Durian. Amnesty International called members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on July 27 to launch coordinating search and rescue mission for remaining Rohignya refugees who are possible still at sea in their territories.
The call was made following the rescue of 26 Rohingya refugees on the island of Rebak Besar, Malaysia on July 26.
Previously, the survivors were feared drowned off Langkawi Resort Island based on Malaysian coast guard report.
About 1,400 Rohingya refugees have left refugee camps in Bangladesh by boats since January 2020. They have been at sea for several months and some of them have reached Malaysian and Indonesian waters.
According to Amnesty, 202 refugees were allowed by Malaysian authority to disembark from a boat that was adrift off Langkawi’s coast in April, while other boats have been pushed back by military and coastguard and they have returned to Bangladesh.
Authorities in Bangladesh allowed those refugees to disembark, but some of them are held in Bhashan Char Island in Bengal Bay where they have “limited access to their families or humanitarian and protection services”.
When Rohingya refugees’ boats reached Thailand waters, they were pushed back to the international area as well.
In early June, Malaysian authorities allowed another Rohingya boat with 269 refugees to disembark. One woman body was found on the damaged-engine boat.
Almost 100 others arrived in Indonesia’s North Aceh waters in June and based on public pressures, those refugees were allowed to disembark by Indonesian authorities.
