A drama has been unfolding in Indonesia for days surrounding Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Nearly 900 people arrived in the north of Sumatra island last week alone. In two places, locals prevented boats from landing. About 250 refugees have been on an odyssey in the sea since Thursday.
The United Nations and various human rights organizations subsequently appealed to the local population. On Sunday, the Rohingya refugees were finally able to disembark. According to a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR, they were on the open sea for between one and two months. The boat trip started from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. The refugee camp there consists of many individual camps and houses a total of 600,000 to a million refugees from the former Burma. Most people have been living there for years in temporary housing.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority who were brutally expelled from their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar in 2017. At the time, hundreds of thousands of people fled the military offensive in Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh to the west. The United Nations speaks of a genocide (see video above). Members of the minority lost their citizenship as a result of a law passed by Myanmar’s military junta in 1983.
“In the search for solutions, Rohingya refugees take life-threatening risks again,” says Ann Maymann of UNHCR in Indonesia. People would have no chance and would have lost hope. Many residents of Aceh welcomed the first boats last week and provided the refugees with food and shelter, but one of the boats was rejected in two coastal towns.
Government does nothing?
The Indonesian government, which has not signed the Geneva Refugee Convention, is often accused of passivity in dealing with the refugees. Activists demanded that the Rohingya be provided with humanitarian assistance, safety and security.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
