Southeast Asian Route
Forty percent of international migrants come from Asia, according to the IOM. Although much of that emigration from India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other Asian nations is regular and is mainly destined for countries in the Gulf, Europe and the United States, the political situations in Myanmar and Afghanistan have led to a rise in irregular migration within Asia and to Australia.
The exodus of millions of Rohingya fleeing repression in Myanmar has also majorly impacted migratory flows in the region. After a first wave that saw nearly one million Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, the lack of a legal framework for refugees and the rapid growth of trafficking networks has opened up new routes for this stateless, mostly Muslim ethnic group to the shores of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Two Rohingya men carry an elderly man towards the bank of the Naf River, which serves as the international border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, Sept. 13, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled a military offensive in Myanmar by crossing the waters of the river to reach the Bangladeshi settlement of Teknaf. EPA / ABIR ABDULLAH
A Rohingya family walks towards the Teknaf settlement in Bangladesh on September 9, 2017. Nearly one million refugees fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military launched an operation against the stateless, mostly Muslim ethnic group. EPA / ABIR ABDULLAH
A Rohingya child cries at a roadside stop after crossing into Bangladesh from Myanmar on September 6, 2017 through the Kutupalong area. Most of these stateless people, denied nationality by both their home country and Bangladesh, will spend years in border camps. EPA / MONIRUL ALAM
Rohingya women line up for aid on December 11, 2017 at the Balukhali food distribution center near Cox' Bazar, a Bangladesh district on the Myanmar border that received the bulk of the exodus of the persecuted people. EPA / TRACEY NEARMY
A group of Rohingya people wait to be rescued from the wreckage of the wooden boat in the waters of the Indian Ocean near Banda Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, on March 21, 2024. The migrants were discovered by fishermen and the rescue services managed to rescue 69 people. EPA / ZAINAL ABIDIN
A young Rohingya girl receives medical care after arriving at Ujong Kareung beach on the Indonesian islet of Sabang Weh, north of Sumatra, Nov. 22, 2023. Indonesia has become a major arrival point for Rohingya migrants, many of whom arrive in critical health conditions. EPA / HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK
Members of the Indonesian security forces pull a boat on the tourist beach of Lhoknga (Sumatra) on June 20, 2016. They wanted to repair it and forced the migrants traveling on it from Sri Lanka to leave the country and continue on to Australia after provisioning them with water and food. The trawler had broken down in the open sea days earlier. EPA / HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK
Nasim, a 38-year-old ethnic Hazara Afghan who was granted refugee status, had been awaiting resettlement in a third country for eight years when this photo was taken on September 7, 2021. His home is a tent erected inside an old military building converted into a reception center in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital. The Hazara, who follow the Shiite branch of Islam, are the ethnic group that is most repressed by the Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. EPA / MAST IRHAM