VOA慢速英语2015 印尼,马来西亚同意暂时向移民提供庇护

AS IT IS 2015-05-21 Indonesia, Malaysia Agree to Temporarily Shelter Migrants 印尼,马来西亚同意暂时向移民提供庇护

Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to provide temporary shelter to thousands of migrants and human trafficking victims trapped at sea.

The agreement was announced Wednesday after talks among the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Until now, the three countries had expressed an unwillingness¹ to help the estimated 7,000 migrants.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman spoke² to reporters about the agreement. He said Malaysia and Indonesia will “continue to provide humanitarian³ assistance” to the migrants. “We also agreed to offer them temporary shelter provided that the resettlement and repatriation⁴ process will be done in one year by the international community,” he said.

The Malaysian official called on other countries and non-governmental organizations to join the humanitarian effort.

Thai officials would not promise to provide shelter to those at sea. They said instead they will provide humanitarian assistance and let sick refugees come to land for treatment.

Human Rights Watch praised the deal. The group’s Phil Robertson said it should mark the end of polices under which Southeast Asian governments forced the boats carrying migrants back to sea. But he expressed dissatisfaction that Thailand did not agree to also provide shelter for the boat people.

Nearly 3,000 individuals have been rescued or made their way to Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand. But rights groups warn thousands more are likely still at sea and running low on supplies.

The crisis began earlier this month when Thailand took steps against human trafficking groups that targeted the Rohingya. The traffickers fled, leaving thousands of migrants at sea.

On Wednesday, Myanmar said it is also ready to help the migrants. A foreign ministry⁵ statement said the government is deeply concerned “with the sufferings and life-threatening fate” of the boat people.

Many of those individuals are minority Rohingya from Myanmar and Bangladesh.

On Tuesday, the United Nations directly appealed to the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand to let the refugees set foot on land. The U.N. said the first goal must be, “saving lives, protecting rights and respecting human dignity.”

Peter McCawley studies Southeast Asia for the Australian National University. He says the migrants are mostly from the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar, also called Burma.

“Now there are these large camps on the border between the two countries, and they really are not accepted by either country.”

Most Rohingya are Muslims. They are denied citizenship⁶ and other rights in Myanmar, where most people are Buddhists⁷. Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingya. It considers them illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for Myanmar to provide full citizenship and other rights to the Rohingya. Its statement on Tuesday called for new efforts to identify the root causes of refugee and migrant flows, including discrimination, deprivation⁸, persecution⁹ and violations¹⁰ of human rights.”

Words in This Story

migrants – n. people who move from one place to another, often to find work

repatriation – n. returning an individual to his or her home country

dignity – n. the quality of being worthy¹¹ of honor or respect

deprivation – n. lacking something that is needed

persecution – n. the condition of being abused or threatened because of one’s religion or ethnicity

1 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 repatriation   

n.遣送回国，归国

参考例句：

• The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. 政府认为自愿遣返计划的遣返方法较为可取。 来自互联网
• Arrange the cargo claiming and maritime affairs,crews repatriation,medical treatment,traveling so on. （六）洽办货物理赔，船舶海事处理，办理船员遣返，就医，旅游等。 来自互联网

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 Buddhists   

n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Jesuits in a phase of ascendancy, persecuted and insulted the Buddhists with great acrimony. 处于地位上升阶段的耶稣会修士迫害佛教徒，用尖刻的语言辱骂他们。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The return of Saivite rule to central Java had brought no antagonism between Buddhists and Hindus. 湿婆教在中爪哇恢复统治后，并没有导致佛教徒与印度教徒之间的对立。 来自辞典例句

8 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

9 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

10 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

11 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。