June 8 – June 14, 2020
269 Rohingya refugees were detained in Malaysia on June 8 after Malaysian officials attempted to push their boat back out to sea, but determined that their boat was too damaged and then took them to shore.
A second boat attempted to enter Malaysian waters several times on June 8 before turning back due to the presence of patrol vessels.
Two more Rohingya men died from coronavirus in the camps on June 8, bringing the total deaths to 3.
Six additional Rohingya people tested positive for coronavirus in the camps on June 8.
Malaysia announced it would request that Bangladesh take the 269 Rohingyas Malaysia took ashore and detained on June 8. Bangladesh has refused to take them.
Human Rights Watch has urged Malaysia and Thailand to rescue the Rohingya refugees stranded at sea and provide them with assistance and access to asylum.
RSN follows the plight of the Rohingya community, an ethnic minority driven from their home country of Myanmar to a number of countries, most principally Bangladesh. RSN compiles a weekly developments tracker (or “digest report”), focusing primarily on news coming out of Bangladesh, but including regional and international perspectives. Highlights of each week are featured here and linked in more detail in the full digest report. If you would like to receive these digest reports directly to your inbox, please email [email protected].