{"id":160258,"date":"2020-05-11T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=160258"},"modified":"2020-05-07T06:52:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T05:52:12","slug":"amid-covid-19-pandemic-thousands-stranded-in-bay-of-bengal-unable-to-come-ashore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/amid-covid-19-pandemic-thousands-stranded-in-bay-of-bengal-unable-to-come-ashore\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid COVID-19 Pandemic, Thousands Stranded in Bay of Bengal \u2018Unable to Come Ashore&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field field-name-field-news-story-lead field-type-text-long field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/un-news-logo-e1568706362531.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-109474\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/un-news-logo-e1568706362531.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>6 May 2020 &#8211; In<em> the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, United Nations agencies called today for South-East Asian governments to show compassion to boats full of vulnerable people adrift in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The International Organization for Migration (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iom.int\/\" class=\"word-link\" title=\"International Organization for Migration\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IOM<\/a>), the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/\" class=\"word-link\" title=\"UN High Commissioner for Refugees\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UNHCR<\/a>) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unodc.org\" class=\"word-link\" title=\"UN Office on Drugs and Crime\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">UNODC<\/a>) said that thousands of lives may be at stake if the stranded people are unable to disembark.<\/p>\n<p>Those at sea include hundreds of Rohingya, ethnic communities from Western Myanmar who faced persecution that was likened to ethnic cleansing by former top UN rights official Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;We are deeply concerned by reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are unable to come ashore.&quot;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNmigration?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@UNmigration<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNODC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@UNODC<\/a> and <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Refugees?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >@Refugees<\/a> call for greater protection of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rohingya?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Rohingya<\/a> currently at sea<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SFcKndGMSf\" >https:\/\/t.co\/SFcKndGMSf<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FKsB0Q0A22\" >pic.twitter.com\/FKsB0Q0A22<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jeff Labovitz (@labovitz) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/labovitz\/status\/1257968809849303041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >May 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply concerned by reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are again adrift in the same waters, unable to come ashore, and without access to urgently needed food, water, and medical assistance\u201d, the three UN agencies spelled out.<\/p>\n<p>The development comes five years after a similar crisis in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, when thousands of refugees and migrants were cut adrift by people-traffickers.<\/p>\n<h3>UN offers support<\/h3>\n<p>In a call for a regional solution to the latest emergency, the three UN agencies offered their support to States across the region to provide immediate assistance to asylum-seekers, refugees and vulnerable migrants, and also to help strengthen their ability to respond to irregular movements of people.<\/p>\n<p>Some States had \u201calready demonstrated that health screening and quarantine arrangements can be implemented so that people can disembark in a safe, orderly and dignified manner\u201d, the UN agencies said in a joint <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/en-us\/news\/press\/2020\/5\/5eb15b804\/joint-statement-unhcr-iom-unodc-protection-sea-bay-bengal-andaman-sea.html\" >statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Although there was \u201cno easy solution\u201d to irregular maritime movements of refugees and migrants, the UN appeal insisted that \u201cdeterring movements of people by endangering life\u201d was ineffective and violated basic human rights, the law of the sea and international law \u201cby which all States are equally bound\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Saving lives must be the first priority, the agencies maintained, stressing that when people are in search of safety, protection or basic survival, they will move regardless of any obstacles in their path.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that in the midst of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/coronavirus\" class=\"word-link\" title=\"Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">COVID-19<\/a> pandemic, States have erected border management measures to manage risks to public health\u201d, the joint statement said. \u201cThese measures\u2026should 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\u201d.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_160259\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-160259\" class=\"wp-image-160259\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee-1024x464.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee-1024x464.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee-300x136.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee-768x348.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/rohingya-burma-myanmar-refugee.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-160259\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stranded Rohingya people sit on the deck of an abandoned smugglers\u2019 boat drifting in the Andaman Sea.<br \/>UNHCR\/Christophe Archambault<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Left adrift at sea<\/h3>\n<p>After the 2015 crisis, UNHCR issued a report containing testimonies of survivors who detailed long and difficult journeys at the hands of smugglers.<\/p>\n<p>They also claimed to have been towed or guided on many occasions by authorities \u201cfrom one territorial water to another\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At least 5,000 people were abandoned en masse by smugglers at sea five years ago; they eventually disembarked in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>And boat crews cited starvation, dehydration, disease and abuse as the main causes for the 70 who died then, UNHCR said.<br \/>\nAt the time, the UN refugee agency warned of a reported \u201cbottleneck\u201d that was keeping thousands of people at sea on large holding ships, which, in the face of increased scrutiny by authorities, was believed to be owing to smugglers\u2019 inability to disembark passengers to Thailand or Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p>Such holding ships were said to be steel-hulled vessels with eight or more levels that each held over 1,000 passengers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"dnd-widget-wrapper context-un_news_large_uncropped type-image\">\n<div class=\"dnd-atom-rendered\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2020\/05\/1063402?utm_source=UN+News+-+Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=e90d7a9b3e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_07_12_30&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_fdbf1af606-e90d7a9b3e-105796125\" >Go to Original &#8211; news.un.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>6 May 2020 &#8211; In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, UN agencies called today for South-East Asian governments to show compassion to boats full of vulnerable people adrift in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea. Thousands of lives may be at stake if the stranded people are unable to disembark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":160259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224],"tags":[240,1692,1688,1198,526,101,100,1199,1782,865,260,487,1644,651,1417,103,107,527,985,99,124],"class_list":["post-160258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-asia","tag-aung-san-suu-kyi","tag-bangladesh","tag-buddhism","tag-burma-myanmar","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-free-rohingya-coalition","tag-genocide","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-international-court-of-justice-icj","tag-justice","tag-maung-zarni","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-rohingya","tag-social-justice","tag-structural-violence","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}