Editor: Wang Yuanyuan
GENEVA, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) — The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Friday called for regional cooperation to avoid more Rohingya deaths in the Indian Ocean where they took boat journey to escape Myanmar’s religious violence.
According to Andrej Mahecic, spokesman of UNHCR, some 115,000 people, majority of them Rohingya, have been uprooted since violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state erupted. Some have resorted to smugglers to flee their country.
About 13,000 people were estimated to have left on smugglers’ boats in 2012 and around 500 of them died at sea when their boats broke down or capsized, said Mahecic.So far this year, several thousand people are believed to have boarded smuggler’s boats in the Bay of Bengal.
Only a week ago, some 90 Rohingyas are said to have died of dehydration and starvation during a journey that lasted almost two months.
Mahecic said his agency therefore urges states in the region to offer asylum seekers and refugees an alternative to dangerous and exploitative boat journeys and calls for a coordinated response to distress and rescue at sea.
To help move this process forward, UNHCR is facilitating discussions between interested governments and international organizations at a regional meeting on irregular movements by sea to be held in Jakarta in March.
Source link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/22/c_132186348.htm