BANGKOK: Time is running out for thousands of people in distress at sea as another overcrowded boat was sighted off the coast of southern Thailand, the United Nations refugee agency warns.
"We estimate that nearly 4000 people from Myanmar and Bangladesh remain stranded at sea with dwindling supplies on board," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The agency believes about 2000 men, women and children have been stranded on at least five boats near the Myanmar and Bangladesh coasts for more than 40 days in a humanitarian crisis that the Association of South-East Asian Nations appears incapable of addressing.
Other boats have been pushed back out to sea from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand following a crackdown on human trafficking while the latest sighting was off the Thai resort island of Phuket, heading south towards Malaysia.
The UNHCR says that in Myanmar several hundred people have abandoned their journeys and returned to the country's western Arakan state where 140,000 long persecuted Rohingya Muslims are living in squalid camps.
Twenty-six international humanitarian aid and advocacy groups said in a joint statement that people in the camps need acute emergency assistance with more than 70 per cent of them having no access to safe water or sanitation.
"While the crisis is most acute in the camps it is important to note that around 800,000 Rohingya living outside the camps are also in urgent need of assistance," they said.
"In the same areas the rates of malnutrition are over 20 per cent and the provision of health services is almost non-existent."
Images of emaciated and distressed Rohingya on boats and in camps in recent days have shocked the world.
Despite living in Myanmar for generations the government there refuses them citizenship and other basic rights.
Tens of thousands fled their homes in 2012 to escape mob attacks by Buddhist neighbors.
Pressure is intensifying on South-East Asian nations to reverse their policies of pushing back boats ahead of a summit of regional nations to discuss the crisis on May 29.
A joint statement by a coalition of UN agencies, including the UNHCR, strongly urged the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to "facilitate safe disembarkation, and to give priority to saving lives, protecting rights and respecting human dignity".
The summit appears to have little choice but to allow international agencies to intervene to end the crisis, including setting up a regional processing centre, probably in Thailand.
Australia is expected to play a key role as the co-chair of the Bali Process, a grouping of nations that discusses human trafficking.
The Australian delegation will be led by Australia's people smuggling ambassador, Andrew Goledzinowski.
The crisis has deepened criticism of Asean states that for years have ignored a lucrative people smuggling trade from Myanmar through Thailand into Malaysia where there are millions of unregistered migrant workers providing cheap and indispensable labor.
Tens of thousands of them are Rohingya.
"This is going to put on display Asean's impotence," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"This is another reflection of Asean's ineffectual cohesion."
"We estimate that nearly 4000 people from Myanmar and Bangladesh remain stranded at sea with dwindling supplies on board," said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The agency believes about 2000 men, women and children have been stranded on at least five boats near the Myanmar and Bangladesh coasts for more than 40 days in a humanitarian crisis that the Association of South-East Asian Nations appears incapable of addressing.
Other boats have been pushed back out to sea from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand following a crackdown on human trafficking while the latest sighting was off the Thai resort island of Phuket, heading south towards Malaysia.
The UNHCR says that in Myanmar several hundred people have abandoned their journeys and returned to the country's western Arakan state where 140,000 long persecuted Rohingya Muslims are living in squalid camps.
Twenty-six international humanitarian aid and advocacy groups said in a joint statement that people in the camps need acute emergency assistance with more than 70 per cent of them having no access to safe water or sanitation.
"While the crisis is most acute in the camps it is important to note that around 800,000 Rohingya living outside the camps are also in urgent need of assistance," they said.
"In the same areas the rates of malnutrition are over 20 per cent and the provision of health services is almost non-existent."
Images of emaciated and distressed Rohingya on boats and in camps in recent days have shocked the world.
Despite living in Myanmar for generations the government there refuses them citizenship and other basic rights.
Tens of thousands fled their homes in 2012 to escape mob attacks by Buddhist neighbors.
Pressure is intensifying on South-East Asian nations to reverse their policies of pushing back boats ahead of a summit of regional nations to discuss the crisis on May 29.
A joint statement by a coalition of UN agencies, including the UNHCR, strongly urged the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to "facilitate safe disembarkation, and to give priority to saving lives, protecting rights and respecting human dignity".
The summit appears to have little choice but to allow international agencies to intervene to end the crisis, including setting up a regional processing centre, probably in Thailand.
Australia is expected to play a key role as the co-chair of the Bali Process, a grouping of nations that discusses human trafficking.
The Australian delegation will be led by Australia's people smuggling ambassador, Andrew Goledzinowski.
The crisis has deepened criticism of Asean states that for years have ignored a lucrative people smuggling trade from Myanmar through Thailand into Malaysia where there are millions of unregistered migrant workers providing cheap and indispensable labor.
Tens of thousands of them are Rohingya.
"This is going to put on display Asean's impotence," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
"This is another reflection of Asean's ineffectual cohesion."
Dear Ed
Lindsay Murdoch certainly knows how to write an informative article.
I thought the comments from the Thai political scientist were refreshingly frank.
So far it seems that most of the leadership in this crisis has been displayed by the NGOs, international media, some kind fishermen and handfuls of kind individuals.
The leadership of Burma is a basket case. A large segment of the Burmese population has been brainwashed by the lie that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants within Burma, in spite of the fact that they have lived there for hundreds of years.
Malaysia also helped create the crisis by its complacency towards human trafficking. However, it is reluctant to take any responsibility for the mess that it allowed to be created.
The current Thai government after (only) one year in power has taken huge steps to tackle human trafficking. The current Thai government cannot be reasonably accused of allowing the trafficking to flourish. However, I believe it needs to take responsibility for the complacency of the previous civilian Thai governments.
Indonesia has now been caught up in a crisis brought about by its northern neighbours. It probably won't receive a perfect score card from humanitarian aid agencies but hundreds of boat people are ashore in Aceh province and I at least have not read any reports suggesting that Indonesia helped create the crisis.
The crisis has developed in circumstances where Burma, Thailand and Malaysia have displayed little if any responsibility. It is the media that can hold governments accountable. It needs the freedom to perform its role in a responsible manner. It is the media that can for example provide some enlightenment to people who think the Rohingya are recent illegal immigrants within Burma. It is the media that can point out to Malaysians and Thais that their governments helped create the current crisis, whether by acts or by failures to act.
Ian Yarwood
Solicitor - Perth, Western Australia
Posted by Ian Yarwood on May 20, 2015 11:00