More than 110 Rohingya refugees arrived in Indonesia’s Aceh province on a boat that nearly sank, according to officials from the U.N. refugee agency and local government. This comes as growing numbers of Rohingya refugees are arriving by sea in the Southeast Asian country, with about 400 having arrived last month in Aceh and North Sumatra province. The mainly Muslim Rohingya, who are originally from Myanmar and are the world’s largest stateless population, often escape poor conditions in refugee camps on rickety boats to neighboring countries between October and April. The refugees who landed on Saturday were mostly women and children and were rescued by fishermen after their boat encountered difficulties.
Nearly 1 million Rohingya are currently living in camps in Bangladesh, facing what the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has called the biggest humanitarian refugee camp in the world. In Myanmar, the Rohingya face persecution as they are considered foreign interlopers and are denied citizenship. More than 2,000 Rohingya arrived in Indonesia last year, a significant increase compared to the previous four years. Despite Indonesia not being a signatory of the U.N. refugee convention and claiming to lack the capacity to accommodate refugees, Rohingya continue to arrive in the country. Some refugees have faced hostility from locals as frustration mounts over the influx of arrivals.
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