The European Union needs to accept responsibility for the lack of a common asylum policy, which has transformed this year's growing influx of refugees from a manageable problem into yet another political crisis.

Given the prominent roles these nations have in reducing the once thriving Middle Eastern country to rubble and displacing millions in the process, it is nothing short of hypocrisy for them to essentially demand refugees to respect their borders when they had no qualms about invading Syria's border.

We urge the Bangladesh government to review its Rohingya refugee policy, to robustly engage with the international community to compel Mynamar to create enabling conditions for the refugees to return, to refrain from taking new measures that may further jeopardise the interests of registered Rohingya refugees.

AS many as 8,000 refugees have been adrift in the Andaman Sea lately, some of them stranded for more than two months.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urges governments in the South East Asia region to take swift action to protect their lives.

EU leaders are due to hold an emergency summit on ways to stem the number of migrants risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.