— Week nights on pbs. John: It's been five years since hundreds of thousands of rohingya were driven out of Myanmar, fleeing the brutality of government security forces. Most went to camps in neighboring Bangladesh. Now a growing number of them.
, have been setting out to open sea, in hopes of getting to Malaysia or Indonesia, where they believe they can live more freely. The united nations estimates the number of rohingya making that desperate journey went up fivefold last year.
At least 348 people died or went missing attempting the trip, making it one of the deadliest years for rohingya refugees since 2014. >> They spent weeks adrift in a rickety wooden boat, coming adrift in the most northern province.
Hundreds of refugees have made landfall in Indonesia. Many of them needing medical attention. >> After five days, our boat began breaking down and we had no food or water. >> She arrived last month. >> Five men jumped because they.
Could not handle the hunger. After 12 days, water came into the boat and more people jumped because they feared the boat was sinking through the ocean. We could not do anything. >> Mohammed fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh. He left his family in an.
Overcrowded Bangladeshi refugee camp after getting death threats over his job as a teacher. >> They eluded us — they looted us and took everything. >> In 2017, 7 100,000 were forced — 700,000 or forced and Myanmar. Many of them are languishing in.
Bangladesh. They live in crowded camps, intended only to be temporary. Like most, he would like to go back to his homeland but fear is what would await him. >> We try to go to our motherland. We are — we do not have a.
Place. >> Phil is the deputy director of human rights watch. >> These people want to go home but they want to return in dignity, with rights, they want their land back and be protected. There has to be a recognition.
That these people are going to continue to come out until there is a solution for the problems that exist in Myanmar and Bangladesh. >> The Indonesian government called for a regional effort to address the crisis of refugees stranded at sea.
Earlier I spoke with poppy Mcpherson, a reuters correspondent based in Bangkok , she has covered the rohingya crisis for nearly a decade. I asked her why more people are making this dangerous journey now. >> The situation in Myanmar,.
Where they are from and the refugee camps have deteriorated in the past couple of years. I have not heard people be so despondent and so hopeless because of the length of time. People did not think they would be stuck in these camps for so long.
Also, because of the increased restrictions that the Bangladesh authorities are putting on the camps. People feel like their lives are shrinking, there is no work, no opportunities for education in the camps, young people, the option that seems available to.
Them is really to get out. The other thing we have seen is a rise in violence and security issues in the camps. Abductions, killings, some of which seem to be linked to the drug trade. >> The new restrictions, does this reflect the Bangladeshi.
Attitude towards refugees? >> In the beginning there was a huge outpouring of support and sympathy for them, many Bangladeshis really welcomed people. Now it has been five years and there is no sign that they will be going back to Myanmar as the.
Conditions have not improved. Bangladesh is also under some pressure domestically. The community has started to turn against the group. It has become a political issue inside of England — — side of Bangladesh. >> What are the attitudes toward.
Them in Indonesia and Malaysia? >> The lives of the people living in rohingya or better, better than in Bangladesh or Myanmar where they face persecution and violence. They are taking and much more hostile and toward — attitude towards refugees.
There are in distress and they are the only community that has been doing that. The other estates in the region have not — the conditions are better, they may be able to find work if they are lucky but they may also face persecution as well.
Neither Tunisia — neither in Bangladesh or Indonesia are refugees recognized as refugees. >> Is there any aspect of human trafficking in this? >> Some say they have been forced to get on the boat, they were forced on board. Women and girls on the boat,.
Some of them are going for marriage in Malaysia and not sure how voluntary all of that is. >> You say conditions in Myanmar are notimproving. Could there be a point in time where it could improve to where they can return safely?.
>> The military drove out the refugees and they are in control of the country. The military regard them with deep-seated racism and they regard them as foreigners who do not deserve to be living in Myanmar. Reversing the policy is slim.
>> Is there any place for them to go? >> There is nowhere for them to go. It is a situation of desperation, they are people who nobody seems to want. Myanmar has rejected them, Bangladesh is rejecting them,.
That is a life nobody would want. A life of an opportunity, confinement. Taking to the sea in these dangerous wages is the best of many bad options — dangerous waves is the best of many bad options.
>> Thank you.
