of the victims of human trafficking in the forests of Thailand were traced. Although there are dreadful reports of people surviving even by drinking their own urine, all the three countries are pushing the boats carrying the helpless migrants towards the deep sea after eyewash of food supply and repairing of the boats. Under the International Law, any commercial ship and the countries concerned are obligated to come forward to help the distressed people. Meanwhile, 1,036 migrants were rescued from the coasts of Indonesia and Thailand on Friday. However, none of them was rescued officially. Local fishermen rescued 797 people when a boat was sinking at the sea coast along Aceh province of Indonesia. Besides, 143 other distressed people were rescued by fishermen from two places of Acheh and Sumatra. Some 106 migrants have now taken shelter at Surin island in Feng Enga province of Thailand. The Thai police do not know who these people were. According to a report, 797 Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants were rescued from a sinking boat off Indonesia's coast. They were being trafficked to Malaysia by an organised gang of human-traffickers on sea routes risking their lives, foreign news agencies reported. Another boat was also reportedly turned back by the Indonesian navy. The fate of the vessel of stranded migrants off the coast of Thailand is unclear after it was towed out of Thai waters. Meanwhile, as part of the anti-human trafficking crackdown, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained three human traffickers and rescued seven victims from the capital’s Fakirapool area on Thursday night. RAB assistant director (legal and media wing) Maksudul Alam confirmed the matter. In the face of RAB interrogation, the arrestees disclosed that they were involved in trafficking of many innocent Bangladeshi jobseekers abroad including Malaysia. The RAB said that tipped-off, a team of RAB-3 raided the area where traffickers were assembling people. RAB nabbed three traffickers and rescued seven Malaysia-bound fortune seekers. Legal actions have been taken against them, RAB added. Human Rights Watch has warned of deadly "human ping pong" in the Andaman Sea, where thousands more are believed to be adrift, struggling to land. Medical officials told the BBC Indonesian service that of those rescued off Indonesia's Aceh province on Friday, eight were critically ill. "According to initial information... they were pushed away by the Malaysian navy to Indonesian waters," a police chief in the city of Lansa, Aceh province, told AFP news agency. He said that their boat was sinking and that Indonesian fishermen ferried them to shore. The official policy of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia is that they will push back migrants trying to reach their shores. However, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on these countries to "keep their borders and ports open in order to help the vulnerable people who are in distress". He said countries were obliged to rescue boat people and to respect an international ban on rejecting prospective refugees. The BBC's Jonathan Head, who visited a boat carrying more than 300 Rohingya Muslims near the Southern Thai island of Koh Lipe on Thursday, says those on board had contacted their families to say that the armed men in uniform had boarded the ship overnight. They repaired its broken engine, gave them food and sent the boat south, they said. Its current location is unknown - family members who had been able to phone on board while it was off the Thai coast can no longer make contact. Thai officials said the migrants did not want to go to shore but wanted to continue their journey to Malaysia. "This is not a push-back because these people wanted to go," Lt Comm Veerapong Nakprasit of the Thai navy told Reuters. Rohingya Muslims have been leaving Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, because they are not recognised as citizens of the country and face persecution. Many of the Bangladeshis leaving for Malaysia and beyond are thought to be economic migrants. Earlier this week thousands of people started landing on the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia after being abandoned by smugglers afraid of a crackdown by authorities in Thailand, the usual route used by the migrants. It is unclear how many boats full of people are adrift at sea, but rights group say thousands of migrants are likely stranded and are not being allowed to land. The UN refugee agency has called for countries in the region to co-ordinate a search and rescue operation for them. Thailand has announced a regional meeting on the crisis for 29 May. But Myanmar was reported to have indicated it would probably not go to it.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Thousands of migrants drift in the sea:Daily Sun
of the victims of human trafficking in the forests of Thailand were traced. Although there are dreadful reports of people surviving even by drinking their own urine, all the three countries are pushing the boats carrying the helpless migrants towards the deep sea after eyewash of food supply and repairing of the boats. Under the International Law, any commercial ship and the countries concerned are obligated to come forward to help the distressed people. Meanwhile, 1,036 migrants were rescued from the coasts of Indonesia and Thailand on Friday. However, none of them was rescued officially. Local fishermen rescued 797 people when a boat was sinking at the sea coast along Aceh province of Indonesia. Besides, 143 other distressed people were rescued by fishermen from two places of Acheh and Sumatra. Some 106 migrants have now taken shelter at Surin island in Feng Enga province of Thailand. The Thai police do not know who these people were. According to a report, 797 Rohingyas and Bangladeshi migrants were rescued from a sinking boat off Indonesia's coast. They were being trafficked to Malaysia by an organised gang of human-traffickers on sea routes risking their lives, foreign news agencies reported. Another boat was also reportedly turned back by the Indonesian navy. The fate of the vessel of stranded migrants off the coast of Thailand is unclear after it was towed out of Thai waters. Meanwhile, as part of the anti-human trafficking crackdown, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained three human traffickers and rescued seven victims from the capital’s Fakirapool area on Thursday night. RAB assistant director (legal and media wing) Maksudul Alam confirmed the matter. In the face of RAB interrogation, the arrestees disclosed that they were involved in trafficking of many innocent Bangladeshi jobseekers abroad including Malaysia. The RAB said that tipped-off, a team of RAB-3 raided the area where traffickers were assembling people. RAB nabbed three traffickers and rescued seven Malaysia-bound fortune seekers. Legal actions have been taken against them, RAB added. Human Rights Watch has warned of deadly "human ping pong" in the Andaman Sea, where thousands more are believed to be adrift, struggling to land. Medical officials told the BBC Indonesian service that of those rescued off Indonesia's Aceh province on Friday, eight were critically ill. "According to initial information... they were pushed away by the Malaysian navy to Indonesian waters," a police chief in the city of Lansa, Aceh province, told AFP news agency. He said that their boat was sinking and that Indonesian fishermen ferried them to shore. The official policy of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia is that they will push back migrants trying to reach their shores. However, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on these countries to "keep their borders and ports open in order to help the vulnerable people who are in distress". He said countries were obliged to rescue boat people and to respect an international ban on rejecting prospective refugees. The BBC's Jonathan Head, who visited a boat carrying more than 300 Rohingya Muslims near the Southern Thai island of Koh Lipe on Thursday, says those on board had contacted their families to say that the armed men in uniform had boarded the ship overnight. They repaired its broken engine, gave them food and sent the boat south, they said. Its current location is unknown - family members who had been able to phone on board while it was off the Thai coast can no longer make contact. Thai officials said the migrants did not want to go to shore but wanted to continue their journey to Malaysia. "This is not a push-back because these people wanted to go," Lt Comm Veerapong Nakprasit of the Thai navy told Reuters. Rohingya Muslims have been leaving Buddhist-majority Myanmar, also known as Burma, because they are not recognised as citizens of the country and face persecution. Many of the Bangladeshis leaving for Malaysia and beyond are thought to be economic migrants. Earlier this week thousands of people started landing on the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia after being abandoned by smugglers afraid of a crackdown by authorities in Thailand, the usual route used by the migrants. It is unclear how many boats full of people are adrift at sea, but rights group say thousands of migrants are likely stranded and are not being allowed to land. The UN refugee agency has called for countries in the region to co-ordinate a search and rescue operation for them. Thailand has announced a regional meeting on the crisis for 29 May. But Myanmar was reported to have indicated it would probably not go to it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment