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The sharp increase in the number of Rohingya refugees who risked their lives to cross the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal last year is a reflection of their growing desperation, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
In 2022, more than 3,500 Rohingya attempted deadly crossings on 39 boats, mainly from Myanmar and Bangladesh, UNHCR spokesman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.
“This represents an increase of 360% over the previous year, when some 700 people made these trips,” he said.
The latest warning from the UN agency on the situation comes amid the ongoing military crackdown on Myanmar by the generals who seized power two years ago, and the continued absence of a comprehensive regional response among the coastal nations of the South Asia to protect the lives of refugees at sea and prevent their exploitation by human smugglers.
Ships adrift for weeks
“UNHCR’s appeals to the region’s maritime authorities to rescue and disembark those in distress have been ignored or unheeded, with many boats adrift for weeks,” Mantoo said, adding that, without concrete commitments to regional cooperation, more people will die on the high seas.
UNHCR’s latest data on the number of deaths from these dangerous voyages indicates that at least 348 people died or disappeared at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.
The agency noted that 3,040 people who made the sea voyage landed in 2022, mainly in Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Almost 45% were women and children.
Lured by false promises and hopes
In the last two months of 2022, four boats with more than 450 Rohingya landed in Aceh, Indonesia. A ship with more than 100 refugees landed in Sri Lanka. Another vessel is feared to have sunk in early December with around 180 people on board, UNHCR reported, while several vessels that left in December “remained at sea at the end of the year”.
Mantoo highlighted the vulnerability of the ethnic Rohingya who have undertaken the sea voyage, and of the 700,000 who fled en masse from military persecution from Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017. “We are hearing reports … about this growing sense of despair and this anxiety about the future and really your hope for safety and security. Some of them are wanting to meet with family membersOthers, their vulnerabilities are being exploited by traffickers or smugglers who lure with false promises and hopes.”
Call for a regional response
In an appeal for solidarity among nations affected by the plight of the Rohingya, the UNHCR official said regional ministers are scheduled to meet next month under the Bali Process to discuss how to combat drug trafficking. people, human trafficking and related transnational crime.
“The movements we are talking about today are Rohingya refugees, refugees who need international protection,” Mantoo insisted.
“They should not be deported, they should be provided with protection and assistanceso we are urging States to ensure that they comply with their international legal obligations when it comes to disembarking them, rescuing them at sea, disembarking them and then ensuring that they are protected and that they are not returned to situations where that their lives may be in danger,” he explained.
Reiterating his call for more countries to share the “humanitarian responsibility” of the emergency in a more predictable, equitable and sustainable way, Mantoo noted that the majority of refugees are still being hosted by Bangladesh.
“The people of Bangladesh, local communities and the Government they have been generous in welcoming them and giving them protection and assistance, but they need more support to ensure that they can receive help during their displacement,” he said.
