According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar and Bangladesh across the Indian Ocean has risen sharply in the past year. More than 3,500 members of the Muslim minority attempted the dangerous sea crossing in 2022, UNHCR said today. The year before, there were about 700 people. At least 348 people died or went missing at sea last year.
UNHCR reported that the reasons for the flight were the increase in desperation among the Rohingya and the deterioration of their living conditions. It is feared that more people will die on the high seas in the future.
The military took power in Myanmar two years ago. Since then, critics of the regime have been brutally persecuted. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya had already fled repression and persecution in the predominantly Buddhist country, mostly to Bangladesh. The government there expects them to return to Myanmar.
The United Nations describes the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide. The Rohingya had been stripped of Myanmar citizenship in 1983 by the then military junta.