"Several UN agencies on Wednesday called for efforts to protect migrants and refugees undertaking often fatal sea voyages to flee persecution or in search of better lives. The UN bodies referred specifically to maritime movement of migrants and refugees in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in South Asia. The persecuted Rohingya community of Myanmar constitutes the largest proportion of these refugees. “Five years on from the 2015 ‘boat crisis’ in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea … we are alarmed that a similar tragedy may be unfolding once more,” read the joint statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and International Organization for Migration. “We are deeply concerned by reports that boats full of vulnerable women, men and children are again adrift in the same waters, unable to come ashore, and without access to urgently needed food, water and medical assistance.” The humanitarian agencies acknowledged that there was no “easy solution” to the issue but criticized countries in the area for their callous approach towards human lives. “Deterring movements of people by endangering life is not only ineffective; it violates basic human rights, the law of the sea and the principles of customary international law by which all States are equally bound,” read the statement..."