The Daily Star
April 23, 2020
Star Online Report
The UN Refugee Agency has expressed deep concerns over the reported failures of some nations to allow entry to some vessels carrying Rohingya refugees recently.
It did not mention the number of such vessels, but sources say two boats carrying some 500 Rohingyas have been in adrift in the sea for the last couple of weeks as Malaysia and Thailand have refused entry to those.
Last week, Bangladesh coast guard rescued a boat carrying around 400 Rohingyas, which was reportedly refused entry by the Malaysian authorities. Some 60 Rohingyas died in the sea during the two-month stay adrift.
Indrika Ratwatte, director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific of UNHCR, in a statement today urged for greater coordination and responsibility-sharing by states to address the maritime movements of refugees and asylum-seekers in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.
"We are increasingly concerned by reports of failure to disembark vessels in distress and of the grave immediate risk this poses to the men, women and children on board," he said.
Search and rescue, along with prompt disembarkation, are life-saving acts. The dire -- and, in many cases, fatal -- the predicament of thousands of refugees and migrants in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in 2015 ultimately demonstrated the critical, humanitarian imperative for solidarity and joint action to address threats to life at sea.
The 2016 Bali Declaration embodied these principles and outlined the way forward to prevent another crisis in the Andaman Sea. "We must not return to such life-threatening uncertainty today."
"In the context of the unprecedented current Covid-19 crisis, all states must manage their borders as they see fit. But such measures should not result in the closure of avenues to asylum, or of forcing people to return to situations of danger," the UNHCR official said.
It did not mention the number of such vessels, but sources say two boats carrying some 500 Rohingyas have been in adrift in the sea for the last couple of weeks as Malaysia and Thailand have refused entry to those.
Last week, Bangladesh coast guard rescued a boat carrying around 400 Rohingyas, which was reportedly refused entry by the Malaysian authorities. Some 60 Rohingyas died in the sea during the two-month stay adrift.
Indrika Ratwatte, director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific of UNHCR, in a statement today urged for greater coordination and responsibility-sharing by states to address the maritime movements of refugees and asylum-seekers in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.
"We are increasingly concerned by reports of failure to disembark vessels in distress and of the grave immediate risk this poses to the men, women and children on board," he said.
Search and rescue, along with prompt disembarkation, are life-saving acts. The dire -- and, in many cases, fatal -- the predicament of thousands of refugees and migrants in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in 2015 ultimately demonstrated the critical, humanitarian imperative for solidarity and joint action to address threats to life at sea.
The 2016 Bali Declaration embodied these principles and outlined the way forward to prevent another crisis in the Andaman Sea. "We must not return to such life-threatening uncertainty today."
"In the context of the unprecedented current Covid-19 crisis, all states must manage their borders as they see fit. But such measures should not result in the closure of avenues to asylum, or of forcing people to return to situations of danger," the UNHCR official said.
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