Days after Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia held an emergency meeting in Kuala Lumpur over the region’s migrant crisis, Malaysia and Indonesia have said that they will offer shelter to 7000 “boat people”. Thailand has chosen to opt out.
While stressing that the international community also had a responsibility to help them deal with the crisis, Malaysia and Indonesia have stated that they will take in only those people stranded on the high seas, and will not offer shelter to any more than the 7000 people. They added that “resettlement and repatriation” would be offered to the migrants, and added that the process would be finished in a year with the help of the international community, the Dawn reports.
Thailand, on the other hand, has said that it will allow the sick to come ashore for medical attention, but stopped short of saying if they would disembark others. However, it added, that it would not force boats back out to sea.
Over 3000 migrants have landed so far in Malaysia and Indonesia this month.
The three nations had turned away many boats approaching their shores, despite appeals from the United Nations to take them in.
The migrants are mostly Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshis, fleeing persecution and poverty in their respective homelands or those who have been abducted by traffickers. (ANI)