JAKARTA, 14 décembre 2015 (IRIN) - Hundreds of Rohingya refugees have vanished from camps in the northern reaches of the Indonesian island of Sumatra in recent months, raising concerns that they are once again turning to dangerous smuggling rings in a bid to reach Malaysia.
“We get very worried about how safe they are,” said Thomas Vargas, the Indonesia representative for the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR.
“Lets face it, smugglers have shown how ruthless they can be,” he told IRIN. “They have already shown how completely they can disregard human life. So, obviously, we are very concerned when we see that this type of thing can happen again.”
Nearly 1,000 Rohingya refugees were rescued last May after human smugglers and traffickers abandoned boats at sea when Thailand and Malaysia launched a crackdown on their networks. Nearly eight months later, less than 400 Rohingya refugees remain in the temporary centres set up in Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, according to UNHCR.
Most of the missing refugees are either in Malaysia or somewhere in coastal North Sumatra, waiting to board smugglers' boats, according to aid organisations. The situation highlights the difficulties aid organisations face when trying to discourage refugees from working with people-smuggling rings. (Courtesy of IRIN Asia)
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