Refugees in Indonesia
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As Indonesia did not sign the convention on the status of refugees and lacks any domestic legislations providing refugees rights, refugees in Indonesia do not have the right to employment, permanent residency or citizenship. As of 2020 there were 13,745 registered refugees temporarily living in Indonesia, most hoping for resettlement elsewhere. They live in precarious circumstances of poverty, unsanitary living conditions and no access to education. These circumstances have a negative effect on their health, including their mental health. The precarious circumstances that refugees live in in Indonesia is fueled by the refugees and migration policy of western governments.


Demographics of refugees

At the end of 2020, there were 13,745 refugees in Indonesia who had fled from 50 countries, the majority of them were from Afghanistan many are Rohingya.


Legal rights of refugees


Rights in Indonesia

Indonesia is not a signatory to the
1951 Refugee Convention The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individuals ...
nor its 1967 Protocol, and there are no Indonesian laws that provide any rights to refugees. Consequently the Indonesian government does not perform any assessments of refugees' needs nor do they have any rights to access employment, start a business, or any pathway to get permanent residency or citizenship. Indonesia authorities are perceived to take an "attitude of tolerance" towards refugees. Registration in with
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
in Jakarta does provide refugees with asylum's seekers identification cards, which permits them to stay in Indonesia. The
International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM w ...
provides basic housing. In late 2016, the
President of Indonesia The President of the Republic of Indonesia ( id, Presiden Republik Indonesia) is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Indonesia. The president leads the executive branch of the Indonesian government and i ...
signed a petition called ''“The Presidential Regulation on the Handling of Refugees”,'' stating that needs and safety information should fall under government's responsibility in the future.


Wider geopolitics

The refugee policies of USA and Australia have created circumstances such that refugees become "stranded" in Indonesia. Since 2000, the Australian government has funded Indonesian border patrols. Between 2001 and 2018, Australia provided $350-million to the
International Organization for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM w ...
(IOM) to fund community housing in Indonesia, drawing accusations that IOM is an outsourced arm of the
Australian Border Force The Australian Border Force (ABF) is a federal law enforcement agency, part of the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for offshore and onshore border control enforcement, investigations, compliance and detention operations in Australia. Thr ...
.


Criticism

Living conditions provided by the IOM were described by the Refugee Council of Australia as inhumane, noting "solitary confinement, lack of basic essentials and medical care, physical and sexual abuse, and severe overcrowding". Rohingya refugee John Joniad described the housing as an "open prison" in 2022. The role that the IOM played was described as "blue-washing", using
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
agencies "to present a humanitarian veneer while carrying out rights-violating activities on behalf of Western nations" by researchers Asher Hirsch and Cameron Doig in ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' newspaper in 2022.


Duration of stay

Refugees find themselves in Indonesia commonly because they indented to pass through Indonesia temporarily on their way to other places such as Australia or Malaysia, or because they have been forcibly relocated to Indonesia by Australian authorities as a consequence of agreements between the Australian and Indonesian government. The lack of ability to integrate, work for pay, or gain permanent resident status strongly incentivises refugees towards staying in Indonesia as short a time as possible, but resettlement elsewhere is the only logical route out of Indonesia for refugees, and that rarely takes less than two years. 2022 reporting in ''The Globe and Mail'' included the story of a Karim Ullah, a Rohingya refugee who has lived in Pekanbaru for eleven years.


Risks to refugees

The combination of poverty, lack of government protection makes refugees in Indonesia easy targets for theft from authorities and people smugglers. Refugees lack safety, and are subject to boredom, which leads to mental health conditions. No education is provided to child refugees. Refugee's health is impacted by poverty and unsanitary living conditions, which can include living in tents.


See also

* Asylum in Australia * Immigration detention in Australia *
Pacific Solution Pacific Solution is the name given to the Government of Australia policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially impl ...


References

{{Reflist Human rights in Indonesia Politics of Indonesia