Rohingya Refugees & Their Deaths at Sea: What Can Neighboring Countries Do?

The UNHCR claimed that in 2022 alone, at least 119 Rohingya refugees died at sea.

On 26 December, hundreds of Rohingya refugees disembarked on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh Island, after a month of being adrift and lost in the Andaman Sea. Emaciated, they fell to the ground but not all made it to the island alive.  

At least 20 of the 160 on board this non-seaworthy vessel – which left Bangladesh for Malaysia on 25 November – died at sea, as per kin of one the women on board that The Quint spoke to. On 8 December, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appealed to countries in the region "to rescue persons in distress at sea," in line "with international obligations under the law of the sea and longstanding maritime traditions."

Meanwhile, the boat drifted from one area to another, even reached the Bay of Bengal on 18 December. No rescue operation, however, was highlighted or conducted officially by any of the neighboring countries - till it was rescued by Indonesian civilians.

The UNHCR claimed that in 2022 alone, at least 119 Rohingya refugees have died at sea while undertaking these arduous journeys.

And this brings us to a slew of questions:  

• What role can neighboring countries play as this crisis unfolds? 

• What can and must India do? 

• Why is there a six-fold increase in such sea journeys? 

In a conversation with The Quint, Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, and Angshuman Choudhury, an Associate Fellow at Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research, talk about the emergency regional response, India's stand on Rohingya refugees, and their plight.

’Need for Emergency Regional Response Framework‘

Choudhury, who primarily works on Myanmar, patterns of armed conflict and forced displacement, with a focus on Assam and Myanmar’s Rakhine State, stressed the “need to immediately create an emergency regional response framework that can undertake search-and-rescue operations in the Andaman Sea and also crack down on human trafficking networks that encourage perilous refugee sea crossings.”  

Regarding what the neighboring countries need to do, he told The Quint:

“The 2016 Bali Declaration, which deals precisely with these issues, needs to be rejuvenated and taken seriously by the signatories.”

The Bali Declaration in 2016, signed by 45 countries, was a pledge “to take a comprehensive regional approach to managing mixed migration flows by strengthening cooperation on search and rescue at sea, predictable disembarkation, temporary protection and legal pathways for refugees and migrants.” 

India, a member country of the Bali Process, had refused to sign the declaration, citing the reference to violence in the Rakhine state of Myanmar as “inappropriate” and stating that "never before country-specific issues have been included in the declaration as these dilute the objective of these forums which require unity and focussed efforts of all the countries."

Indian delegation's detachment came at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was concluding his 2017 visit to Myanmar after meeting now-jailed leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Choudhury added, “Maritime rescue is an international legal obligation, and this is something that countries in the region need to recognise and actualise with all sincerity. This would mean countries collectively initiating coordinated Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) missions that monitor the Andaman Sea for refugee boats, and conduct rescue and safe disembarkation procedures as and when needed.”  

Apart from this, Choudhury explained the need for countries to collectively assist Bangladeshi and Burmese authorities in ensuring that refugees don’t leave their shores in non-seaworthy vessels, often operated by human traffickers.

He said, “At the same time, this response framework has to ensure that the rescued refugees are not thrown into detention centres or prisons after being rescued, and are rather rehabilitated in safe and dignified conditions.”

In a statement made on 16 December, Myanmar's exiled government had claimed that 154 Rohingya refugees in one boat were handed over "to the illegal military Junta in Myanmar" after the vessel was intercepted by a Vietnamese Off-shore company.

The boat which made it to Aceh Island was not the only one in the Andaman Sea. At least five boats had set off for Indonesia and Malaysia in late November to escape their prison-like existence in the refugee camps of Bangladesh.  

• A boat carrying 180 Rohingya refugees is reported to have sunk, as per the UNHCR, possibly making 2022 one of the deadliest years for the community at sea, fleeing in desperation for refuge.  

• As per the UNHCR, over 2,000 Rohingya refugees undertook such journeys from Myanmar and Bangladesh, compared to only 287 in 2021, pointing to an alarming spike.  

What Can India Do and What It Does Not?

The boat carrying 160 refugees had briefly entered the Bay of Bengal on 18 December, near Nicobar Island’s Campbell Bay, as reported by The Quint.

No information regarding any rescue operation or humanitarian aid was received from the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard, or Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.  

Colin Gonsalves, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and founder of Human Rights Law Network, attributed this silence from the Indian government to “its hostility towards Rohingyas. If anyone had gone to the Court saying that they (Rohingya refugees) are in Indian waters and we ought to take care of them, they would have won. The Indian government is very hostile, and says ‘they are foreigners and have no rights.’ It is true that they are foreigners, but they are also refugees, and refugees under the order of the Supreme Court cannot be returned and need to be taken care of.”  

Choudhury, meanwhile, said that India should “immediately halt its de facto policy of detaining and deporting those Rohingya refugees who are already in the country.”  

