58 Rohingya Muslims land at Aceh Beach in Indonesia.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Dozens of hungry and weak Rohingya Muslims were found on a beach in Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Sunday after weeks at sea, officials said.
According to Rolly Yuiza Abaway, the group of 58 men arrived at Indrapatra beach in Ladong, a fishing community in Aceh Besar, on Sunday morning. The group of ethnic Rohingya arrived on Indrapatra beach at Ladong, Aceh Besar district’s fishing village. Villagers helped them to land their boat and reported their arrival to authorities.
“They look very weak from hunger and dehydration. Some of them are sick after a long and severe voyage at sea,” said Away, adding that the men received food and water from villagers and others as they waited for further instructions from immigration and local officials in Aceh.
Away stated that at least three men were rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. Others are receiving medical treatments as well.
On Friday, the United Nations and other international organizations urged South Asia countries to rescue as many Rohingya refugees as possible from a small boat which had been abandoned for several weeks in South Asia.
“Reports indicate those onboard have now remained at sea for a month in dire conditions with insufficient food or water, without any efforts by States in the region to help save human lives,” the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said in a statement. “Many are women and children, with reports of up to 20 people dying on the unseaworthy vessel during the journey.”
Away said it wasn’t clear where the group was traveling from or if they were part of the group of 190 Rohingya refugees that has been adrift in the Andaman Sea. However, one man who spoke Malay stated that they had been at sea for more then a month and had intended to land in Malaysia to pursue a better life and to work.
Since August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar’s Buddhist-majority Myanmar and have sought refuge in Bangladeshi camps. This was after the Myanmar military launched an operation to clear the area in response to rebel attacks. Myanmar security forces were accused of mass murders, mass rapes, and burning thousands of homes.
Rohingya groups have tried to escape the cramped camps of Bangladesh and travel by boat to dangerous destinations in other Muslim-majority nations in the region.
The boats have often landed in Malaysia, a country dominated by Muslims. Traffickers promise refugees a better life. Many Rohingya refugees that land in Malaysia are detained.
Although Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention, the UNHCR said that a 2016 presidential regulation provides a national legal framework governing the treatment of refugees on boats in distress near Indonesia and to help them disembark.
These provisions have been in place for many years. Most recently, 219 Rohingya refugees including 63 women, 40 children, were rescued from the North Aceh coast on two rickety boats.
“We urge the government of Indonesia to rescue the boats and allow them to safely disembark,” Amnesty International Indonesia’s executive director Usman Hamid said. “We also urge the Indonesian government to lead a regional initiative to resolve the refugee crisis.”
On Thursday, the U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, urged governments in South and Southeast Asia “to immediately and urgently coordinate search and rescue for this boat and ensure safe disembarkation of those aboard before any further loss of life occurs.”
“While many in the world are preparing to enjoy a holiday season and ring in a new year, boats bearing desperate Rohingya men, women and young children, are setting off on perilous journeys in unseaworthy vessels,” Andrews said in a statement.
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This report was contributed by Niniek Karmini, an Associate Press writer in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Grant Peck in Bangkok.