(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The appeal comes as concerns are growing about the fate of asylum-seekers setting sail in overcrowded boats in the Bay of Bengal close to Bangladesh's southeastern border with Myanmar. Recent boat tragedies have killed dozens of Rohingyas after at least two vessels capsized over the past few weeks.
"UNHCR is calling on countries in the region to strengthen burden-sharing in the face of this growing humanitarian emergency, “the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement on Tuesday.
"An estimated 7,000 to 8,000 people left from the Bay of Bengal during the previous sailing season from October 2011 to March 2012. There are fears many more could follow in the coming weeks, driven by desperation and sheer hopelessness," the agency added.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay had earlier urged the government of Myanmar to take necessary steps towards granting Rohingyas citizens rights and equal treatment.
She also called on Myanmar to change its existing laws to allow the Rohingyas to become citizens.
"This should include a review of the citizenship law to ensure that Rohingya have equal access to citizenship," Pillay said at the Bali Democracy Forum in Indonesia on Friday.
She emphasized that the UN was concerned over the exclusion of the Rohingya from Myanmar’s reform process.
The UN and several other international organizations have considered the Rohingyas among the most persecuted minorities on earth.
Rohingya Muslims have faced torture, neglect and repression in the Buddhist-majority land, since it achieved independence in 1948.
Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by Buddhist extremists.
Buddhist extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in the troubled region. Myanmar army forces allegedly provided the Buddhists with containers of petrol to set ablaze the houses of Muslim villagers and force them out of their houses.
Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.
The government refuses to recognize Rohingyas as citizens and holds the opinion that the only solution to the crisis is to send the one-million-strong community to other countries willing to take them.
Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to speak out against abuses committed by Myanmar’s military on Rohingyas.
Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued separate statements, calling for Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremist Buddhists.
The United States and the European Union have come under fire for their silence on the ongoing bloodshed.
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