NGO Alternative Asean Network on Burma (Altsean-Burma) urges Asean countries to shelter migrants who land on their shores or have blood on their hands.

"ASEAN countries towing Rohingya people back out to sea are assisting the Burmese authorities in their genocidal agenda," Altsean-Burma coordinator Debbie Stothard said.

"The authorities must shelter the boat people and repatriate them safely to their home countries. For example, Bangladeshis should be returned to Bangladesh,” she said in e-mail reply to Malaysiakini.

The Bangkok-based NGO works to promote human rights and democracy in Burma.

Stothard said Asean, which consists of 10 member states, needed to ensure that the Burmese authorities will guarantee the safe return of the Rohingya.

“Simply towing Rohingya out to sea without guarantee they will be able to return safely home or be welcomed back to Burma, would make Asean governments just as irresponsible as the Burmese regime,” she added.

Malaysia is the present chair of Asean, taking over from Burma who headed the association last year.

Malaysia's theme during its chairmanship is 'Our People, Our Community, Our Vision'.

“Is this (towing them back to sea) what we mean by a people-centered community?” asked Stothard, who is also the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights secretary-general.

Stothard was asked to respond to the incident on Sunday in which 1,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees were detained by Malaysian police after they arrived in Langkawi in three boats.

By Tuesday, about 1,600 refugees have landed on shore in Langkawi and Indonesia, but the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and its counterpart in Jakarta said the boats would be turned away after they are provided with provisions and fuel.

Labeled by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, the Rohingyan Muslims have for decades suffered from state-sanctioned discrimination in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

They have been fleeing from violence and poverty in Myanmar since 2012 and often end up being trafficked into Thailand.

Related stories

Don't treat Rohingyas as criminals, gov't told

Allow Rohingya refugees to land here: Syed Hamid

Another Rohingya detention camp uncovered