Desperate for a home: the ongoing Rohingya tragedy
May 12, 2015 6:28 AM   Subscribe

Over the last couple days, 1,600 refugees, many of them Rohingya, have landed in Indonesia and Malaysia. Many more are still stranded at sea.

Who are the Rohingya Muslims? They are the worlds largest group of stateless people. And they are largely cut off from humanitarian aid.

(previously)
posted by ghostiger (3 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Thanks for posting this. There are so many damn tragedies like this world, which makes it galling that developed nations are in the grips of anti-immigrant hysteria.
posted by Cash4Lead at 6:56 AM on May 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


I've been meaning to post something about the Rohingya, so glad to see that you did. Such a sad and frustrating story--and made actively so by the multiple countries in the region who don't give a damn.
posted by librarylis at 4:18 PM on May 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Region unites to deny Rohingya asylum - Abandoned at sea, thousands of Bangladeshis and members of Myanmar's long-persecuted Rohingya Musilm minority appear to have no place to go after both Malaysia and Indonesia refused to offer refuge to boatloads of hungry men, women and children.

UNHCR urges South East Asian governments to prioritize saving lives amid reports that thousands adrift in region's waters

Malaysia coast guard vows to turn back migrant boats - "The policy has always been to escort them out of Malaysian waters after giving them the necessary provisions," First Admiral Tan Kok Kwee of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency told AFP today on the resort island of Langkawi.

Notably, no one is reporting this using the word 'refugees', preferring the word 'migrants' instead (which is a political choice). As far as I see it, the factors in play here are: Southeast Asia's terrible track record with human trafficking + the richer Southeast Asian countries' history in only entertaining refugees on a temporary basis (eg Malaysia in fact isn't a signatory to the convention on the rights of refugees) + ASEAN's harmony-uber-alles approach which means they will publicly not say anything that implies disagreement with Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingyas.
posted by cendawanita at 12:57 AM on May 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


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