Hundreds of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia staged a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (May 21), demanding full citizenship and return of their land and assets from President Thein Sein's government.
The protest came a day after Malaysia and Indonesia, in the face of calls by the international community, offered temporary shelter to migrants and refugees stranded at sea.
Around 7,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis are stranded in waters of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea after they were abandoned by people smugglers following a recent crackdown by the Thai authorities.
Also joining the protest were Malaysian NGOs and members of the opposition Islamic party PAS. The protesters said that as a Muslim-majority country, Malaysia should do more to ease the plight of Rohingya Muslims.
They also urged Malaysia - as ASEAN chair - to take the lead and pressure the Myanmar government to stop atrocities against the Rohingya, as well as to grant citizenship to the Rohingya so they can go home.http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/rohingyas-ngos-protest/1862538.html
看到最後一段松了口氣，原來他們只想回家～～
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Myanmar's navy found a boat carrying more than 200 Bangladeshis, the government said on Friday, after the military chief said some migrants landing in Malaysia and Indonesia this month are pretending to be Rohingya Muslims so they can get U.N. aid.
The western Myanmar state of Rakhine said the boat was from Thailand and the plan was to send the migrants back.
The remarks are sure to spark concern after the United States lambasted Myanmar this week for failing to address the cause of the crisis, which observers say stems from Myanmar's refusal to recognise the Rohingya, an ethnic minority group living in western Myanmar, as citizens.
Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions. Almost 140,000 were displaced in deadly clashes with Buddhists in the state of Rakhine in 2012.
U.N. agencies have urged regional governments to protect thousands of migrants stranded on boats in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman sea with dwindling supplies.
The boat and a second, empty vessel, came from Ranong, in southern Thailand, the Rakhine state government said in a press release.
The plan was to send the migrants "back to Thailand".
Myanmar's navy found the boats on Thursday.
"While on patrol in Myanmar waters, the Myanmar Navy ship 568 found a boat loaded with about 200 Bengali and another empty boat at sea about four miles west of Thinbaw Gway Village, Maungdaw Township," Myanmar government spokesman Ye Htut said on his Facebook page, using the government's term for illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
Altogether, 219 people were on the boat, said Ye Htut, including nine crew members and "two Bengali interpreters".
He added that the migrants were "from Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and northern Dhaka," referring to cities and towns in Bangladesh.
Hundreds of migrants, including Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladeshis fleeing persecution and poverty at home, have been pushed back out to sea by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia this month. Many now face sickness and possible starvation.
Senior Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing "hinted that most victims are expected to assume themselves to be Rohingya from Myanmar in the hope of receiving assistance from UNHCR" during a meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
"He stressed the need to investigate their country of origin rather than to accuse a country," the newspaper reported.
Blinken had stressed the need for Myanmar to address the causes of the migration, "including the racially and religiously motivated discrimination and violence".
Many Rohingya have long complained of state-sanctioned discrimination in Myanmar and are denied citizenship. Myanmar denies discriminating against the group and has said it is not the source of the problem.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday pledged assistance and ordered the navy to rescue thousands adrift at sea, and a Thai official said Myanmar had agreed to attend an emergency conference on the crisis.
Malaysia and Indonesia have also said they would let as many as 7,000 migrants on the seas now to come ashore temporarily, but no more.
Both countries have also said that temporary shelters would be set up to house the migrants but Thailand, a traditional transit point for those trying to reach Malaysia for work, said it would not follow suit.新聞來源:http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/05/22/uk-asia-migrants-idUKKBN0O708U20150522
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A group of migrants recently rescued by Myanmar will be deported to Bangladesh, officials confirmed on Saturday, as the United Nations chief called on regional nations to prioritise saving the lives of those still stranded at sea.
More than 3,500 migrants have swum to shore or been rescued off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh since a Thai crackdown on human-trafficking in early May threw the illicit trade into chaos.
Myanmar has faced increasing international pressure to stem the deluge from its shores and deliver urgent humanitarian relief to thousands still trapped at sea.
Myanmar officials say all 208 men are from Bangladesh and will soon be returned there.
"We are giving humanitarian assistance to them. After that we will deport them back to the relevant country," Zaw Htay, director of the presidential office, said.
"We have made contact with Bangladeshi border officials on the ground regarding the arrived persons."
Bangladesh's border guard force said a team would travel to Myanmar shortly.
"Our commander will go himself. The entire procedure might take up to two or three days to complete," Major Abu Russell Siddiki, a spokesman at the Teknaf border post, said.
A separate law enforcement source said Bangladesh wanted to make sure Myanmar did not send any Rohingya.
Saving lives 'top priority'The rescue by the Myanmar navy comes as fears grow for migrants still stuck at sea at a time when the dry winter months are about to give way to the regional monsoon.
It is believed around 2,000 vulnerable migrants are stranded in the Bay of Bengal, many at the mercy of ruthless people smugglers.Most are Muslim Rohingyas from the western Rakhine state in Myanmar, where they are not recognised as citizens.
Instead, they are referred to as "Bengalis" or illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladeshis, meanwhile, are also trying to escape grinding poverty.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said finding and saving the lives of those migrants should be a "top priority".
Speaking during a visit to Hanoi, he called on regional nations to tackle the "root causes" of the current exodus at an upcoming conference in Thailand later this month.
"But when people are drifting on the sea, how we can search and rescue them and provide life-saving humanitarian assistance, that is a top priority at this time," he said.The Rohingya face daily discrimination and a raft of restrictions. Many live in displacement camps after scores were killed in 2012 as violence flared between the community and local Buddhists — an event that caused a spike in people trying to flee on boats.
Most migrants aim for Malaysia and Indonesia using dangerous and lucrative smuggling networks that criss-cross the region.
Noble Peace Prize winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is yet to comment on the current crisis, a silence that observers attribute to fears over alienating a swathe of the electorate just months ahead of the polls.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-23/myanmar-to-deport-migrants-as-un-chief-urges-further-rescues/6492618
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（吉隆坡23日讯）隨著外交部在週四时宣佈，大马及印尼政府决定暂时性收容7000名罗兴亚和孟加拉船民，目前已经有部分罗兴亚船民陆续上岸。
本月20日，大马外交部长拿督斯里阿尼法与泰国外交部长塔纳萨及印尼外交部长雷诺，在布城外交部召开紧急会议，共商引起国际关注的罗兴亚船民涌现课题。隨后马印泰三国发表联合声明，同意为这些非法移民提供人道救援。
同时，大马和印尼也將为7000名非法移民提供临时庇护，惟国际社会必须在一年內，將这批非法移民遣返或安置到第三国家。
隨著马印做出这项决定，在过去3天，就有部分罗兴亚船民已经在大马西海岸安全上岸，包括妇女和小孩。而在来临的日子里，余下的船民也会陆陆续续的被带上岸。
在海上漂泊多日的罗兴亚船民，在接下来的一年中，可以分別在大马和印尼两个地区接受一年的庇护。惟，一年后的生活，仍是个未知数。
在罗兴亚船民课题上，大马的立场一开始非常坚决，惟在国际舆论压力下，政府放缓了立场，决定暂时收留言些船民。首相拿督斯里纳吉更要求海军和海上执法机构，以人道主义的立场向罗兴亚人提供援助。（謝謝東方日報不懼網民的激烈反抗聲，堅持帶給我們最新的消息）http://www.orientaldaily.com.my/nation/gn201440811
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发表于 20-5-2015 02:30 PM
变色卡
千斤顶
坏消息，希望真的只是所谓的temporary.，要是给他们长年住下去，只会浪费纳税人的钱。
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