Steep increase in deadly boat journeys reflects Rohingyas’ desperation: UNHCR
The steep increase in the number of Rohingya refugees risking their lives to cross the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal last year is a reflection of their growing desperation, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
More than 3,500 desperate Rohingya attempted deadly sea crossings in 39 boats in 2022– mainly from Myanmar and Bangladesh - UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told journalists in Geneva.
“This represents a 360 per cent increase on the year before, when some 700 people made these journeys.”
The UN agency’s latest warning about the situation comes amid an ongoing military crackdown in Myanmar by generals who seized power two years ago, and the continued absence of a comprehensive regional response among coastal South Asian nations to protect refugees’ lives at sea and prevent their exploitation by people smugglers.
“Calls by UNHCR to maritime authorities in the region to rescue and disembark people in distress have been ignored or have gone unheeded with many boats adrift for weeks,” Ms. Mantoo said, adding that without concrete pledges for regional cooperation, more people will die on the high seas.
Latest UNHCR data on the number of deaths resulting from these dangerous journeys indicate that at least 348 people died or went missing at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.
The agency noted that 3,040 individuals who made the sea journey disembarked in 2022, primarily in Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Nearly 45 per cent were women and children.
In the last two months of 2022, four boats carrying over 450 Rohingya disembarked in Aceh, Indonesia. One boat carrying more than 100 Rohingya disembarked in Sri Lanka. Another vessel is feared to have sunk in early December with approximately 180 individuals on board, UNHCR reported, while several boats that departed in December “remained at sea as of the end of the year”.
Ms. Mantoo highlighted the vulnerability of the ethnic Rohingya who have made the sea journey, and of the 700,000 who fled military persecution en masse from Myanmar to Bangladesh in 2017. “We’re hearing reports … from Rohingya about this growing sense of desperation and this anxiety about the future and really their hope for security, for protection. Some of them are wanting to reunite with family members, others, their vulnerabilities are being exploited by traffickers or smugglers luring with false promises and false hope.”
In a call for solidarity among nations impacted by the Rohingyas’ plight, the UNHCR official noted that regional ministers are due to meet next month as part of The Bali Process, to discuss how to combat people smuggling, human trafficking and related transnational crime.
“The movements that we’re talking about today, they are of Rohingya refugees, they are refugees that require international protection,” Ms. Mantoo insisted. “They should not be deported, they should be provided with protection and assistance, so we’re urging States to ensure that they abide by their international legal obligations in disembarking them, rescuing them at sea, disembarking them and then ensuring that they are protected and not returned to situations of danger where they lives may be at risk.”
Reiterating its appeal for more countries to share the “humanitarian responsibility” of the emergency in a more predictable, equitable, and sustainable way, Ms. Mantoo noted that most Rohingya refugees continue to be hosted by Bangladesh.
“The people of Bangladesh, the local communities and the Government have been generous in hosting them and receiving them and providing them with protection and assistance, but they do require more support to ensure that they are able to be supported during their displacement,” she said.
ends
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 17 January 2023, Geneva, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani provided the following update on UN Human Rights Office work in Bangladesh at the bi-weekly press conference.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Humanitarian pauses in Gaza fighting will enable polio vaccine campaign to begin Sunday, says WHO
The United Nations has reached a tentative agreement with parties involved in the war in Gaza for humanitarian pauses to allow 640,000 children to be vaccinated amid an outbreak of the virus. According to UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the two-round vaccination campaign is due to begin on 1 September in central Gaza for three days, then move to the southern and northern areas. A second dose will be administered after four weeks.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights made the following comments on the recent adoption of the repressive law in Afghanistan.
1
1
2
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
In Gaza, repeated mass evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military are radically shrinking the space in which aid workers can operate and depriving war-weary Palestinians of desperately needed relief items and health care, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
27
1
1
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
Geneva Conventions commemoration hears urgent call to respect laws of war
Seventy-five years since the ratification of the Geneva Conventions, a former child soldier-turned foreign minister of Sierra Leone urged greater international support for the key accords, highlighting their importance in rehabilitating him and tens of thousands of his fellow compatriots following the country’s bitter civil war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR , WHO
Aid teams cite huge challenges in tackling new Sudan cholera outbreak
Protecting war-weary people in Sudan from a second deadly cholera outbreak is proving a huge challenge for aid teams after more than 16 months of heavy fighting, combined with flooding and ongoing access obstacles, they reported on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Mpox is “not the ‘new COVID’” and European governments need to show strong political commitment to eliminate it, while standing in solidarity with Africa, a top official of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
2
Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA , WHO , WFP
As the aid worker community commemorated fallen colleagues at solemn ceremonies marking World Humanitarian Day on Monday, frontline staff putting their lives on the line today highlighted the risks of providing help to vulnerable communities.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
OHCHR condemns settler attack in Jit, citing Israeli policy and impunity as causes.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , WFP
UN aid agencies on Friday welcomed the news that the Sudanese authorities will open Adre border crossing from Chad into Sudan, as the war-torn country faces famine or acute hunger in many regions, with many roads impassable owing to heavy rains.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief urges accountability for rights violations in Bangladesh's transition.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief alarmed by detentions and violence post-Venezuela elections.