Saturday, May 16, 2015

Asia nations abandon Rohingya refugees, leading to 'maritime ping-pong'

A boat carrying Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants was intercepted by Malaysian vessels earlier today (16 May) after the Thai navy towed it out of its waters a day earlier.

The refusal to accept the migrants underlines what the International Organisation for Migration labels "maritime ping-pong", and the body has also vehemently denounced Asian governments for sending the asylum seekers back out to sea in a move which endangers lives all over again.

Thousands of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis are now stranded at sea after Asian nations around the Andaman Sea have refused to rescue them, preferring to shun them.

"We're not seeing any such moves from any governments in the region even though we're calling on the international community to take action because people are dying," said Jeffrey Savage, who works with the UNHCR refugee agency in Indonesia.

Earlier this week, Indonesia repelled a boat containing thousands of passengers while Malaysia refused to accept two boatloads of around 800 people on Wednesday. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Why are so many Rohingya migrants stranded at sea?
  2. Aung San Suu Kyi: complicity with tyranny...
  3. Death in the Mediterranean...
  4. Rohingyas risk lives to escape from Myanmar...
  5. 100,000 minority Rohingya Muslims flee persecution in Myanmar...
  6. Rohingyas: These aren’t refugee camps, they’re concentration camps, and...
  7. Death stalks Rohingyas as Myanmar cuts off aid...

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