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Countries urged to make boat people focus of migrant summit
Governments gathering in Bangkok on Friday to discuss the boat people crisis in Southeast Asia should reach binding agreements to save people at sea, permit them to disembark without conditions and ensure unimpeded access for United Nations (UN) agencies to protect the rights of asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday
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overnments gathering in Bangkok on Friday to discuss the boat people crisis in Southeast Asia should reach binding agreements to save people at sea, permit them to disembark without conditions and ensure unimpeded access for United Nations (UN) agencies to protect the rights of asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.
It further said the governments should also demand Bangladesh and Myanmar take specific steps to end human rights abuses against the Rohingya, which was forcing them to flee on dangerous boats to escape persecution.
'Regional governments should work with the UN and others to agree on binding solutions to this human tragedy, not sweep it under the rug as they have done for years,' HRW's Asia director Brad Adams said.
'The ending of human rights abuses in the source countries of Bangladesh and Myanmar needs to be matched by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, with support from other countries, taking humanitarian action to receive and protect refugees fleeing persecution,' he further said.
The Special Meeting on Irregular Migration in the Indian Ocean will involve representatives from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
Observers from the United States and Switzerland, and senior officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will also participate in the meeting.
HRW says over the past 15 months, international agencies estimate that as many as 88,000 men, women and children have traveled from Bangladesh and Myanmar in boats to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Many of these are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar, although a significant number are also Bangladeshi nationals. (ebf)
