Naypyidaw, Myanmar (BBN)-Malaysia and Indonesia’s foreign ministers are in Myanmar for talks on the ongoing regional migrant crisis.
Thousands of people, including many Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar, are thought to be on boats out at sea trying to reach Malaysia, reports BBC.
Malaysia and Indonesia have said they will temporarily shelter those that land on their territory but need help from the international community.
Myanmar has been accused of doing nothing to address the problem at home.
It did not send a representative to a meeting of regional foreign ministers on Wednesday where the deal to provide temporary shelter and not turn back boats was reached.
A statement from Malaysia Foreign Minister Anifah Aman’s office said he would hold talks Thursday with his Myanmar counterpart U Wunna Maung Lwin in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director Richard Bennett said of the decision to provide shelter: “This is certainly good news for the people aboard those boats that manage to reach the safety of the shore – but it does nothing for the thousands still adrift at sea, with diminishing supplies of food and water, or for any more who may follow them.”
Thailand has said it will stop towing boats back to sea, something Malaysian and Indonesian navies have also been doing in recent days, but did not sign the agreement to provide shelter, saying it is already struggling to cope with tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar.
Malaysia estimates that 7,000 migrants are still stranded on boats in the Andaman Sea.
More than 3,000 have been rescued by locals or come ashore in Indonesia and Malaysia.
On Wednesday, Malaysia and Indonesia said this was not just a regional problem, but an international crisis and appealed for help from other nations to resettle the migrants within a year.
The US State Department said the US was prepared to take in refugees and lead a multi-country effort to resettle them.
Myanmar (also known as Burma) sees the Rohingya as migrants from Bangladesh, though many generations have lived there.
It restricts their movements and personal lives, and Rohingya have faced persecution from the majority Buddhist population.
The BBC’s Jonah Fisher, who is in Sittwe province where many of the migrants are believed to have come from, says unless the root cause is addressed the migration problem will continue.
WHY HAS THIS CRISIS ERUPTED?
Rohingya Muslims mainly live in Myanmar, where they have faced decades of persecution.
Rights groups say migrants feel they have “no choice” but to leave, paying people smugglers to help them.
The UN estimates more than 120,000 Rohingyas have fled in the past three years.
Traffickers usually take the migrants by sea to Thailand then overland to Malaysia.
But Thailand recently began cracking down on the migrant routes, meaning traffickers are using sea routes instead.