“We are working closely with the private sector organisations to help support the refugees, including through registration, offering for their basic needs plus working to ensure secure and adequate accommodation for the two groups. ”
‘Grave risks’ in sea
Political refugees who safely disembarked within the Indonesian coast from the two boats, a fortnight ago, are currently hosted, somewhat actually, in a former immigration office in Lhokseumawe. Within 2016, Asia-Pacific governments pledged to do more to prevent individuals dying on such travels, after 5, 000 men, women and children were empty by people-smugglers in the Andaman Sea, and left adrift, starving and sick, for years. UNHCR, with UN migration agency, IOM and partners, is on the floor, the Spokesperson said.
UN support
Indonesia currently hosts nearly 13, 000 refugees and asylum-seekers mostly through Afghanistan, Somalia and Myanmar and should not be alone within rescuing and disembarking people adrift at sea, Microsoft. Mantoo added. In an appeal regarding help from Governments in the region, UNHCR said that the most recent arrivals included more than 200 individuals in North Aceh, Philippines, where the authorities allowed these to disembark and provided refuge. Ms. Mantoo stated the agency welcomed and appreciated their efforts. “ UNHCR alerts that attempts at these journeys are exposing individuals to grave risks and deadly consequences, said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo. “Tragically, 119 people have been reported dead or missing on these journeys, this year alone. ”
Many more adrift
With increasing levels of desperation and vulnerability forcing more refugees to make these lethal journeys, UNHCR and humanitarian partners continue to stress the advantages of increased regional and global cooperation to save lives and promote responsibility. Most of those risking their particular lives are Rohingya refugees, that fled Myanmar in their thousands in 2017, to escape military persecution. UNHCR has also received unverified reports of more boats with eager individuals, adrift at ocean, who require life-saving rescue and attention, she stated. “It is definitely imperative that States in the region uphold their commitments made in 2005 under the Bali Procedure to collectively find options for these desperate journeys”. The Southeast Asia waterway is one of the deadliest in the world and more than one, 900 people have already produced the journey since January – six times greater than in 2020.
