Rohingyas are drowning at sea. Asian leaders are to blame | Rohingya

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In early January, a boat carrying 185 Rohingya refugees ran aground on the coast of the Indonesian province of Aceh. They had spent weeks at sea in desperate conditions, fleeing cramped and overcrowded camps in Bangladesh in search of a better life. More than half were women and children.

Unfortunately, they are far from alone. Since November last year, at least three other boats have landed in Aceh after equally perilous journeys, carrying hundreds of refugees, and at least 20 people have died at sea. refugees (UNHCR), thousands of Rohingya, including women and children, resorted to perilous boat trips in 2022.

In Aceh, it is often local fishermen, driven by compassion for desperate refugees, who take it upon themselves to save boats stranded in the Andaman Sea. As a Rohingya who campaigned to end the genocide against our people for most of my life, I couldn’t be more grateful to the Acehnese for their selflessness and bravery.

At the same time, it is deplorable that ordinary people have had to step in to do what governments in the region are supposed to do. From India to Indonesia, South and Southeast Asian states have for years turned a blind eye to the plight of the Rohingya boat people, denying refugees the chance to land on their shores and even pushing back their ships to sea.

This is illegal, a violation of the principle of non-refoulement under international law prohibits nations from returning people to where they risk serious human rights violations. It is also immoral behavior, and regional states must change course immediately to prevent more lives from being lost at sea.

The Rohingya have taken boats from Myanmar for years to escape the genocide we face in our home state of Rakhine. In recent years, more and more refugees from Bangladesh have risked their lives on perilous journeys at sea. Nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh.

While the Bangladeshi government has generously offered safe haven to those fleeing, the camps are cramped and overcrowded, and the Rohingya have virtually no opportunity to get an education or decent jobs. A boat trip is often a last desperate attempt to build a dignified life elsewhere.

In 2015, the boat crisis in Asia grabbed global headlines as hundreds of refugees lost their lives at sea as governments cracked down on human trafficking rings. After a relative lull in sea travel, numbers have picked up again in recent years. In 2022, according to UNHCR estimates, at least 1,920 Rohingya boarded boats, a sharp increase from 287 in 2021.

At least 119 people were reported dead or missing last year, not including another 180 people presumed dead after their boat went missing in December.

Conditions at sea are appalling. Survivors described being stuck in cramped boats for several months, with little or no access to food, water or medicine. They are often abused and extorted by human traffickers, who in many cases have charged refugees their life savings for deck space.

While members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other regional governments have pledged not to abandon refugees at sea, many of them, including India, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have effectively closed their borders to refugees. Sometimes they provided minimal food and medical care, only to push the boats back out to sea.

Many deaths in 2022 and the harrowing stories of those who survived must serve as a wake-up call for regional states to take concrete and coordinated action once and for all. ASEAN must adopt a collective approach to maritime refugee operations that focuses on search and rescue and shares responsibility across borders. It is crucial that no one fleeing persecution be refused entry; instead, refugees should receive the shelter and medical care they need, while their right to seek asylum must be respected.

At the same time, member states of the Bali Process, an international mechanism created in 2002 in part to coordinate action on maritime refugees and human trafficking, must ensure that they use established frameworks to protect those fleeing violence and death. All 10 ASEAN members as well as South Asian countries like India are part of the Bali process. In 2016, after the boat crisis, its members adopted the Bali Declaration in which they pledged to strengthen cooperation in search and rescue efforts and find legal pathways for refugees. So far, however, that has only been a promise on paper.

At this time, countries in the region are also refusing to address the root cause of this crisis: the treatment of Rohingyas in their home country of Myanmar.

As long as the genocide against the Rohingya continues, our people will feel compelled to risk their lives to find safety and dignity elsewhere. Even ASEAN members who have criticized Myanmar’s military since the 2021 coup attempt do business with Myanmar, which helps fund the military and the crimes they commit against us. Instead, they should support all international justice processes to hold Myanmar officials accountable for crimes against the Rohingya.

So far, Acehnese fishermen have shown the humanitarian leadership that ASEAN has shunned. All Rohingya are grateful for their compassion. Yet, as long as ASEAN members turn a blind eye to the causes and consequences of the Rohingya crisis, the boats will keep coming and the suffering will continue.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.

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