Dhaka: Four UN bodies have strongly urged the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, to protect migrants and refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar stranded on vessels in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, to facilitate their safe disembarkation, and to give priority to saving lives.

The UN Refugee agency, OHCHR, IOM and SRSG for Migration and Development came up with the call in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Grave events in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in recent days involving migrants and refugees confirm that vulnerable people around the world are moving in search of safety and dignity, fleeing persecution, abject poverty, deprivation, discrimination, and abuse, said the statement.

‘We’re deeply concerned at reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are unable to land and are stranded at sea without access to urgently needed food, water, and medical assistance. We urge States in the region to protect the lives of all aboard by allowing the passengers on these overcrowded boats to disembark safely,’ the statement added.

It said such perilous journeys, whether by land, sea, or air, have become a global phenomenon.

In Southeast Asia, over 88,000 people have made the dangerous voyage by sea since 2014, including 25,000 who arrived in the first quarter of this year alone.

Nearly 1,000 are believed to have perished at sea due to the precarious conditions of the voyage, and an equal number because of mistreatment and privation at the hands of traffickers and abusive smugglers.

In the Bay of Bengal, migrants and refugees are fed only white rice and subjected to violence, including sexual violence. Women are raped. Children are separated from their families and abused. Men are beaten and thrown overboard, said the joint statement.

The UN organisations called on leaders, with the support of Asean to make saving lives the top priority by inter alia significantly strengthening Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations, stop boat push-backs and measures to 'help on' boats to leave territorial waters, provide for effective, predictable disembarkation to a place of safety with adequate and humane reception conditions.

They also urged to avoid the use of immigration detention and other punitive measures, expand avenues for safe and legal migration, including for labour migration at all skills levels, expand efforts to prosecute traffickers and smugglers for their crimes, redouble efforts, nationally and through strengthened international cooperation, to address 'push factors' and the root causes of refugee and migrants flows, put in place dedicated measures to combat xenophobia and discrimination against any group on the basis of race, sex, language, religion, ethnicity, nationality and national origin, or other status.

The signatories to the statement are António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; William L. Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration; and Peter Sutherland, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for International Migration and Development.