ROHINGYA REFUGEES LEFT TO DIE AT SEA
Whilst the world seems to have come to a standstill during pandemic lockdown, the persecution of Rohingyas has not ceased with hundreds of the stateless people being forced to flee Myanmar. Malaysia has intercepted and turned back trawlers packed with refugees because of concerns that the boats may bring the coronavirus into the country. Although the threat of coronavirus is at the forefront of every government’s planning, the act of turning away refugees may indeed become a death sentence.
Who are the Rohingya?
Myanmar acknowledges 135 ethnic groups but the Rohingya are not included in this number. They are an ethnic Muslim minority group in the primarily Buddhist country of Myanmar and constitute one million of Myanmar’s 50 million population. For years, Rohingyas have been the subject of crimes against humanity committed by the Myanmar military, with the persecution escalating in 2017. The Rohingya are often said to be the most persecuted minority in the world. This is further evidenced by the fact that United Nations officials have pronounced Myanmar’s actions a campaign with genocidal intent.
Tragedy on the High Seas
At least 700 Rohingya refugees remain adrift in the Bay of Bengal, crammed on trawlers and running out of food and water. There is an increasing concern for the Rohingya who have been at sea for over 10 weeks. These Rohingyas set out for Malaysia in March but were rejected at the coast. Malaysia has violated its responsibility under international law to ensure that these trawlers full of refugees are brought to safety. Human rights groups have been tracking the boats but recently lost their coordinates. Somewhere in the vast ocean these boats still remain adrift, every day the situation growing worse for those aboard.
To make matters worse, many of these refugees have been stranded at sea for inordinate lengths of time. Exemplary of this is how at the beginning of April, Bangladeshi ships rescued a trawler full of Rohingya refugees who claimed to have been turned away by Malaysia almost two months prior. The tragic consequences of Malaysia’s rejection became apparent when 382 of the refugees were found starving and 30 Rohingyas died on the boat prior to the boat being rescued. Survivor’s recount the horrors of the boat being packed so full that they were unable to move, watching their food and water deplete and the sight of each other’s bodies being tossed overboard a daily reality.
Moreover, Bangladesh is now refusing to welcome any more refugees. Foreign Minister Momen has said that the navy and coastguards will stop boats with Rohingya refugees to enforce this new policy. If Bangladesh chooses to abandon the remaining trawlers there will likely be hundreds more deaths. What makes it so unreasonable is that Bangladesh already has almost 1 million Rohingya refugees in its camps therefore taking in another 500 Rohingya would be a drop in a bucket. The United Nations describes the boats as being stuck in a deadly “game of human Ping-Pong” with Bangladesh and Malaysia refusing to accept them.
An Unstable Island
One of the trawlers has recently been directed to Bhasan Char an unstable silt island off the coast of Bangladesh. In fact, the tiny island has only existed for a decade and is already eroding at half a kilometre per year. Residents on a nearby island say that they would “never dare go to that island, so how will thousands of Rohingya live there?”. To make matters worse the island is dangerously prone to flooding and cyclones. Moreover, the floating island is isolated and lacks essential health to meet the needs of the Rohingya.
Hiding behind Coronavirus
Rohingya refugees have historically received support from Malaysia, and Bangladesh has previously offered Rohingyas refuge at a camp in Cox’s Bazar. In February 2020, the Taskforce on the Bali Process – made up of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar – “emphasized the primacy of saving lives at sea and not endangering the life and safety of persons in responding to irregular maritime migration”.
Since February Bangladesh and Malaysia’s approach to the refugees has shifted. Bangladesh and Malaysia’s governments have claimed their new policy against the refugees is to stop the spike of coronavirus. However, there is no reason for governments to act as if refugees must be sacrificed to protect public health. In fact, in April Bangladesh was able to rescue 400 Rohingyas and effectively quarantine them without any cases of coronavirus.
If Malaysia wants to justify turning back the boats they should stop using the coronavirus and public health as a smokescreen. In Malaysia, the turning back of boats comes in the wake of xenophobic campaigns blaming the Rohingya refugees for committing crimes and swamping their cities. Hate speech against the Rohingyas and rejection of refugees has reverberated throughout this pandemic. Across the world, the coronavirus has stoked the discriminatory treatment of minority groups such as Africans living in China and an increase of sinophobia in western countries. Therefore it should come as no shock that rhetoric around Rohingya refugees has recently soured in Malaysia.
What Next?
Whilst Bangladesh and Malaysia fail to provide safe haven for the recent Rohingya refugees it must not be forgotten that the principal architect of the Rohingyas despair is Myanmar. Whilst Myanmar is responsible for the suffering of Rohingyas this should not be the impetus for other states to dismiss the lives of Rohingyas as not being their problem.
Thailand, another state in close proximity to Myanmar, has also been neglecting its duty to aid Rohingyas escaping war crimes. Malaysia and Thailand must be willing to receive refugees who have endangered their lives in search of peace. In light of the current pandemic, states should establish a policy by which public health and essential human rights can be contemporaneous. The Rohingya people should be allowed to seek refuge in facilities that can provide social distancing and health care. In the meantime to meet the pressing needs of Rohingyas stuck on trawlers, Bangladeshi authorities and other governments in the region should conduct search and rescue missions to save these people stuck at sea. Action needs to be taken to stop the ocean becoming the graveyard for desperate Rohingya refugees.
