More Boatpeople Sailing Past Phuket, say Reports

By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

PHUKET: Reports have reached Phuketwan that as many as eight boats laden with would-be refugees have set sail from Bangladesh and northern Burma in the past few days.

A more certain report says that a boatload of boys and men who sailed earlier this month was intercepted and ''helped on'' off the Thai island of Prayam in the border province of Ranong just yesterday.

If those reports are correct and if the departures continue at this rate, tourists on day-trips and fishermen off Phuket and the Andaman coast can expect to encounter Rohingya boatpeople at sea sometime soon this ''sailing season.''

The reason why so many departures are being reported after a couple of quieter sailing seasons lies with the new elected Parliament in Burma, and the people traffickers.

Final Resolution on Rohingya of Arakan , Burma (Myanmar) at The Thirty-eighth Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (Session of Peace, Cooperation and Development), held in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan, from 26 to 28 Rajab 1432H, (28 - 30 June 2011),

RESOLUTION No. 4/38-MM

THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN MYANMAR

The Thirty-eighth Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (Session of Peace, Cooperation and Development), held in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan, from 26 to 28 Rajab 1432H, (28 - 30 June 2011),

Reaffirming Resolution No. 4/11-MM (IS) adopted by the 11th Islamic Summit Conference held in Dakar, Republic of Senegal, in March 2008; and Resolution No. 4/37 adopted by the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM), Having considered the Report of the Secretary-General on the Muslim Community in Myanmar, Document No. OIC/CFM-38/2011/MM/SG.REPS,

1. Calls upon the Government of Myanmar to put an end the operations of displacement, expulsion, and exile of Arakan Muslims and to the continued attempts to eradicate their Islamic culture and identity, and urges government authorities to respect the texts of international legitimacy on human rights;

2. Calls on Member States to continue their efforts in conjunction with those of the international community and the United Nations in order to ensure the return of all Myanmar refugees displaced from their homes, particularly the Muslims of the Arakan region of Myanmar;

3. Expresses deep concern over the continued monumental violation of the rights of Rohingya Muslims in the Arakan region of the Republic of Myanmar, and requests the Secretary General to continue his efforts to end these practices in coordination with the international community together with international and regional organizations, and to continue those efforts in the context of dialogue, reconciliation and coordination among Islamic organizations in Myanmar;

4. Commends the efforts of the Secretary General which resulted in the formationof a United Rohingya Representatives abroad at the General Secretariat on 31st May, 2011 in implementation of paragraph 4 of Resolution No. 4/37-MM, with a view to coordinating amongst themselves to find a political solutions to their problems, achieve peaceful co-existence, democracy and human rights and calls on the Secretary General to continue his efforts to regain their rights in full.

5. Requests the Secretary-General to contact the Government of Myanmar to urge the latter to receive an OIC Mission to visit Myanmar in order to examine the conditions of Muslims there and persuade the Government of Myanmar to create conducive conditions for Arakan Muslims to return to their home and to report thereon to the next CFM;

6. Calls on the Member States to continue to extend all possible forms of support and assistance to Myanmar Muslims and particularly to those among them living as refugees outside their homeland;

7. Requests the Secretary-General to follow up the implementation of this resolution and report thereon to the Thirty-ninth session of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

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MM-R-38-CFM –FINAL