UCA News
Contribute

Asia's Forgotten Refugees. Part 3: The Rohingya

Impoverished and desperate, they are reconsidering risky sea voyage to flee Myanmar
Asia's Forgotten Refugees. Part 3: The Rohingya

Rohingya refugees on a boat off found apparently adrift several kilometers off the Thai island of Koh Lipe on May 14, 2015. Dozens of visibly weak-looking people were on the deck of the stricken vessel. (Photo by AFP)

Published: November 03, 2016 10:05 AM GMT
Updated: November 03, 2016 10:59 AM GMT

For impoverished Rohingya Muslims seeking to flee strife-torn Rakhine State in western Myanmar, the idea of taking risky sea voyages looms once more as an invidious choice as the so-called sailing season commences.

The steady flow of Rohingya fleeing the country by boat stopped towards the end of 2015 with many of the minority group opting to stay out of hope that Myanmar's new civilian government might resolve the situation in the ethnically divided state.

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an advocacy group on human rights, said "no boats have so far left" this year.

"But fresh violence in northern Rakhine State has a potential to create a new exodus," Lewa told ucanews.com.

The killing of nine police officers at three border posts in the state on Oct. 9 resulted in a surge of violence by Myanmar's military, which operates separately from the civilian government led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

As a result, an estimated 15,000 Rohingya have fled their homes over the past few weeks.

Media and local rights groups have reported numerous human rights abuses against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, arbitrary arrests, and burning of homes.

Hla Myint, a Rohingya in charge of the Dar Paing internally displaced persons camp near the Rakhine capital of Sittwe, said that the renewed violence has prompted concern especially among those in the camps.

"We have stayed in camps for more than four years and we hope to hear good news when we wake up each morning but the recent crisis may dampen our expectations and trust with ethnic Rakhines," said Hla Myint. Myanmar's ethnic Rakhine Buddhist minority make up most of the state's 3 million people.

Khin Mg Myint, a Rohingya who resides in the nearby Thetkaepyin internally displaced persons camp, said that some Rohingya are planning to take a sea voyage in search of a better life.

"The new civilian government took office seven months ago but the situation in the camps has not improved so some people are considering to flee Rakhine," Khin Mg Myint told ucanews.com.

"For them it is a better option than living in dilapidated conditions," he said.

About 150,000 Rohingyas are currently confined to camps in apartheid-like conditions after sectarian violence erupted in 2012, leaving scores dead. Many of them face severe restrictions on their freedom of movement, with limited access to health care, food and education.

U Furuk, a Rohingya in the Dar Paing camp, said tight security around the camps meant it was not so easy for people to undertake the sea voyages.

"Most people may think about taking the voyages, as there are no job opportunities here and freedom of movement is restricted," said Furuk, a father of eight. "It is like living in a jail in these camps," he said.

Three of his children took the perilous journey by sea to Malaysia in 2013. Now another child, his 19-year-old son, wants to do the same.

The U.N. estimates that more than 100,000 people have made the sea journey from Rakhine State and neighboring Bangladesh, where grinding poverty, rather than persecution, is the main driver of migration.

The U.N. recorded 1,100 deaths at sea in Southeast Asia, mostly Rohingya refugees from January 2014 to June 2015.

By the end of last year, the flood had turned into a trickle with only about 1,500 persons departing via sea from Myanmar and Bangladesh from September to December, according to a recent International Organization for Migration report.

Along with a regional crackdown on Andaman Sea routes last year, traffickers have increasingly shifted to overland routes, a much more expensive way to get out of the country.

Lewa, from the Arakan Project, said that "a small number of people" have been smuggled to Yangon in order to travel overland to Malaysia via Thailand.

Khin Mg Myint said that the overland route costs about 1 million Kyats (US$ 900) per person from Rakhine to Yangon, with a further payment of around US$1,000 expected before a road trip via Thailand to Malaysia. A boat journey costs around US$500 per person.

Rohingya from the internally displaced persons camps said local authorities and ethnic Rakhine people are involved in the overland smuggling networks.

Help UCA News to be independent
Dear reader,
Lent is the season during which catechumens make their final preparations to be welcomed into the Church.
Each year during Lent, UCA News presents the stories of people who will join the Church in proclaiming that Jesus Christ is their Lord. The stories of how women and men who will be baptized came to believe in Christ are inspirations for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Church's chief feast.
Help us with your donations to bring such stories of faith that make a difference in the Church and society.
A small contribution of US$5 will support us continue our mission…
William J. Grimm
Publisher
UCA News
Asian Bishops
Latest News
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia
UCA News Catholic Dioceses in Asia