STILL ADRIFT: FAILURE TO PROTECT ROHINGYA IN MALAYSIA AND
THAILAND
A year and a half ago, thousands of desperate Rohingya and
Bangladeshi migrants and asylum-seekers were abandoned at sea, shocking and
horrifying many around the world. But more than a year later, little has
changed.
Governments and international agencies have fulfilled few
promises to better protect Rohingya who, facing persecution in Myanmar, have
seen flight as their only survival option. Rohingya asylum-seekers in Malaysia
and Thailand, including many women and children who survived the May 2015 boat
crisis, continue to face the threat of detention and restricted access to the
most basic human rights, including to livelihoods, healthcare, and education.
As tensions flare once again within Myanmar, the possibility of another boat
crisis remains real, but whether international reaction would be different
remains unclear. It is time for regional governments and the UN Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) to act.
“Wherever we get a safer life, that’s where we want to be.” Rohingya
mother in Ampang, Malaysia.
We would like to go back. We still have brothers and sisters
in Myanmar... But if we returned, we’d definitely be arrested.” Rohingya man in
Penang, Malaysia.
Faced with many of the same restrictions as in Myanmar —
including on access to work, education, healthcare, and freedom of movement —
the lives of Rohingya in Malaysia remain better than life in Myanmar only in
relative terms.
Despite the many high-level meetings and constructive ideas
and commitments, little of substance has been implemented to suggest that the response
to any future crisis would be any different.