Refugees/Migrants - South-East Asia

In May 2015, more than 5,000 refugees and migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar were abandoned by smugglers on the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, triggering a regional crisis. Since then, regional maritime movements have declined due to intensified interdiction efforts, greater awareness of the risks, and the lack of legal status in destination countries (UNHCR, 30 June 2016)

However, the root causes of refugee flows have not been resolved. In October 2016, attacks on border guard posts in Myanmar's northern Rakhine — and the security operations that followed — triggered mass displacement. An estimated 87,000Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine between 9 October 2016 and the end of July 2017. (IOM, 30 Jul 2017)

In late August 2017, violence flared again after new attacks on border guard posts triggered a military response. Aid groups estimated that tens of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh, while others, barred from entering, were stranded in a 'no-man's land' between the two countries. Roughly 90 per cent of the new arrivals are women, children and the elderly. (UNICEF, 30 Aug 2017)

Before the recent waves of violence, there were already an estimated 300,000Rohingya from Myanmar in Bangladesh since the 1990s. (IOM, 30 Jul 2017)

Within Rakhine state, some 120,607 people were already internally displaced due to previous outbreaks of violence in 2012. (Shelter Cluster, 31 Jul 2017)

Approximately 12 of every 1,000 people who embark on mixed maritime movements from the Bay of Bengal do not survive the boat journey. This means as many as 2,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya may have died before ever reaching land between 2012 and 2015 — adding up to a fatality rate higher than in the Mediterranean Sea. (UNHCR, 23 Feb 2016)

See...http://reliefweb.int/topics/refugeesmigrants-south-east-asia

ReliefWeb Topics page tracks Bay of Bengal displacement, migrant!

World Refugee Day is 20 June. Learn more about the Refugees/Migrants - South-East Asia issue on our Topics page, which shines a spotlight on humanitarian issues along the Bay of Bengal: http://bit.ly/2kBP1g0