2015-05-18 15:44:00

Myanmar refuses responsibility for migrant crisis ‎


Myanmar has refused to take responsibility for an escalating crisis involving thousands of persecuted Rohingya Muslims stranded at sea.  Boats filled with more than 2,000 desperate and hungry people have landed in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, and thousands more migrants are believed to be adrift at sea after a crackdown on human traffickers prompted captains and smugglers to abandon their human cargo.  All three countries have dispatched their navies to push boats away or execute a so-called ``help-on'' policy of giving the boats food and water _ and pointing them to other countries.

The migrants are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in predominantly-Buddhist Myanmar, and Bangladeshis looking for a better life abroad.   The migrants seem intent on reaching Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country that has hosted more than 45,000 Rohingya over the years but now says it can't accept any more. Indonesia and Thailand have voiced similar stances.  Thailand has organized a May 29 meeting with officials from 15 countries to discuss the ``root causes'' of ``irregular migration in the Indian Ocean.''   Malaysia prodded Myanmar on Sunday to halt the exodus from its shores.

On Friday the United Nations warned against what it called ``floating coffins'' and urged regional leaders to put human lives first. The United States urged governments not to push back new boat arrivals. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has said that as long as Myanmar continues discrimination ‎against its Rohingya Muslim minority, the deadly pattern of migration by sea across the Bay of Bengal ‎will continue.  (Source: AP/Reuters)








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