World

Philippines says it’s prepared to help Rohingya migrants

Nearly 3,000 migrants have swum to shore or been rescued off Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand over the past week

Afp May 19, 2015

In this photo taken on May 15, 2015, Abdur Rahman (R), father of 16-year-old Rohingya teenager Muhammad Shorif, is watched by his daughter as he poses holding a mobile phone with an image of his son, during an interview outside the Nayapara Rohingya camp in the southern Bangladesh city of Teknaf. PHOTO: AFP

MANILA: The Philippines said Tuesday it was ready to help Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople, as its Southeast Asian neighbours faced outrage for turning them away.

The Philippines is obliged to help the migrants, many of whom are fleeing persecution, because it is party to the 1951 United Nations convention on refugees, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and foreign department spokesman Charles Jose both said.

"We have the commitment and the obligation to extend humanitarian assistance to these asylum seekers," Jose told ANC television, without giving details.

De Lima stressed that "saving lives" was paramount.

Read: The plight of the Rohingya

"I think humanitarian consideration should transcend any other consideration. First thing is the humanitarian concern, saving lives," de Lima said after meeting with the country representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Nearly 3,000 migrants have swum to shore or been rescued off Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand over the past week, with thousands more believed to be drifting on boats without food or water.

The three governments have sparked international outrage for driving away some of the migrant boats, who are believed to have been deserted by human trafficking rings after a Thai crackdown.

Read: 750 migrants rescued off Indonesia as pressure grows for solution

"It is not a crisis that can be solved by a single state. It's a collective responsibility," Bernard Kerblat, the country representative of the UNHCR, told AFP after meeting with de Lima.

President Benigno Aquino's spokesman also said the Philippines was open to helping the refugees.

"As the only predominantly Catholic nation in Southeast Asia, it is our duty to provide succour to those in need," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma told AFP.

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, where they have no legal rights, making them a target for human traffickers. Up to 1.3 million live in the western Rakhine state.

Read: Bangladesh traffickers killed in raid

Malaysia and Thailand have called on Myanmar to stem the flow of the Rohingya but Myanmar has refused to take responsibility, claiming the group is composed of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Kerblat said the Philippines and Myanmar have been invited to attend a conference on the crisis to be hosted by Thailand on May 29, but both countries had yet to confirm their attendance.

Bangladesh, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia and the United States are among 15 other governments that are attending the meeting, he said, describing it as a "step in the right direction".

COMMENTS (5)

chris | 9 years ago | Reply @Demolition Woman: Yup I know where your coming from. The Brits can't repatriate themselves let alone any one else. They are on a self destruct mission day in and day out by coming up with fake border policies that welcome only people that are taking their country for a ride. Those policies have caused a lot of the actual Brits to move away from their homeland hence giving legislative rights and decision making powers to 3rd class citizens who in turn don't believe in changing those policies based on humanitarian grounds.

Demolition Woman | 9 years ago | Reply @chris: Actually this problem, like a host of similar problems throughout the world, is the result of British colonial policies and actions. These people or rather their ancestors were brought into Burma, and forcibly so, from Bengal, India to work as slaves and cheap labor. Rightfully, Britain should repatriate the Rohingyas.