Nations to be one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
The exodus has surged since deadly sectarian violence in Rakhine in 2012 pitted Rohingya against local Buddhists, with rights groups saying nationalists were using the spectre of a growing Muslim population to stoke tensions between communities.
Robertson said the new law defied “the calls for reconciliation and respect for rights in Rakhine” that neighbouring countries have argued “is needed to prevent further boats full of desperate people setting out to sea”.
In an official report following the 2012 unrest — which left around 200 dead and displaced 140,000, mostly Muslims — a government commission said authorities should encourage family planning in Rohingya communities to limit population growth.
Myanmar has seen surging Buddhist nationalism in recent years and spates of violence targeting Muslim minorities have raised doubts over its much vaunted reforms after decades of harsh military rule.
Noble Peace Prize winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is yet to comment on the current migrant crisis, a silence observers attribute to fears over alienating voters in the Buddhist-majority nation ahead of elections slated for November. On Sunday a lawmaker from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party told AFP that “no NLD MP voted in favour of this law” earlier in May.
“This law shouldn’t have been enacted... We women are the ones who will suffer,” said May Win Myint, who is also a member of the NLD’s core executive committee.
A NLD spokesman said he could not confirm how the party voted. Southeast Asia is currently battling an exodus of boat people fleeing persecution and poverty, with up to 2,000 vulnerable migrants thought to be stranded in the Bay of Bengal, many at the mercy of ruthless people smugglers. Most are Muslim Rohingya from Rakhine, but Bangladeshis trying to escape grinding poverty are also among the fleeing migrants.