Why more Rohingya refugees are making desperate journeys by sea

John Yang:

It's been five years since hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were driven out of Myanmar, fleeing the brutality of government security forces. Most went to camps in neighboring Bangladesh. And now a growing a number of them have been setting out to open sea in hopes of getting to Malaysia or Indonesia, where they believe they can live more free.

The United Nations estimates the number of Rohingya making that desperate journey went up fivefold last year. At least 348 people died or went missing attempting the trip, making it one of the deadliest years for Rohingya refugees since 2014.

They spent weeks adrift in a rickety wooden boat finally coming ashore in Aceh, Indonesia's northernmost province. Since November, hundreds of refugees have made landfall Indonesia, many of them badly needing medical attention.

Fatima bin Ismail, Rohingya Refugee (through translator): After five days, our boat began breaking down. We had no food or water.

John Yang:

19 year old Fatima bin Ismail arrived last month.

Fatima bin Ismail (through translator):

Five men jumped because they couldn't handle the hunger. Then after twelve days, water started coming into the boat and more people jumped because they feared the boat would sink in the ocean. There were bodies floating in the water here and there. We couldn't do anything.

John Yang:

23 year old Muhammad Fayros fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. He left his family in an overcrowded Bangladeshi refugee camp after getting death threats over his job as a teacher.

Mohammad Fayros, Rohingya Refugee:

They blown down our horses. They looted our bubbais. They killed our innocent fathers and sisters and mother and brother. They raped our sister and mother in front of us, in front of everything. Would you take any way?

John Yang:

In 2017, roughly 700,000 Rohingya, mostly Muslims, were forced from Buddhist majority Myanmar. Myanmar security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning thousands of Rohingya homes. Most of the now stateless Rohingya are languishing in Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries. They live in crowded camps set up when their exodus from Myanmar began, and intended only to be temporary. Like most Rohingya, Fayros would like to go back to his homeland, but fears what would await him there.

Mohammad Fayros:

Everyone is trying to repatriate, trying to go to our motherlands, go back to our motherland with full citizenship. Because we don't have place, we don't have place.

John Yang:

Phil Robertson is the deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch.

Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch:

These Rohingya, they want to go home, but they want to return in dignity, with rights. They want their land back. They want to be protected. There has to be a recognition that these people are going to continue to come out until there's a solution for the problems that exist in Myanmar and in Bangladesh.

John Yang:

Last week, the Indonesian government called for a regional effort to address the crisis of refugees stranded at sea. Earlier, I spoke with Poppy McPherson, a Reuters correspondent based in Bangkok. She's covered the Rohingya crisis for nearly a decade. I asked her why so many more people are making this dangerous journey now.

Poppy McPherson, Reuters:

The situations for Rohingya, both in Myanmar, where they're from, and the refugee camps in Bangladesh have considerably deteriorated in the past kind of couple of years. I've not heard people be so despondent and so hopeless, partly because of the length of time. You know, I think a lot of people didn't think that they would be stuck in these camps for so long.

But also because of the increased restrictions that the Bangladesh authorities are putting on the camps, people feel that their lives are just shrinking. There's no opportunity for work. There's not any real opportunities for education in the camps. So, especially young people, the option that seems available to them is really to get out.

The other thing we've seen is a rise in violence and security issues in the camps. There's abductions, killings going on, some of which seems to be linked to the drug trade.

John Yang:

The deteriorating conditions in these camps, the new restrictions. Does this reflect the Bangladeshi attitude toward Rohingya refugees?

Poppy McPherson:

In the beginning, there was a huge outpouring of support and sympathy for the Rohingya. Many Bangladeshis in the local area really welcomed people. Now it's been five years, and there's no sign that the Rohingya are going to be going back to Myanmar, as the conditions for them there haven't improved. And Bangladesh is also under some pressure domestically, you know, the community has started to turn against the Rohingya, so it's become a political issue inside Bangladesh.

John Yang:

The people who are setting out to sea to flee these camps in Bangladesh, what are their lives like Indonesia and Malaysia? What are the attitudes toward them Indonesia and Malaysia?

Poppy McPherson:

Well, for a while, the lives of Rohingya living in Malaysia were better. I mean, better than in Bangladesh refugee camps or in Myanmar, where they're facing such extreme persecution and violence. But Malaysia has changed its stance and is taking a much more hostile attitude towards Rohingya.

In Indonesia, the fishermen often save boats that are in distress, and they're really be the only community that has been doing that. And the rest of the other estates in the region have not. Once Rohingya gets into Indonesia and Malaysia that the conditions are better, they might be able to find work if they're lucky, but they may also face persecution there as well, neither Indonesia or Malaysia are signatories to the UN Refugee Convention. They're not guaranteed recognition as refugees.

John Yang:

What's the role of smugglers, of human smugglers in this? And also is there any aspect of human trafficking in this?

Poppy McPherson:

I've spoken to people who've said that they've been forced to get on the boats, that someone's approached them in a market and basically forced them on board. There's also a lot of women and girls on the boats, and some of them going for marriage in Malaysia and not sure how voluntary all of that is.

John Yang:

You spoke about conditions in Myanmar not improving. Is there any glimmer of hope that conditions would improve to the point where some of the refugees could return safely?

Poppy McPherson:

The big problem is that the military, who were the ones that actually drove out the Rohingya, are now in full control of the country since the military coup in 2021. The Burmese military regard the Rohingya with deep seated racism, and they regard them as foreigners who don't deserve to be living in Myanmar. The likelihood of them reversing that policy is slim.

John Yang:

Is there any place for them to go?

Poppy McPherson:

I mean, that's it. There is nowhere for them to go. It's a situation of desperation. They're people who nobody seems to want. You know, Myanmar's rejected them. Bangladesh is rejecting them. The life that they're allowed to live in Bangladesh is a life that nobody would want, a life of no opportunity of confinement. Taking to the sea in these dangerous voyages is the best of many bad options.

John Yang:

Poppy McPherson of Reuters. Thank you very much.

Poppy McPherson:

Thank you. Thank you, John.