“The government needs to understand that deporting the Rohingya back to Myanmar, where the military is currently in power, could seriously endanger their lives and wellbeing. India should also continue supporting Bangladesh by pushing more humanitarian aid in support of the refugees in Cox’s Bazar. This aid should not be limited to one-time food packets and the likes, but should comprehensively cover all domains of humanitarian protection.”

Angshuman Choudhury, Associate Fellow at the Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research.

He also stressed that “India should dial up pressure on the Myanmar military to restore democratic civilian rule and thereafter, encourage the new government to restore citizenship for the Rohingya. This would create the conditions for the safe, dignified and voluntary repatriation of the refugees from Bangladesh.”  

Choudhury said that right now, apart from extending “infrequent” aid packages to Bangladesh and some “limited aid” to Myanmar under the “grossly ineffective” Rakhine State Development Programme (RSDP), India is “not doing much.”

Why are Rohingya Refugees Undertaking Such Perilous Journeys? 

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group, who hail from the Buddhist-majority Myanmar. The country, however, does not recognise them as an official ethnic group.

After decades of persecution, in 2017, the Myanmar military allegedly burned down dozens of Rohingya villages and fired indiscriminately at unarmed men, women and children. The UNHCR called it a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” in September 2017.  

The Rohingyas fled and found refuge in the neighbouring country of Bangladesh but the refugee camps, such as the one in Cox’s Bazar, have become densely populated, with close to a million refugees living in Bangladesh.  

Choudhury told The Quint, “The camps lack sanitation and medical facilities, as well as adequate adverse weather mitigation facilities, such as cyclone shelters. Crime is on the rise, leading to insecurity and hopelessness amongst the refugees.” 

He claimed that most of the camps are “closely monitored by Bangladeshi authorities, which makes it difficult for the Rohingya to move out and pursue economic activities.”

Rezuwan Khan, a Rohingya refugee in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong refugee camp, whose sister and niece were on the boat, had earlier told The Quint:

“We know the journey is filled with risks but here we have no right to education or work. This is why people are taking such huge risks and fleeing… Hoping some country will give us refuge.”  

“At the camp, we are treated like sub-humans. Most of the refugees are desperate to flee. We are physically and emotionally tortured in the camps, sometimes by insurgents, sometimes by others,” he said. 

Khan and his family moved to Bangladesh from Myanmar over five years ago. “When we got to the camp, we expected repatriation will happen someday but after the Myanmar Junta’s coup last year, we have lost all hope. We have been living this life for five years, which is why everyone wants to flee,” he said.     

Choudhury said that there is a “growing friction between the refugees and the host community in Cox’s Bazar, with the latter blaming the Rohingya for rapid depletion of local resources and widespread deforestation.”  

Over time, many refugees have been moved to Bhashan Char, an isolated, dredged-up island off the southern coast, where refugees are essentially confined in newly-built settlements without the option of leaving, Choudhury’s research has shown.  

Dr Maung Zarni, a Burmese human rights activist and a reserch fellow at the (Genocide) Documentation Center, Cambodia, said in an interview with Al Jazeera, “They (Rohingya refugees) are not fleeing poverty, they are fleeing secondary persecution. In Bangladesh, they are not even addressed as refugees because Bangladesh is afraid that recognising them as such will mandate them to give them refugee rights. So, they are framed by the government as ‘forcibly displaced people’ in terms of how they got out (back in 2017 or earlier).”

The Scarcity of Choice  

Often it’s asked why Rohingya refugees can’t go to countries with a majority Muslim population. About this, Choudhury said, “They do go to Islamic countries. Malaysia and Bangladesh are Islamic countries… The majority religion of a country isn’t always the primary determinant for a Rohingya refugee who is keen to migrate.” 

He said that a Rohingya refugee – like any other refugee – would go to any country where they can live with dignity, security and some degree of legal safeguard.

“In fact, many Islamic countries themselves discriminate against Rohingya refugees in their asylum and deportation policies, with Saudi Arabia and Malaysia being two key examples. So, when it comes to a country hosting a particular group of refugees, religion may not necessarily play a constructive role,” he said.

Meanwhile, SC Advocate Gonsalves said that there’s no question of where the Rohingya refugees can or cannot go. “They took a decision. Their boat entered into Indian waters, so the only question is the Indian government’s legal and constitutional obligation...Every once in a while, our law minister will make a hostile statement on how they want to deport them. But Article 21 of the Constitution of India — the right to life is not only for Indian citizens, but any person inside India’s borders.”

Meanwhile, on 21 December, the United Nations Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years, to demand an end to violence and urge Myanmar’s military junta to release all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

With China and Russia arguing against strong action, both countries abstained from the vote on Wednesday, along with India. The remaining 12 members voted in favour.