The United Nations has called for solidarity and increased funding for the Rohingyas and their host communities in Cox’s Bazar.
“The refugees need our solidarity, and the host communities need our solidarity. We need increased funding for all of that,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told reporters at a regular media briefing in New York on Monday.
No refugee should be repatriated against their will, UNB quoted him as saying.
Repatriation needs to be done voluntarily and in a manner that preserves their dignity and their safety, said the spokesperson.
“It is clear for us that the situation in Myanmar currently does not meet the necessary requirements. What we do need is increased global solidarity for those communities that are generously hosting Rohingya refugees, like the community in Cox’s Bazar, which the secretary-general has visited,” Dujarric said.
The spokesperson said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has sent a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as he does to heads of governments or states when they are re-elected. “
What we have said in the past from this podium, what the Human Rights High Commissioner has said remains unchanged,” he added.
Meanwhile, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is alarmed by statistics revealing a surge in the number of desperate Rohingya refugees reportedly dying or going missing while taking risky boat journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal during 2023.
UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh provided the information at a press briefing held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Tuesday.
Some 569 Rohingya were reported to have perished or gone missing last year in South-East Asian waters, with nearly 4,500 embarking on deadly sea journeys – a significant increase from previous years.
The number reported missing or dead is the highest since 2014, when the total reached 730.
The findings for 2023 include some shocking details. The total reported dead or missing was over 200 more than in 2022. Survivors have shared horrifying accounts of abuse and exploitation during the journey, including gender-based violence.
Estimates show that one Rohingya reportedly died or went missing for every eight people attempting the journey in 2023. This makes the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal one of the deadliest stretches of water in the world.
The majority of those attempting these journeys were children and women – some 66% of those embarking on these deadly journeys. The refugees have been departing from Bangladesh and, to a lesser extent, Myanmar.
In a single deadly incident in November 2023, it is feared that some 200 Rohingya lost their lives when their boat was reported to have sunk in the Andaman Sea.
These figures provide a chilling reminder that failure to act to save people in distress results in deaths. More and more desperate people are dying under the watch of numerous coastal States in the absence of timely rescue and disembarkation to the nearest place of safety.
UNHCR has called on regional coastal authorities to take urgent action to prevent future tragedies. Saving lives and rescuing those in distress at sea is a humanitarian imperative and a longstanding duty under international maritime law.
The agency is working with impacted states and other stakeholders, including refugees, to develop a comprehensive regional response to address these perilous journeys.
The root causes of these maritime movements must be addressed and the international community must step up to make good on pledges made at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December 2023. These include advancing solutions and enhancing self-reliance for Rohingya refugees to provide hope and reduce the compulsion to take dangerous boat journeys.