With regard to Burma’s boatpeople, UNHCR “called on countries in South-East Asia to keep their borders open to people fleeing Myanmar by sea, following reports of boats sinking in the Bay of Bengal this month with scores of people on board.

“UNHCR also urged the Myanmar government to address this problem of displacement,” the statement said.

“In the last two weeks, there have been reports of two boats sinking off western Myanmar with an estimated 240 people on board, among them Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state,” the UNHCR statement said.

UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming told journalists in Geneva that the UN was “seriously concerned” at the recent boat tragedies in the Bay of Bengal involving people fleeing insecurity and violence in Burma.

“UNHCR cannot confirm the figures as we have no presence near the wreck sites, but available information is that more than 40 people have been rescued from the two boats. There were reports of bodies seen floating in the water,” Fleming said.

Thousand of people set out into the Bay of Bengal from Burma during the previous sailing season from October 2011 to March 2012, the UN agency said.

“UNHCR is urging the government of Myanmar to take urgent action to address some of the main push factors, especially issues connected with the problem of citizenship and statelessness in relation to the Rohingyas," Fleming said.

While calling on other states to keep their borders open, UNHCR said it was alarmed by reports of countries either pushing back boats from their shores or helping them on to another country. “We are appealing to these governments to uphold their long tradition of providing humanitarian aid to refugees instead of shifting the responsibility to another state,” Fleming stressed.