The number of Rohingya refugees in Southeast Asia has increased «exponentially» in recent months, both by sea and by land, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which has appealed to the solidarity of all countries in the region in the face of a trend that continues in 2023.
Last year closed with 3,300 arrivals in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, 290 percent more than in 2021, and in the first 23 days of 2023 almost 300 more had already been registered. Most of these are in Indonesia, where IOM has multiplied its presence to provide essential aid.
The agency also offers education or information services to prevent these refugees from falling into the hands of human trafficking mafias or suffering some kind of exploitation or abuse. In the case of Malaysia, IOM is expanding the delivery of money, as the Rohingyas live under the «constant threat» of eviction, according to a statement.
IOM director for the region, Sarah Lou Ysmael Arriola, has reiterated the commitment to continue helping all countries to address the «immediate» needs of this vulnerable population and, at the same time, «strengthen the capacity to respond to irregular movements».
The United Nations wants to avoid at all costs a crisis like the one in 2015, when a wave of migration resulted in Southeast Asia in dozens of deaths at sea. The Rohingyas, according to the IOM, deserve every protection before, during and after undertaking these dangerous journeys that sometimes cost them their lives.
Not surprisingly, almost one million people remain in refugee camps in Bangladesh, overcrowded as a result of the wave of repression launched in neighboring Burma more than five years ago. This population does not have the slightest guarantee of return.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
