海角大神

As Europe debates migrant crisis, a surge of boatpeople in Southeast Asia

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who face persecution at home are making perilous boat crossings to Thailand and Malaysia, provoking strong reactions from regional governments. Thailand is a hub for human trafficking.

The arrival of 1,600 boatpeople on the coasts of Malaysia and Indonesia in recent days serve as grim reminders that Europe isn鈥檛 the only place facing a migration crisis.

Officials said that human traffickers had apparently abandoned the refugees' boats 鈥� described as 鈥溾�� 鈥� and left the passengers to fend for themselves, reports The Associated Press. On Sunday, three boats carrying 1,108 people arrived on the Malaysian island of Langkawi while four boats carrying another 600 people landed today in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

Most of those seeking asylum are聽Rohingya Muslims who face systemic persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. For years they have聽braved the perilous sea and land route via Thailand to reach Malaysia and apply for refugee status.聽The AP reports that they鈥檝e been joined by a growing number of Bangladeshis fleeing poverty.聽But a crackdown in Thailand, a regional hub for human trafficking, has disrupted the flow of migrants there and led to more perilous crossings to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Their desperate hope for a better life elsewhere is shared with the tens of thousands of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East who have attempted to cross the Mediterranean and seek sanctuary in Europe.聽

On April 22, five days before declared that the situation in the Mediterranean 鈥渟eems to be the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War,鈥� a human rights group in Southeast Asia issued a similar warning about the Rohingya.聽

In a letter to regional heads of state, the said 鈥渢he longstanding persecution of Rohingya has led to the highest outflow of asylum seekers by sea since the US war in Vietnam.鈥� It added that the region鈥檚 human trafficking epidemic 鈥渢hreatens ASEAN鈥檚 physical and economic security.鈥�

Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a Rohingya rights group, estimates that are now being held in ships in the Malacca Strait and nearby international waters as result of the crackdown in Thailand.聽

鈥淭hailand has tried to prevent traffickers from continuing their business ... so that has forced them to go somewhere else,鈥� Ms. Lewa told Agence France-Presse. She said the refugees were 鈥渏ust trying to disembark before they die.鈥澛�

The Thai response follows the discovery earlier this month of 33 bodies buried in a shallow mass grave in the mountains of southern Thailand. 聽said the grave contained the remains of people who starved or died from disease while being held by smugglers awaiting payment before taking them into Malaysia.聽

Thai authorities have since arrested dozens of suspected smugglers, including a man accused of being a regional trafficking kingpin, in addition to several provincial politicians and local officials.

While the recent crackdown appears to have disrupted trafficking networks, Thai officials and refugee activists told the Sydney Morning Herald that smugglers are believed to have聽聽to avoid detection.

Amid rising international criticism, Thailand鈥檚 prime minister, an army general, has聽聽with Myanmar and Malaysia to try to resolve the regional human trafficking crisis. Last year, the US State Department downgraded Thailand to its lowest level in its annual trafficking report, putting it on par with North Korea and Syria.

海角大神 reported last year that the exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar accelerated after 2012 in the wake of pogroms in western Myanmar.聽

Malaysia, a majority Muslim country, is a top destination for Rohingya: Over 34,000 are registered with the UNHCR there. Malaysia has won praise for its humanitarian response to refugee arrivals, but rights groups say that it lacks a clear legal policy, putting migrants and refugees at risk of exploitation and arbitrary arrest.聽