Refugees need place to sleep, opportunity to work

Over the past few weeks hundreds of refugees, including women and children, have been living on the street outside the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugee (UNHCR) Indonesia office in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta. Indonesian media outlets have covered this extensively, but have not examined the crucial question of “why” these families are choosing to live on the street. With no legal right to work in Indonesia and no assistance coming from the UNHCR, International Organization for Migration (IOM) or the Indonesian government, they do not have anywhere else to go. Many of the refugee community members currently at Kebon Sirih have been living on the streets outside Kalideres Immigration Detention Center for the past 12 to 18 months. Indonesia’s detention situation is unique in the region because it is the only country where the Australian government has funded the IOM to provide basic support to thousands of refugees in detention centers across Indonesia, enabling them to survive.

This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title “Refugees need place to sleep, opportunity to work”.