UNHCR convenes meeting in Jakarta next month to resolve problem

Nizam Ahmed The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is arranging a conference of the relevant Asia Pacific countries in Jakarta next month to find out ways and means for curbing irregular movement of people by sea, officials said on Tuesday. The regional conference has been warranted following rescue of dozens of people, including Myanmar refugees by Sri Lankan Navy from the Bay of Bengal while being adrift on boats recently. "The conference will be held tentatively by the middle of March and the date will be announced soon after all the stakeholders are ready to move to Jakarta," said an official at the UNHCR office in Dhaka. The UNHCR expressed its concern after Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 Myanmar nationals who were drifting off the island's east coast a fortnight ago. It was the second incident of its kind in the current month after the Sri Lankan navy rescued another group of 138 boat-people from the Bay of Bengal on February 3. But most of these 138 people were Bangladeshis, according to media reports that quoted the Sri Lankan police as saying. Bangladesh Coast Guard also detained several boats carrying both Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi people off Cox's Bazar and Teknaf coast in December and January. People moving illegally by boat are also rescued, detained or sent back adrift in the sea often by the authorities in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and some other coastal countries in Asia Pacific regions, especially in winter when sea remains calm facilitating wooden mechanised boats to ply. According to local sources, human traffickers allure poor section of people to travel abroad for employment by boats, without any formal documents. Despite surveillance and punitive measures against the traffickers, trafficking of people still continue in smaller scale, said an official at Border Guard Bangladesh. Rohingyas living in makeshift unofficial camps in Cox's Bazar often fall prey to human traffickers. According to official estimates, there are more than 400,000 Rohingyas living in squalid makeshift unofficial camps scattered in the region including the district of Bandarban. UNHCR chief Mr Antonio Guterres on Tuesday made a fresh call on the relevant countries in Asia Pacific region to work together to save lives of boat-people from human traffickers across the Indian Ocean. Almost 500 people perished at sea during 2012 after the boats broke down or capsized - making the Indian Ocean one of the deadliest regions in the world for people fleeing their country by boat or being trafficked by smugglers, UNHCR said in a statement attributing to media sources. This is an alarming high number of lives lost, and needs a more concerted efforts by the relevant countries of the region to stop illegal migration by sea routes and the probable deaths of the victims, Mr Guterres said in the statement issued from its Geneva headquarters. "Push-backs, denial of embarkation, and boats adrift for weeks will not solve a regional problem that clearly need better, more joined-up and more compassionate approaches by everyone," the statement made available to the FE quoted Guterres as saying. "Those onboard may be Rohingyas from western Myanmar's Rakhine state or from refugee camps and makeshift sites in Bangladesh," the statement said - See more at: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com