The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Friday commended the Sri Lankan navy for its “quick action” in rescuing a group of Myanmar nationals around 250 miles off the island’s east coast and providing immediate medical attention.
“UNHCR is greatly saddened by this latest terrible ordeal, and commends the quick action of the Sri Lankan navy in rescuing this group and providing immediate medical attention,” the agency’s spokesman, Andrej Mahecic said.
He added that the agency is ready to support the Sri Lankan authorities in assisting any among them who are in need of international protection.
The Burma asylum seekers say they floated for 25 days at sea and 97 people died of starvation after Thailand’s navy intercepted them and forcibly removed their boat’s engine. The Thai navy has denied the allegation.
Thirty-two men and a boy now held at an immigration detention center near Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, were rescued last Saturday when their dilapidated wooden vessel began sinking while making a perilous journey to Malaysia.
All are Rohingya Muslims who face heavy discrimination in Burma, and say they do not want to return there.
The United Nations estimates the Rohingya population in Burma at 800,000, but the Burma government does not recognize them as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups. Most are denied citizenship and have no passports, though many of their families have lived in the country for generations. Bangladesh also refuses to accept them as citizens.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expressed concern Friday over the rising number of deaths of Rohingya at sea and urged Burma’s government to promote reconciliation in conflict-hit Rakhine state and ensure them basic living conditions and eventual access to citizenship.
UNHCR also said there are continuing reports of some countries in the region putting boat people back to sea. It asked countries to “keep their borders open to people in need of international protection … (and) offer them temporary assistance and protection until durable solutions can be found.”
“It is clear that the Indian Ocean has become for people fleeing their countries one of the deadliest stretches of water in the world,” Mr. Mahecic, told journalists in Geneva.
The agency estimates that out of the 13,000 people who left on smugglers’ boats in 2012, close to 500 died at sea when their boats broke down or capsized in the Bay of Bengal.
“Already in 2013, several thousand people are believed to have boarded smugglers boats in the Bay of Bengal,” Mr. Mahecic added.
Of particular concern is the Rohingya community from western Myanmar’s Rakhine state which is not recognized by the Government and remain stateless. Fighting between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the state erupted last June, uprooting 115,000 people – the majority of them Rohingya – and sending them to live in internally displaced camps in Myanmar or to refugee and makeshift camps in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries.
While men have usually been the ones crossing, recent weeks have seen an increase of women and children among smuggled passengers, signalling growing desperation and lack of prospects, according to UNHCR.
Meanwhile, UNHCR is urging governments, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, which have accepted large numbers of refugees, to agree on protocols for the safe and quick disembarkation of rescued passengers and the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance.
“UNHCR recognizes the regional dimension of the irregular movements of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants by sea. Genuine cooperative regional approaches that promote sharing of burdens and responsibility could offer asylum-seekers and refugees an alternative to dangerous and exploitative boat journeys,” Mr. Mahecic said.
The agency said it will facilitate discussions between governments and international organizations on this topic at a regional meeting to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in March.
