The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported an alarming surge in the number of Rohingyas losing their lives or going missing during perilous boat journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal throughout 2023.
According to its statistics, a total of 569 Rohingyas perished or went missing last year in the waters of South-East Asia, with a staggering 4,500 undertaking these life-threatening sea voyages – a notable increase compared to previous years.
It is the highest reported deaths or missing cases in the last nine years since 2014 when the toll reached 730.
The UN refugee agency also revealed that the total reported deaths or missing were over 200 more than in 2022. Survivors have shared horrifying accounts of abuse and exploitation during the journey, including gender-based violence.
According to the estimates, one Rohingya individual was reported dead or missing for every eight attempting the perilous journey in 2023, making the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal one of the deadliest stretches of water globally.
Around 200 Rohingyas are feared to have lost their lives as their boat reportedly sank in the Andaman Sea in November 2023.
Children and women constituted the majority – 66 per cent – of those embarking on these perilous journeys. Their departures were predominantly from Bangladesh, and to a lesser extent, from Myanmar.
The refugee agency particularly noted an incident taking place in November 2023, when around 200 Rohingyas are feared to have lost their lives as their boat reportedly sank in the Andaman Sea.
The UNHCR said these figures provide a chilling reminder that failure to act to save people in distress results in deaths. More and more desperate people are dying under the watch of numerous coastal states in the absence of timely rescue and disembarkation to the nearest place of safety.
Against such a backdrop, the UNHCR called on regional coastal authorities to take urgent actions to prevent further tragedies and said saving lives and rescuing those in distress at sea is a humanitarian imperative and a longstanding duty under international maritime law.
The UNHCR is collaborating with affected states and stakeholders, including refugees, to develop a comprehensive regional response to address the perilous journeys.
It said the root causes of these maritime movements must be addressed, and the international community must step up to make good on pledges made at the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva in December 2023.
These included advancing solutions and enhancing self-reliance for Rohingya refugees to provide hope and reduce the compulsion to take dangerous boat journeys.