Asia Democracy Network Urgent Call for Action:
Save the Rohingya and Bangladeshi Stranded in the Sea
Over 4,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, many of them women and children are stranded and dying in the Andaman Sea due to extreme conditions and no food and water. The ethnic minorities Rohingya’s, native to Burma and the Bangladeshi’s left their homes to escape persecution and extreme poverty. Yet continuously, they are rejected from neighboring ASEAN countries when sought refuge.
The Asia Democracy Network joined by civil society organizations around the world, urgently calls for the immediate relief of the stranded peoples in the sea. We call on neighboring countries to take action and provide humanitarian and refugee relief. ASEAN countries rejecting to take in the boat people and leaving them to die is unacceptable and not in line with democratic principles and human rights.
ADN also calls for international organizations, like the United Nations, to establish measures to overcome the current international emergency. Resettlement plans for the refugees should be established and negotiated with neighboring countries.
The Myanmar government is called to revisit its Citizenship Law and grant citizenship to the Rohingya people and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar treating them with dignity and human rights. Religious persecution of the minorities should also be addressed taking on the root of this atrocity.
Please download the statement: ADN_Urgent Call for Relief of Rohingya
