Some 25,000 risk sea crossings in Bay of Bengal over first quarter, almost double from year earlier
Based on survivor accounts, UNHCR estimated that 300 people died at sea in the first quarter of 2015 as a result of starvation, dehydration or abuse by boat crews.
BANGKOK, Thailand, May 8 (UNHCR) - A UNHCR report released on Friday said that despite the risks, an estimated 25,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis boarded smugglers' boats on the Bay of Bengal between January and March this year - almost double the number over the same period in 2014.
The finding came in the latest Irregular Maritime Movements in South-East Asia report, through which the UN refugee agency has been highlighting its concerns about the Bay of Bengal crossings and advocating with governments for urgent action since August last year.
UNHCR staff spoke to several hundred survivors of such journeys during the reporting period. Their accounts signal a shift in how smugglers recruit passengers for the boats. Initial boarding fees are often low and in some cases people are given free passage on condition that they repay the debt with future earnings in Malaysia. There may be false promises of work and even small cash incentives offered.
Those who change their minds and ask to be let off the boats are forced to remain. UNHCR staff heard of children being abducted off the streets or while fishing, and forced onto boats. People are unaware that money will be extorted from them later in the journey and what started with being smuggled, soon turns into trafficking in people.
Based on survivor accounts, UNHCR estimated that 300 people died at sea in the first quarter of 2015 as a result of starvation, dehydration or abuse by boat crews. One survivor who spent 62 days in such conditions compared it to a graveyard and said he lost hope of reaching shore alive.
The report said the most commonly-described route has boat passengers disembarking in the Ranong area of southern Thailand, followed by a day-long road trip to smugglers' camps towards the border with Malaysia.
Conditions in the smugglers camp are horrific. People are held and abused until their relatives pay for their release. More than half the survivors interviewed by UNHCR since October reported that someone died in the smuggler's camp where they were held. Beatings are common and there are reports of rapes. Those who try to escape, risk being shot.
In Geneva, spokesman Adrian Edwards said: "UNHCR understands that since last October, some smugglers have abandoned onshore camps in Thailand in favour of holding passengers for ransom at sea. Once payment is made, people are taken by fishing or speed boats directly to Malaysia. According to NGO, The Arakan Project, currently several thousand people could be held - and dozens could have already died - in these 'offshore camps'."
Those who eventually made it to Malaysia were in bad shape. In the first three months of this year, UNHCR Malaysia saw 61 Rohingya arrivals with symptoms of beriberi caused by Vitamin B deficiency. Those who could earn some money in the informal sector had to pay off debts to people who paid for their release, often with high interest rates.
With people rescued from smugglers camps in Thailand, UNHCR assists by providing clothes, blankets, hygiene kits and other relief. "Our teams also conduct interviews and counselling. We help reunite families who have been split during the journey. We also identify possibilities of resettlement to third countries for the most vulnerable," Edwards said.
In Malaysia, UNHCR conducts protection monitoring in Rohingya communities and intervenes for the release of those known to be in detention for arriving irregularly. The UNHCR office also supports refugee communities in the implementation of livelihood, community development or skills-building and education projects.
The report release comes soon after UNHCR's office in Thailand learned from the authorities and media reports that more than 30 bodies had been found in graves in smugglers' camps in the southern province of Songkhla, close to the border with Malaysia. The bodies were said to be of people originating from Myanmar and Bangladesh, who had likely died from illness or abuse. Some of these may well have been people seeking international protection.
"UNHCR welcomes that the Thai police are investigating this and we hope the culprits will be identified and brought to justice. But we are also appalled by these deaths. Smuggling networks by sea from the Bay of Bengal area to Thailand and onwards to Malaysia have become increasingly lucrative for smugglers, and increasingly dangerous for their human cargoes," Edwards said in Geneva.
Considering the growing scale and severity of the boat exodus, he said UNHCR called on countries in the region to work more closely together to counter the smuggling and trafficking of vulnerable people. Law enforcement measures must also be accompanied by efforts to reduce the need for migrants and refugees to turn to smugglers in the first place.
In Myanmar's Rakhine state - where many of the smuggling victims originate - UNHCR has long advocated for and stands ready to support concerted efforts to stabilize the situation through reconciliation, the realization of rights for all, socio-economic equality and addressing issues related to citizenship.
UNHCR's report is available at http://www.unhcr.org/554c6a746.html.
Related news and stories
How Thailand's grassroots organizations are working to end statelessness
Community volunteers in Chiang Mai are working to end statelessness
UNHCR dismayed by deportation of a third Cambodian refugee by Thai Authorities this month
'I felt like I was being reborn'
After decades in Thailand, Myanmar refugees head home
UN High Commissioner for Refugees concludes visit to Myanmar
Your search for « bengal » matched 292 results. Displaying page 18 of 33 pages.
-
UNHCR urges focus on saving lives as 2014 boat people numbers near 350,000
10 Dec 2014 ... ... This includes 3,419 on the Mediterranean - making it the deadliest route of all. In Southeast Asia, an estimated 540 people have died in their attempts to cross the Bay of Bengal. In the Red Sea and ...... -
Update on programme budgets and funding for 2015 and reporting on 2014
26 Jun 2015 ... ... Supplementary budgets since 1 May 2015: 193.2 Yemen situation 39.3 Burundi situation 141.8 Emergency situation in Bay of Bengal (South West Asia) 12.1 Annual Budget as of 23 June ...... -
Culture, context and mental health of Rohingya refugees
9 Oct 2018 ... ... The southern half of the country reaches the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The country’s largest ... In the eighth century, people living in the coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal in what is currently ...... -
Overview of UNHCR's operations in Asia and the Pacific
23 Feb 2016 ... ... Although departures in the first half of 2015 were 34 per cent higher than in the first half of 2014, the total number of departures from the Bay of Bengal over 2015 as a whole was 49 per cent lower ...... -
Statement by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, 26 November 1973
26 Nov 1973 ... ... You will recall the massive crisis in 1971 when my Office was asked by the Secretary-General to serve as the "focal point" for the channelling of multilateral assistance to Bengali refugees. You are ...... -
Overview of UNHCR's operations in Asia and the Pacific
19 Sep 2016 ... ... There have not been any large-scale mixed movements recorded in South-East Asia since May 2015, when over 5,000 refugees and migrants were abandoned by smugglers in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. ...... -
Planned relocation Guidance (October 2015)
Oct 2015 ... .../AR5/report/full-report/. 3 The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, http://www.preventionweb.net/files/resolutions/N1509743.pdf : A fisherman fishing in the Bay of Bengal. ...... -
'If COVID-19 arrives in the camp, it will be devastating'
21 Apr 2020 ... ... They have done some awareness and door-to-door campaigns. They have put up posters and distributed leaflets in the Bengali and Burmese languages. Some information was spread through loudspeakers. See ...... -
UNHCR, partners seek $876m for Rohingya refugees facing 'chilling fog of uncertainty' and for Bangladeshi hosts
7 Mar 2023 ... ... Last year alone, more than 3,500 Rohingya attempted high-risk boat journeys across the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. Sadly, 10 per cent lost their lives or went missing. The solutions to the Rohingya ......