By UNHCR Regional Office for South-East Asia

Approximately 63,000 people undertook irregular maritime journeys that passed through South-East Asia in 2014. The vast majority—an estimated 62,000 people—departed from Bangladesh and Myanmar bound for Thailand and Malaysia. Hundreds of others followed routes through the Indian Ocean from South Asia and Indonesia to Australia, and across the Strait of Malacca from Malaysia to Indonesia.

Such irregular maritime movements comprise mixed populations that include tens of thousands of persons of concern to UNHCR. Given the high proportion and total number of persons of concern to UNHCR departing by sea from the Bay of Bengal, as well as a lack of access to those who travelled along other routes, this report largely focuses on the irregular maritime movements that cross the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

View the full UNHCR compiled report at http://storybuilder.jumpstart.ge/en/unhcr-imm