3,000 Rohingya migrants still stranded at sea: UN

The United Nations refugee agency says at least 3,000 members of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority are still likely stranded in the Andaman Sea.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced its estimation on Friday, adding that the exact number could be much higher.

The estimation by the UNHCR comes as over 3,000 Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar have already arrived on boat in neighboring Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand in recent weeks.

The UNHCR has called on the neighboring governments to take action to help the migrants immediately and to address the root causes of the current situation.

The refugee agency also announced its readiness to work with regional nations to find solutions to the migrant crisis.

Thousands of Rohingya migrants are currently in need of food and drinking water.
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Days after rejecting migrants on boats, on May 21, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he had ordered the country’s navy and coastguard to carry out search and rescue operations for boats with Rohingya Muslim migrants.

Indonesia has also announced that it will no longer turn away boats carrying Rohingyas.

During a recent UN-sponsored conference on the need to prevent violence against migrants, Australian Red Cross Secretary General Werner Kerschbaum criticized the bid by some countries to turn away the migrant boats.

“Talking as a humanitarian, there is no excuse for pushing back people who are coming to seek asylum and pushing them back in their boats and sort of leaving them to their fates, knowing that they probably will die,” Kerschbaum told Press TV on the sidelines of the conference.

Kerschbaum made the remarks a day after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his country would not accept migrant boats.

The government in Myanmar refuses to recognize the minority group as its citizens and insists they are “illegal” immigrants, even though they have lived in the country for centuries.

They have been targeted in attacks carried out by extremist Buddhists in Myanmar, which have claimed the lives of many Rohingyas.

Rohingya and other Muslims have faced torture, neglect, and repression in Myanmar for many years.

SZH/NN/HMV