Hope that the conditions will improve for the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar under Aung San Suu Kyi's new government has contributed to a slowdown in the number fleeing to Thailand and beyond, the United Nations and European Union said on Monday.
As the season that smuggling and trafficking ships typically ply their human cargoes across the Bay of Bengal comes to a close, the number of migrants leaving Myanmar is down sharply on the year, the U.N. refugee agency said on Monday.
"It is striking, there are many less people coming than last year," Volker Turk, assistant high commissioner for protection at the UNHCR, told Reuters after an event on refugees in Bangkok.
"It's a combination of factors. As well as the new government, there are stronger activities against smuggling and trafficking. And the discovery of the mass graves last year also shocked people."
Thai police launched a campaign in May 2015 following the discovery of 30 bodies in graves near a human-trafficking camp close to the Malaysian border. The crackdown led criminals to abandon ships at sea with thousands of migrants aboard.
Mass graves of suspected human-trafficking victims were also found on the Malaysian side of the border. (Courtesy of Daily Mail Online)
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