Some 5,000 Rohingya refugees are believed to have drowned at sea over approximately the last decade. “This makes, sadly, the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal an unmarked graveyard for thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees,” said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch, speaking in Geneva.

Since 2012, nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees have risked their lives on dangerous sea journeys to escape misery and persecution. In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, amid persecution characterized as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by the then UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein.

Earlier this week, UNHCR reported news that hundreds of Rohingya were missing believed drowned after a shipwreck in the Andaman Sea on 8 April, off the coast of the country hosting many from the persecuted minority, Bangladesh.

Myanmar not safe to return

“While most Rohingya refugees wish to return to Myanmar once conditions allow for a voluntary, dignified and safe return, ongoing conflict, persecution, and the absence of citizenship prospects leave them with really little hope,” Mr. Baloch stressed.

“No one would put their family on a risky boat knowing that the chances of survival are really low if the sense of desperation is not there. If there is no hope, we fear more people may lose their lives,” he continued.

With no apparent end to these deadly sea crossings in sight, UNHCR hopes that by flagging the record death toll the world “recognizes what the Rohingyas are going through inside Myanmar and in the refugee camps and in the wider region as well and step forward to come up with solutions for the desperate Rohingya refugees, that we don't see 2026 becoming another deadly year”.