The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have called on states in the region to protect refugees stranded at sea in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.
The organizations made the plea through a joint statement released on Wednesday.
In the statement, the organizations expressed their concern of reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are adrift in the water, unable to come ashore, and without access to urgently needed food, water, and medical assistance.
They called on states in the region to uphold the commitments of the 2016 Bali Declaration as well as ASEAN pledges to protect the most vulnerable and to leave no one behind.
“Saving lives must be the first priority. We recognize that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, States have erected border management measures to manage risks to public health. These measures, however, should not result in the closure of avenues to asylum, or in forcing people to either return to situations of danger or seek to land clandestinely, without health screening or quarantine,” the statement said.
The UN bodies also called on states in the region that are not directly impacted to offer support to those states that do proceed with rescue and disembarkation.
“In the longer term, a sustainable and comprehensive response to the movement of refugees and migrants cannot be achieved without concerted international cooperation,” the statement added. “International action and solidarity are essential to tackle the drivers of refugee and irregular migrant movements, including statelessness, discrimination, deprivation, persecution, and other violations of human rights.”
