UN urges Southeast Asian leaders to protect migrants at sea

Increasingly concerned over plight of migrants and refugees stranded in the Andaman Sea and the Straits of Malacca, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his deputy Jan Eliasson have spoken separately to leaders in Southeast Asia reiterating the need to protect lives and uphold the obligation of rescue at sea.
A statement issued on Monday in New York by a UN spokesperson said in recent days, the Secretary-General has spoken to the Prime Ministers of Malaysia and Thailand Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak and Prayuth Chan-ocha respectively.
The Deputy Secretary-General has also spoken to Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali and the Deputy-Minister for Multilateral Affairs of Indonesia Hasan Kleib.
"In their discussions with the leaders of the region, they reiterated the need to protect lives and uphold international law.
"Furthermore, they stressed the need for timely disembarkation of migrants. They also urged leaders to uphold the obligation of rescue at sea and maintain the prohibition on refoulement," the statement said. Refoulement is the forcible return of individuals to their country of origin where they could face persecution.
The statement went on to say the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General also encouraged leaders to participate in the upcoming regional meeting in Bangkok on the migrant situation.
"They hope that the meeting will lead to comprehensive outcomes at the regional and international levels," said the statement, underscoring that the United Nations stands ready to assist all efforts to address the situation, including at the proposed meeting.
The statement by the top two UN officials comes in the wake of a strong call issued last Friday by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who urged governments in Southeast Asia to take swift action to protect the lives of migrants stranded in precarious maritime conditions and warned against the policy of pushing boats back out to the sea.
"I am appalled at reports that Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have been pushing boats full of vulnerable migrants back to sea, which will inevitably lead to many avoidable deaths," the UN rights chief said. "The focus should be on saving lives, not further endangering them."
"Governments in South-East Asia need to respond to this crisis from the premise that migrants, regardless of their legal status, how they arrive at borders, or where they come from, are people with rights that must be upheld," he said. Criminalising such vulnerable people, including children, and placing them in detention is not the solution, he added.
Around 6,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants are believed to have remained stranded at sea in precarious conditions in the region.
The High Commissioner said the individual circumstances of all migrants and asylum seekers at international borders should be assessed, and appropriate protection provided according to international human rights and refugee law, including ensuring that the principle of non-refoulement is upheld.
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