Trafficked and abandoned - the Rohingya exodus

On Sunday, May 10, a group of about 600 people arrived in the Indonesian province of Aceh on four boats. At about the same time more than 1,000 others landed in three boats on the northern Malaysian resort island of Langkawi. At least two of these overcrowded boats were towed by local fishermen to the shores. Those rescued were rounded up by the police.

Human traffickers apparently abandoned the ships - which also carried women and children - and left the hungry migrants to fend for themselves. Indonesian authorities and aid agencies believe the rescued group had been at sea for about a week. Many were in need of medical care. The authorities warn more desperate migrants could still be in peril at sea.

Every year thousands of impoverished Bangladeshis and Muslim Rohingya from Buddhist-majority Myanmar brave perilous land and sea routes in rickety traffickers' boats similar to this one in a desperate attempt to reach Malaysia and Indonesia. UNHCR estimates that some 25,000 Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis boarded people smugglers' boats in the first three months of this year.

Myanmar views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Most of them are not citizens and outbreaks of sectarian violence have prompted many to flee. "An entire population feels their only option is to seek asylum by sea," Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights told DW. The figure of Rohingya trafficked in Thailand since 2012 could be as high as a quarter million.

Seeking to flee discrimination, the Rohingya usually contact a broker who deceives them to think they will be taken directly to Malaysia for the equivalent of up to $200, says Smith. Throughout the journey they're denied adequate food, water, and space, and subjected to beatings, and sometimes killings. The boats travel to Thai waters where they are transported to a makeshift jungle camp onshore.

Many Rohingya are forced to cross Thailand using vehicles run by smugglers, who hold them in captivity in squalid jungle camps until a ransom is paid by their family back home. However, following the Thai government's recent crackdown on human trafficking, after the discovery of several mass graves (seen here), many smugglers have taken new measures, putting the migrants' lives at greater risk.

As a result of the crackdown by Thai authorities, Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees were found wandering around in southern Thailand near suspected jungle camps, apparently after they were abandoned by the smugglers who fled. The authorities have questioned more than 100 migrants near the country's border with Malaysia to determine whether they were victims of human trafficking.

Southeast Asia is being hit by a wave of migrants, partly driven by conflict, persecution and poverty. The Asia-Pacific region recently recorded an estimated 11.7 million trafficked people, the highest figure of any region. The Greater-Mekong Sub-region encompassing Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam features some of the most extensive flows of migration and human trafficking.