UNCHR calls on Southeast Asian states to protect stranded refugees

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Bernama) -- The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, on Friday urged governments in Southeast Asia to take swift action to protect the lives of migrants stranded in perilous conditions and warned against the policy of refusing the boats from landing.

The UNCHR released a statement saying that he was "appalled" at reports that Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia had been sending back boats full of migrants to the sea, inevitably leading to many avoidable deaths.

Zeid praised Indonesia for allowing 582 migrants to disembark on May 10, and also Malaysia for allowing 1,018 migrants the following day, but reminded that the "incomprehensible and inhumane" policy of "pushbacks" was endangering lives.

He also voiced his opposition to plans by the countries in the region to criminalise migrants and asylum-seekers who had crossed the borders "irregularly."

"Governments in Southeast Asia need to respond to this crisis from the premise that migrants, regardless of their legal status, how they arrive at borders, or where they come from, are people with rights that must be upheld," he said.

"Criminalising such vulnerable people, including children, and placing them in detention is not the solution."

An estimated 6,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants are reportedly stranded in dangerous conditions at sea, with Zeid emphasizing that individual circumstances of all migrants and asylum seekers at international borders should be examined and proper protection provided in accordance with international human rights and refugee law.

Zeid also touched on the role of traffickers and smugglers against whom, he said, further action should be taken; the UN human rights' chief welcomed the announcement that Thailand would host on May 29 a regional meeting on irregular migration in the Indian Ocean.

The regional meeting would search for solutions by addressing the root causes, one of which, he said, was the importance of addressing the serious human rights situation in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

"Until the Myanmar Government addresses the institutional discrimination against the Rohingya population, including equal access to citizenship, this precarious migration will continue," he said.

"Whether fleeing persecution, discrimination, poverty or other human rights violations, or moving in search of decent work and a life with dignity, all migrants who take to the seas in such perilous circumstances are in need of protection."

According to Zeid, a coherent, human rights-based regional response was urgently needed; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) could play a leadership role in that regard.

He urged the participants in the conference to ensure that their responses are based on international human rights and refugee law.

"This is a complex and multi-dimensional issue requiring a holistic response, which will include stepped-up search and rescue efforts, the timely and safe disembarkation of migrants in distress, and access to appropriate human rights protection safeguards.

"Dangerous interception practices, including pushing back boats that are trying to land, must be scrupulously avoided," he said.

Meanwhile, another statement from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reminded the obligations incumbent on the Southeast Asian countries in terms of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which all the states of the region had ratified.

"No matter who they are and where they come from," the statement said. "The [Convention] requires governments to ensure all children are cared for in a safe place, with access to education, health, social and legal services, irrespective of their refugee or migrant status."

"Children should not be criminalised or subject to punitive measures solely because of their migration status, nor should they be detained for purposes of migration control," said the statement.

Last year, the number of people leaving Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat is estimated to have risen to around 53,000. Some 920 migrants are known to have perished in the Bay of Bengal between September 2014 and March this year. They have been predominantly Rohingyas fleeing persecution in the Rakhine state, with increasing numbers of poor Bangladeshi migrants taking to the seas over the last year.

Zeid's appeal comes close on the heels of an urgent appeal by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who had expressed "alarm" over the refusal of Southeast Asian countries to allow entry to several thousand people stranded on smugglers' boats in the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Melaka.

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/unchr-calls-on-southeast-asian-states-to-protect-stranded-refugees/