Since 2012, nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees have risked their lives on dangerous sea journeys to escape misery and persecution. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, amid persecution characterized as a “classic example of ethnic cleansing” by then-UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.
Earlier this week, UNHCR reported that hundreds of Rohingya were missing and believed to have drowned after a shipwreck in the Andaman Sea on April 8, off the coast of the country that is home to many members of the persecuted minority, Bangladesh.
Myanmar is not safe to return
“While the majority of Rohingya refugees wish to return to Myanmar once conditions allow for a voluntary, dignified and safe return, the ongoing conflict, persecution and lack of prospects for citizenship leave them very little hope,” Baloch stressed.
“No one would put their family on a risky boat knowing that the chances of survival are really low if there is no feeling of despair. If there is no hope, we fear that more people will lose their lives,” he continued.
With no apparent end in sight to these deadly sea crossings, UNHCR hopes that by noting the record number of deaths the world will “recognise what the Rohingya are going through inside Myanmar and in the refugee camps and in the wider region, and step forward to find solutions for desperate Rohingya refugees, so that we do not see 2026 become another deadly year.”