Southeast Asian countries urged to protect migrants, refugees stranded at sea

Three international organisations and UN secretary general’s special representative for migration and development have jointly appealed to Southeast Asian countries to protect migrants and refugees stranded on vessels in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

In a joint press statement the UNHCR, OHCHR, IOM and SRSG for Migration and Development “strongly urged” the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to give priority to saving lives, protecting rights, and respecting human dignity.

The appeal was made after thousands of Rohingiyas, who fled persecution and poverty in Myanmar and Bangladesh, were found adrift in seas in Southeast Asia.

Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia had all been turning boats away, after giving them water and food, according to a BBC report.

Only those whose boats had sunk or who reached land were being given shelter.

“We are deeply concerned at reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are stranded at sea without access to urgently needed food, water, and medical assistance,” the joint statement said.

It further urged countries in the region to protect the lives of all aboard by allowing the passengers of these overcrowded boats to disembark safely.

The UNHCR, OHCHR, IOM and SRSG for Migration and Development also urged Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to strengthen search and rescue operations and to stop the push-back of boats carrying hapless migrants.

They also said the use of immigration detention and other punitive measures should be avoided and human rights of all migrants and refugees protected.

“All actions in regard to children should be guided by the best interests of the child,” they added.

“Put in place dedicated measures to combat xenophobia and discrimination against any group on the basis of race, sex, language, religion, ethnicity, nationality and national origin, or other status,” the joint statement urged the countries.

It also emphasised expanding avenues for safe and legal migration, including for labour migration at all levels of skill.

Apart from that, the joint statement also called for putting in place proper screening procedures jointly by government and relevant international organisation to identify the individual circumstances of all those individuals in need of protection as refugees, asylum-seekers, or stateless persons.

Victims of trafficking or persons at risk of torture or degrading treatment if returned to their country of origin, migrants with health conditions in need of emergency medical care and first aid assistance, and migrants or others interested in voluntarily returning home should also be brought under the purview of such screening, the international organisations suggested.

Their joint statement termed the crises as “grave events in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea”.

It said the events confirmed that “vulnerable people around the world are moving in search of safety and dignity, fleeing persecution, abject poverty, deprivation, discrimination, and abuse”.

It observed that such “perilous journeys”, whether by land, sea, or air, had become a “global phenomenon”. 

In Southeast Asia, more than 88,000 people have made the dangerous voyage by sea since 2014, including 25,000 who arrived in the first quarter of this year alone.

Nearly 1,000 are believed to have perished at sea due to the precarious conditions of the voyage, and an equal number because of mistreatment and privation at the hands of traffickers and abusive smugglers.

The joint statement said: “In the Bay of Bengal, migrants and refugees are fed only white rice and are subjected to violence, including sexual violence. Women are raped. Children are separated from their families and abused. Men are beaten and thrown overboard.”

António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; William L. Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration; and Peter Sutherland, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration and Development issued the joint press statement.