Dhaka Tribune
AgenciesDecember 27, 2022
They landed there after at least 20 reportedly died after weeks adrift in the Indian Ocean.
A policeman stands guard next to a group of Rohingya refugees waiting to be transferred to a temporary shelter following their arrival by boat in Krueng Raya, Indonesia's Aceh province on December 25, 2022 AFPThe United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is seeking information about the voyage of nearly 200 Rohingya Muslim refugees who landed on an Indonesian beach this week, and warned yesterday that there will likely be more, reports UNB citing AP. They landed there after at least 20 reportedly died after weeks adrift in the Indian Ocean.
A distressing video circulated widely in social media showed the dehydrated and exhausted Rohingyas, crumpled weakly and emaciated, many crying for help.
The UNHCR urged countries yesterday to help Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea, according to Reuters.
The UNHCR urged countries yesterday to help Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea, according to Reuters.
Nearly 500 Rohingyas have reached Indonesia in the past six weeks while "many others did not act despite numerous pleas and appeals for help," the UNHCR said in a statement.
On Monday, it said that 2022 could be one of the deadliest years at sea in almost a decade for Rohingyas with a growing number of them fleeing refugee camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhashan Char.
At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat Monday at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh's Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
On Monday, it said that 2022 could be one of the deadliest years at sea in almost a decade for Rohingyas with a growing number of them fleeing refugee camps in Cox's Bazar and Bhashan Char.
At least 185 men, women and children disembarked from a rickety wooden boat Monday at dusk on Ujong Pie beach at Muara Tiga, a coastal village in Aceh's Pidie district, said local police chief Fauzi, who goes by a single name.
“They are very weak because of dehydration and exhaustion after weeks at sea,” Fauzi said.
The refugees received emergency medical treatment after the boat came ashore in Indonesia -- the fourth such landing in the country in recent months.
Muhammad Rafki Syukri, the protecton associate at UNHCR, said the agency would provide Rohingya language translators and counseling to determine if they were from the group of 190 Rohingyas who were reported by the UN to be drifting in a small boat in the Andaman Sea for a month.
“With prolonged conflict and insecure situations in their country of origin, it is possible that the movement of refugees to find safe places will continue to grow,” he said.
Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project, which works in support of Rohingyas, confirmed yesterday that the boat that landed Monday on Ujong Pie beach was from the group of 190 Rohingyas.
But Syukri said the UNHCR could not verify that information and was still coordinating with governments in the region.
“But we will continue to search for further information to ensure the actual data,” Syukri told reporters yesterday while visiting the Rohingya refugees at a school that was closed for the holiday season in Muara Tiga village.
Lewa told AP by email that the arrivals were among five groups of Rohingya refugees that had left Cox's Bazar in late November by smaller boats to avoid detection by local coast guards before they were transferred onto five larger boats for their respective journeys.
The fourth and fifth boats “finally landed in the northern part of Aceh, Indonesia, early Sunday and late afternoon on Monday,” Lewa said, after weeks of her organization pleading with south and southeast Asian countries to help.
One of the refugees who spoke some Malay and identified himself as Rosyid, told The Associated Press that they left a camp in Cox's Bazar at the end of November and drifted on the open sea. He said at least “20 of us died aboard due to high waves and sick, and their bodies were thrown into the sea.”
Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning of thousands of homes belonging to Rohingyas, sending them fleeing to Bangladesh and onward.
Malaysia has been a common destination for many of the refugees arriving by boat, but they also have been detained in the country.
Although neighboring Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations' 1951 Refugee Convention, the UNHCR said that a 2016 presidential regulation provides a legal framework governing the treatment of refugees on boats in distress near Indonesia and helps them disembark.
Link : Here
The refugees received emergency medical treatment after the boat came ashore in Indonesia -- the fourth such landing in the country in recent months.
Muhammad Rafki Syukri, the protecton associate at UNHCR, said the agency would provide Rohingya language translators and counseling to determine if they were from the group of 190 Rohingyas who were reported by the UN to be drifting in a small boat in the Andaman Sea for a month.
“With prolonged conflict and insecure situations in their country of origin, it is possible that the movement of refugees to find safe places will continue to grow,” he said.
Chris Lewa, the director of the Arakan Project, which works in support of Rohingyas, confirmed yesterday that the boat that landed Monday on Ujong Pie beach was from the group of 190 Rohingyas.
But Syukri said the UNHCR could not verify that information and was still coordinating with governments in the region.
“But we will continue to search for further information to ensure the actual data,” Syukri told reporters yesterday while visiting the Rohingya refugees at a school that was closed for the holiday season in Muara Tiga village.
Lewa told AP by email that the arrivals were among five groups of Rohingya refugees that had left Cox's Bazar in late November by smaller boats to avoid detection by local coast guards before they were transferred onto five larger boats for their respective journeys.
The fourth and fifth boats “finally landed in the northern part of Aceh, Indonesia, early Sunday and late afternoon on Monday,” Lewa said, after weeks of her organization pleading with south and southeast Asian countries to help.
One of the refugees who spoke some Malay and identified himself as Rosyid, told The Associated Press that they left a camp in Cox's Bazar at the end of November and drifted on the open sea. He said at least “20 of us died aboard due to high waves and sick, and their bodies were thrown into the sea.”
Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning of thousands of homes belonging to Rohingyas, sending them fleeing to Bangladesh and onward.
Malaysia has been a common destination for many of the refugees arriving by boat, but they also have been detained in the country.
Although neighboring Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations' 1951 Refugee Convention, the UNHCR said that a 2016 presidential regulation provides a legal framework governing the treatment of refugees on boats in distress near Indonesia and helps them disembark.
Link : Here
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