ID :
48188
Sat, 02/28/2009 - 12:48
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/48188
The shortlink copeid
MYANMAR WILLING TO REPATRIATE ROHINGYA BOAT PEOPLE
Hua Hin, Feb 27 (ANTARA) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the Myanmarese government has expressed readiness to repatriate the Rohingya boat people if they really came from Myanmar.
Hassan made the statement following an informal ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting as part of the 14th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, Friday night.
"If they really came from the northern Arakan province, the Myanmarese government was willing to accept them if they were ready to be repatriated," he said.
The Myanmarese government's attitude sent a positive signal in the settlement of the polemic because previously Myanmar refused to recognize the Rohingya community as its own citizens.
Hassan said further that the result of a verification by the Indonesian government of at least 300 boat people who had been stranded off the Aceh coast, it appeared that some of them expressed readiness to be repatriated.
He added that the repatriation would first have to undergo an identification process whose mechanism and details would be taken up at the Bali Process meeting on April 14 and 15, 2009.
The foreign minister also said the Myanmarese government which for a clear indentification covering the addresses of the boat people in Myanmar, and for security reasons, the details of the status of each of the refugees would not be made public.
In the last 20 years, the Rohingya boat people had often become a subject at the United Nations Human Right Council in view of alleged human rights violations against the minority group in Myanmar.
Myanmar's refusal to recognize the Rohingya minority community caused thousands of Rohingya people to lose a country to stay in Bangladesh illegally -- Bangladesh refused to provide Rohingya people a permanent place to stay, but was still unable to stop the flow of the people who are believed to have the same language and religion as those of the local population -- or at the refugee camps to avoid torture.
Many of them had been trying to reach countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore, for employment after trapped in human trafficking syndicates.
In these attempts, many among them risked their lives, and often gone missing. Their bad fat early in 2009 once again drew world attention after hundreds of Rohingya boat people were sranded off the Aceh coast.
Some 391 Rohingya boat people are now given shelter in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province after adrift for some time, and treated inhumanly by the Thai authorities.
They landed in Aceh in two batches, 193 on January 7, and 198 others on February 3.
The first batch of the Moslem Rohingya people were given shelter in Weh Island, Sabang, and on February 3 given accommodation in Idi Rayeuk subdistrict in East Aceh.
The Indonesian government for the time being gave the boat people shelter and humanitarian aid, including medical treatment, places to stay, and food, but although many people in Indonesia urged the government to accept the refugees but the government said it became too burdensome to take care of hundreds of refugees too long.
Previously, the Indonesian government was successful in solving the case of Vietnamese boat people by the Bali Process mechanism, which a ministerial meeting form to discuss boat people and human trafficking.
L.G003*E014
(H-NG/S012)
Hassan made the statement following an informal ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting as part of the 14th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, Friday night.
"If they really came from the northern Arakan province, the Myanmarese government was willing to accept them if they were ready to be repatriated," he said.
The Myanmarese government's attitude sent a positive signal in the settlement of the polemic because previously Myanmar refused to recognize the Rohingya community as its own citizens.
Hassan said further that the result of a verification by the Indonesian government of at least 300 boat people who had been stranded off the Aceh coast, it appeared that some of them expressed readiness to be repatriated.
He added that the repatriation would first have to undergo an identification process whose mechanism and details would be taken up at the Bali Process meeting on April 14 and 15, 2009.
The foreign minister also said the Myanmarese government which for a clear indentification covering the addresses of the boat people in Myanmar, and for security reasons, the details of the status of each of the refugees would not be made public.
In the last 20 years, the Rohingya boat people had often become a subject at the United Nations Human Right Council in view of alleged human rights violations against the minority group in Myanmar.
Myanmar's refusal to recognize the Rohingya minority community caused thousands of Rohingya people to lose a country to stay in Bangladesh illegally -- Bangladesh refused to provide Rohingya people a permanent place to stay, but was still unable to stop the flow of the people who are believed to have the same language and religion as those of the local population -- or at the refugee camps to avoid torture.
Many of them had been trying to reach countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore, for employment after trapped in human trafficking syndicates.
In these attempts, many among them risked their lives, and often gone missing. Their bad fat early in 2009 once again drew world attention after hundreds of Rohingya boat people were sranded off the Aceh coast.
Some 391 Rohingya boat people are now given shelter in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province after adrift for some time, and treated inhumanly by the Thai authorities.
They landed in Aceh in two batches, 193 on January 7, and 198 others on February 3.
The first batch of the Moslem Rohingya people were given shelter in Weh Island, Sabang, and on February 3 given accommodation in Idi Rayeuk subdistrict in East Aceh.
The Indonesian government for the time being gave the boat people shelter and humanitarian aid, including medical treatment, places to stay, and food, but although many people in Indonesia urged the government to accept the refugees but the government said it became too burdensome to take care of hundreds of refugees too long.
Previously, the Indonesian government was successful in solving the case of Vietnamese boat people by the Bali Process mechanism, which a ministerial meeting form to discuss boat people and human trafficking.
L.G003*E014
(H-NG/S012)
