Three Boats Carrying Over 500 Rohingya Refugees Land in Indonesia
They were on three boats that landed in different locations along the coast. One of the boats, carrying 256 people, had been reportedly pushed back by locals on Thursday and was stranded at sea for several days. The other two boats had 239 and 36 people on board, respectively, AFP reported.
This was one of the biggest arrivals of Rohingya refugees in Indonesia since 2017, and it brought the total number of refugees who landed in Aceh this week to more than 800.
Most of the refugees were women and children, and they were in good health. They were taken to temporary shelters while waiting for a decision from the authorities on their fate.
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 2,000 Rohingya tried to make the risky journey to other Southeast Asian countries in 2022. Nearly 200 of them died or went missing last year.
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The agency has urged the countries in the region to provide protection and assistance to the Rohingya refugees.
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority who have faced decades of violence, discrimination, and persecution in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.
Since 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh after a brutal military crackdown that the United Nations has described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Some of them have also attempted to reach other Southeast Asian countries by sea, often in overcrowded and unsafe boats.
Source: Agencies
