Addressing Root Causes Of Rising Illegal

Jakarta, March 21 (Antara) - During the past five years, the number of immigrants from conflicted countries attempting to illegally enter other countries by sea are rising. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) last 2012, there were 18,081 illegal immigrants arriving in countries such as Australia, India and Indonesia. Meanwhile departures from conflicted countries such as Myanmar and Bangladesh with target country to Malaysia and Thailand was recorded at 14,000 people. The number shows a significant rise compare to the previous year`s. In 2011, for example, the number of immigrants attempted to illegally enter some countries in Asia Pacific region was recorded at 7,923 people while the number of departures from Bangladesh and Myanmar was 4,106 people. Though some have managed to reach destination countries, some other have perished at sea. However such tragic incidents doesn`t seem to stop those immigrants from fleeing their countries in search for better lives or security. Take example of Myanmar`s Rohingya immigrants who have left their country due to security reason. Rohingya ethnic is a small minority group living in Rakhine county, Myanmar. Last 2012 Rakhine was the scene of bloody communal clashes between the majority community and the Rohingya people. The conflict left more than 100 dead and displaced up to 75,000 people, the majority of them are Rohingya. Since then, thousands of Rohingya migrants have illegally entered Thailand and Indonesia by sea. "We are afraid to return to our country. Our homes have been burnt down there and many members of our families were killed. We hope that the UNHCR would not repatriate us," Abdul Hakim, 52, a Rohingya ethnic refugee from Myanmar`s Rakhine county said when he was caught at sea near Indonesia`s Aceh province. Senior Regional Public Information Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Vivian Tan said apart from conducting interception at sea to stop illegal immigrants, neighboring countries need to address the root cause of illegal migration. "The root causes that should be addressed now is how to improve their life, remove restrictions that they are facing currently so they can be where they are and not moving out of the country illegally," Senior Regional Public Information Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Vivian Tan said. She added related countries namely the source, transit and destination countries also need to agree on some undecided issues in order to respond effectively whenever they are dealing with illegal immigrants. "For example if a boat with illegal immigrants inside is rescued at Indian Ocean there are questions about where this boat should be disembarked and what is the responsibility of the surrounding states. Ideally certain mechanism must be agreed, who does what when the situation happens," she said. Vivian noted particular countries are facing their own challenges in tackling illegal migration issue. Destination countries, for example, keeps stressing that they need to have more information about the exact number of illegal migrants and the intention of leaving their countries (are they refugee, asylum seekers, migrants or people who are being trafficked). This information is needed in order to find out the scale of the problem and to address the root causes of irregular migrations or fleeing prosecutions. Meanwhile transit countries also share some challenges such as the unclear situation after detaining illegal immigrants at detention center. There are questions such as are these people going to stay forever in detention center? how should officials react to immigrants as each of them has different background (asylum seekers, people who are being trafficked, etc). Source countries also have its own challenges such as their lack of capacity to address some of the root causes that`s becoming the push factor for illegal migrations. Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry`s Director for Multilateral Cooperation Hasan Kleib said it is important for officials from the source, transit and destination countries to address the issue of illegal migration carefully because unlike pure criminality such as terrorism, illegal migration also involves humanitarian issue. He said there are two sides in this issue; the victims are illegal immigrants who think they can have a better life in the destination country and the perpetrators who smuggle the immigrants in return for money. "We need to draw a clear division on who the victims are and who the criminals are. Those victims need our assistance. And our assistance must be measured, adjusted to their needs," he said. He added the media also has an important role in campaigning against illegal migration. According to him, the media can help deliver the message to the people that migration isn`t always beneficial and maybe even dangerous to them.