More deaths at sea, another capsized boat and more tragedy. This time it is Rohingya fleeing either persecution in Myanmar or unlivable conditions in makeshift camps outside the country. Seventy deaths and counting from the latest incident alone. The trendline for Rohingya escaping on boats to head for places like Indonesia or Australia is showing … Read more
Rows and rows of neatly set blocks of two-roomed tenements line the eastern corner of Bhasan Char, a 40-square kilometer sand-bar island off the coast of Bangladesh on the Bay of Bengal within Bangladesh’s territorial waters. Women cradle their babies in the narrow and cramped balconies of this sprawling mass of concrete while the men … Read more
An Indonesian search and rescue ship yesterday rescued dozens of Rohingya refugees from a capsized wooden boat off the coast of Aceh, underscoring the peril of the ocean journeys from Bangladesh. According to a report from The Associated Press, which had a photographer aboard the Indonesian vessel, 59 people were saved by the search and … Read more
More Rohingya asylum seekers were reported killed or missing while attempting to flee Myanmar and Bangladesh last year than in nearly a decade, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which called for coordinated action to protect the ethnic minority group. In a statement yesterday, UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said that the agency was alarmed … Read more
Another 140 Rohingya refugees arrived in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province over the weekend, adding to a surge of arrivals that has created tensions with local communities. According to Reuters, which cited a report from the state news agency Antara, the group, consisting mostly of women and children, arrived by boat in North Sumatra’s Deli Serdang … Read more
A United Nations expert has called for Southeast Asian governments to launch a regional emergency response to address a surge of Rohingya refugees arriving in Indonesia by sea. More than 1,000 Rohingya civilians have landed in Aceh in western Indonesia over the past 10 days, after perilous ocean journeys from the coast of southeastern Bangladesh. … Read more
Advertisement In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya community, triggering a severe humanitarian crisis. I was one of those who fled, making an 11-day journey by foot from northern Rakhine State in Myanmar, where my family and I were from, to the Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh. … Read more
Advertisement For around 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living in Bangladesh, sustainable solutions such as safe and voluntary return to their homeland, large-scale resettlement in third countries, or local integration in Bangladesh will remain elusive for the foreseeable future. It is essential that national policymakers, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and donors promptly work to … Read more