Bangkok - Representatives from 17 nations will gather in Thailand Friday for talks on Southeast Asia's migrant crisis which has seen thousands of desperate people flee on boats across the Bay of Bengal aiming for Malaysia and Indonesia.
But observers say it is unclear how much the one-day meeting, which is not being attended at a minister level, can achieve on an issue that has dogged the region for years but gone largely ignored by authorities.
Earlier this month Bangkok began a belated crackdown on the smuggling trade in the country's deep south, throwing the multi-million dollar industry into disarray as gangmasters abandoned their victims on land and at sea.
More than 3,500 starving migrants have since arrived on Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian soil while the UN estimates there are 2,500 more still feared trapped at sea as the monsoon season approaches.
The vast majority of migrants are Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Buddhist majority Myanmar or Bangladeshis trying to escape grinding poverty.
The meeting -- which Thailand says must tackle the "root causes" of the current exodus -- is an attempt to forge some kind of united front against the trade in a region where countries shy away from direct diplomatic confrontation -- something rights groups and observers say has allowed people smuggling to thrive unchecked.
"ASEAN countries have hidden behind the notion of 'non-interference' to turn a blind eye to the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar, to the growth of criminal smuggling and human trafficking networks, and the increasing demand for undocumented laborers," Sam Zarifi, Asia director for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a statement before the summit in a Bangkok hotel began.
AFP
