat people,” he added.
UNHCR: 2022 one of deadliest years
The UNHCR reportedly said more than 2,000 Rohingya have attempted risky journeys through the open sea by boat to other countries in 2022. The UN refugee agency said nearly 200 people have died on such journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal as a result.
“UNHCR has also received unconfirmed reports that one additional boat with some 180 people is still missing, with all passengers presumed dead,” it said in a press statement.
Around the same time, Indonesia saved some 200 refugees who had been adrift for about a month without help.
In November and December 2022, Indonesia rescued at least 472 people from four boats, UNHCR said, while other countries turned a deaf ear to appeals for help.
“We welcome this act of humanity by local communities and authorities in Indonesia,” said Ann Maymann, the UNHCR representative in Indonesia.
“These actions help to save human lives from certain death, ending torturous ordeals for many desperate people,” she added.
UNHCR’s director for Asia and the Pacific, Indrika Ratwatte, said states must act to save lives and “not let people die”.
“It is devastating to learn that many people have already lost their lives, including children,” Ratwatte said in a separate statement.
“Sadly, this makes it one of the deadliest years in the seas in the region.”
‘Act against genocide, human traffickers’
Meanwhile, Zafar urged the governments of stakeholder countries like Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, as well as international bodies like the UN, Asean, and the OIC to address the root cause of these tragedies - Myanmar’s refusal to recognise the Rohingya as citizens.
“There is no solution in sight if the world community, UN, and Asean fail to resolve the Myanmar government’s policy not to recognise the Rohingya as citizens, and there will be no end to the human rights violations, violence, persecution of the Rohingya in the Rakhine province of Myanmar,” he said.
He also urged Asean governments to do more to prosecute human traffickers who smuggle the migrants and enforce the Asean Convention against Trafficking in Persons.
“We feel sad that, until now, Asean and the Bangladesh government had failed to prosecute human traffickers, resulting in the increase of Rohingya boat people,” he said.
On Jan 10, AFP reported that the Myanmar military sentenced 112 Rohingya, including women and 12 children, to between two and five years in jail for travelling to Malaysia without legal documents.
The migrants were arrested in December in the southern Ayeyarwady region according to a report by the Global New Light of Myanmar, quoting the police.
The report said the children were transferred to a “youth training school” near Yangon on Jan 8, without giving further details.
The report added that on Jan 8, a wooden boat carrying nearly 200 Rohingya refugees - a majority of them women and children - landed on Indonesia’s western coast, the fifth to arrive since November last year. - Mkini
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