Injustice ignored: a case study of the irregular sea migration of the Rohingyan boat people

Abstract

Migration has always been a sensitive issue as it is oftentimes driven by a sense of tragedy and loss. This paper examines the irregular sea migration of the Rohingyan Muslims who fled from Myanmar in order to escape state-sponsored socio-cultural persecution. In their quest to find sanctuary in neighboring states such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report that thousands are now missing at sea, drowned, or detained in holding centers for undocumented migrants. It is against this factual backdrop that the author has chosen to make an analysis of a coastal state's rights to maritime border control vis a vis its established obligations to irregular sea migrants under the

Forced Migration of Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar to Neighboring Countries

“…In addition, UNHCR also arranged the availability of doctors to make around in the camps for emergency cases. Apart from these, numerous policies were taken by UNHCR for better strategic assistance delivery based on global implementation of the Non-Refoulement method in the Refugee Conventions of 1951 (Espenilla, 2010). It was claimed by the Convention that those with refugees be rehabilitated in camps whether officially registered or not or receiving willful assent from the refugees in person.…”

“…Due to this, neighboring countries can provide but only narrow to raising and delivering aid. As the cornerstone to safeguard the right to life of Rohingyas, the international customary norms can be initiated, and therefore, the principle of non-refoulment may come into action in the deficiency of legal instruments (Espenilla, 2010). In every humanitarian mission, the ground of Non-Refoulement has received support from UNHCR to honor basic human rights.…”

Burma in Diaspora: A Preliminary Research Note on the Politics of Burmese Diasporic Communities in Asia

“…Massive exoduses to Bangladesh were observed in 1977-78 and 1991-92 (Grundy-Warr and Wong 1997Van Hear 1998: 201-203 (South 2008: 81-82;Thawnghmung 2005). Local geographies facilitated the migration of Shans, Akhas, Karennis, Mons and Karens into Thailand Banki 2009;Brees 2010), while India became the destination of choice for Chins and Kachins (Datta 2003;Baujard 2008;Alexander 2008), and Bangladesh for Rohingyas (Abrar 2003;Lewa 2008;Mathieson 2009;Espenilla 2010;Ullah 2011). Ethnic ceasefire policies promoted by the Burmese central government slowed the outbound migration processes during the 1990s and 2000s, but internal and transnational displacements have never fully ceased.…”

“…As Malaysia's authorities have not signed the 1951 Convention on Refugees, the country mainly serves as a transit point for most asylum-seekers en route to Australia or North America. Since the 1990s, there has been an acute international focus on Burmese Rohingyas stranded in Malaysia (Lewa 2008;Mathieson 2009;Espenilla 2010).…”

The Art of Neighbouring. Making Relations Across China's Borders

“…The Rohingya suffered two dramatic mass exoduses in 1977-78 and 1991-92 when 200 thousand refugees were forced to flee their native Rakhine State westwards, into neighbouring Bangladesh. Whilst thousands flee their homes in Rakhine State every year and try their luck in makeshift boats throughout the Indian Ocean, forming a new type of 'boat people' (Lewa 2008, Espenilla 2010, the remaining population in Rakhine have faced recurrent persecution ever since (Grundy-Warr and Wong 1997, Mathieson 2009, Human Rights Watch 2012. As observed elsewhere in the world, with the changing of the political context from a colonial enterprise to a nationalistic and independent polity, the communities construed as 'essential outsiders' in the colonial era became unwanted and 'inessential' in the new landscape.…”