To Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Cc:
The Hon Tony Burke MP, Minister for Home Affairs
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister
Ms Jane Duke, Ambassador to Counter Modern Slavery, People Smuggling and Human Trafficking
The reported sinking of a boat in the Andaman Sea, this time with an estimated 250 Rohingya people and Bangladeshi nationals feared dead or missing, demands our immediate action. As co-chair of the Bali Process, the regional body charged with ensuring a coordinated response to irregular migration, Australia must take immediate steps to effectively coordinate preparedness and search and rescue (SAR) capacities to ensure that preventable tragedies like this do not continue.
Sadly, last week’s maritime disaster is not an isolated incident. Over the past decade, Rohingya people have repeatedly undertaken dangerous sea journeys across the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. In recent years, both the number of departures and deaths at sea have increased significantly. Between 2022–2024 alone, at least 1,574 Rohingya people were reported dead or missing at sea.
These are not unpredictable events. The risks and patterns are well understood. This is nothing short of a regional maritime crisis and deserves our immediate attention.
The Bali Process currently focusses on the disruption of smuggling. To stop deaths, this focus needs to shift to a priority to rescue first, as a clear duty under international law.
Rohingya people are being forced onto these journeys—fleeing systematic persecution in Myanmar and deteriorating conditions in refugee camps, without access to safe pathways across the region.
Denied basic safety, adequate humanitarian support, and fundamental rights, targeted and exploited by people smugglers, they are left with no viable alternative. They risk their lives on overcrowded vessels travelling to nearby states that will not welcome them and that may not rescue them when their vessels come into distress.
Any response must ensure that those rescued are not returned to situations of persecution or harm, including Myanmar, and that their protection needs are properly assessed following disembarkation.
The Bali Process was established to strengthen regional cooperation in response to people smuggling and related humanitarian challenges. Yet when vessels are in distress, there remains no clear, or consistently operationalised mechanism for coordinated SAR response. We recognise that coordination in the Andaman Sea is complicated by gaps in coverage, including the absence of an effectively operational SAR zone for Myanmar. This cannot justify delay. This gap must be addressed, as a matter of moral urgency.
We call on the Australian Government, as Co-Chair of the Bali Process, and all member states to take urgent, practical steps to prevent further loss of life:
- The Bali Process must shift from dialogue to real operational coordination – including naming responsibilities and appropriately resourcing rescue.
- Australia should consider funding and seconding staff from AMSA/Border Force to a real-time regional SAR coordination cell. The cell could also coordinate the pre-positioning of search and rescue assets during peak seasons.
- Rescues stall because states argue over where people can land. Australia should broker a temporary disembarkation arrangement among key coastal states (e.g. Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia), ensuring access to the nearest safe port and appropriate post-rescue protection and reception conditions.
- States must provide greater transparency on actions being taken through the Bali Process to prevent further maritime tragedies - Including agreeing clear standards and red lines with members clearly identifying accountable agencies.
Australia’s Ambassador to Counter Modern Slavery, People Smuggling and Human Trafficking, Ms Jane Duke, must be tasked to expedite these lifesaving actions through the Bali Process and other bilateral and regional channels.
Whilst the undersigned organisations are supportive of long-term policy and future commitments, particularly Australia’s welcomed focus on humanitarian aid and resettlement priorities, this current ask is about immediate, life-saving measures.
These journeys are taking place in our region, in our backyard. The responsibility to act is shared—but leadership matters. Australia, as Co-Chair of the Bali Process, is well placed to drive coordinated action.
Signed,
Amnesty International Australia (AIA)
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Australia
Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA)
Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN)