The Rohingya Refugee Crisis

A dangerous game of human pingpong is underway in the Adaman Sea between Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Thousands of Rohingya, a Muslim minority primarily from Myanmar, are adrift at sea. Not only is no country taking them in, but Navies have pushed back boats that have made it into harbor.

It is a wretched situation of almost unconscionable cruelty. And at the center of it all are human trafficking gangs who operate modern day slave camps from the jungles of Thailand. On the line today to discuss the Rohingya refugee-at-sea crisis is Sornata Reynolds of Refugees International. She discusses why discrimination and persecution of this group in Myanmar is the root cause of the crisis, and why the policies of neighboring countries like Bangladesh are making it work. She describes how criminal gangs sell these vulnerable people into slavery and what the international community–including you and I –can do to stop this situation from getting worse.