UN Refugee Body can

The United Nations refugee body in Indonesia says it can not handle the number of asylum seekers coming to their office looking for protection and a new life in a safe country.

This year alone 12,000 asylum seekers mainly from Afghanistan and Myanmar have registered with the UNHRC in Jakarta hoping to be re-settled

Manuel Jordao is the UNHRC representative in Indonesia.

Rebecca Henschke began by asking him about the case of the family of 18 Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar who are now living at the offices of the Jakarta legal aid centre and who we met last week on Asia Calling.

“ We know the family.  They have been registered and they are waiting to be interviewed. It's first in first served. They will have to wait.  We will not discriminate against others. It is what is. If we could do it early we would but we can't.”

Q. Why can't do it earlier?

“Because there is other people who are first.”

Q. So you don't have enough staff to deal with the number of asylum seekers coming here?

“There is a waiting time. There is a waiting list. Not everyone can be aassessed at the same time.”

Q.  Asia Calling listeners who saw the story of this family wanted to know why is a family of 18 living in a office block of the legal aid centre ….why is there no other alternative for asylum seekers. What are their alternatives?

“The options in Indonesia are limited because the Indonesia state has not sign the International refugee convention and taken on the responsibility of looking after them.”

Q.  So basically you are on your on in Jakarka?

“Very much.  Very much.  The resources we have can only allowed us in a limit way to help only the very vulnerable… such as women and babies or unaccompanied minors.”

Q.  How many people does UNHRC help out of the 14,000 that came to Indonesia this year alone?

“It's very limited. The amount of people being helped by UNHRC is about 300 refugees. There is about 100 minors being helped in two centres the rest are being helped by the international organisation of migration.”

Q.  How long does the process take.  If I arrived at your office today as a asylum seeker how long would it take for my claim to be heard?

“If you came today asking for registration as a asylum seeker… you would be registered today in principle.  But it will take longer for you to get the first interview. It would take two to three months because their is queue.  We have about 14 people who can do the interviews to check if your story is credible or not.”

Q. How do they decide whether a story is credible or not?

“That's a year long training course in how to use the UN refugee convention. Basically you have to prove and justify that your reasons for not being able to return home are serious enough that your life would be in danger if you returned home.”

Q. What percent of the asylum seekers who came here are found to be credible refugees?

“As 50 percent of the claims are from Afghanistan ….I would say  70 percent are found to be refugees.”

Q. It's very high.

“Yes because most of the refugees are from Afghanistan and the second group is from Mynamar (Rohingya).”

Q. So your saying within two months I would have an interview to determine I am a refugee or not?

“You would have an interview within two months.  It would take us another 12- 16 months maximum for us to come back to you with a decision.  So a year and half. Not ideal but that's what we can do at this stage.”

Q. So once I am determined to be a refugee--- there are three options: I am help to go home, Re-settlement in Indonesia or re-settlement to a third country like Australia. The first two are not possible….so how long would it take for me to be re-settlement in a safe country?

“It's varies enormously from each country to another.”

Q. Say I wanted to go to Australia?

“It would never take less than one year from the day this office submits your case to a resettlement country authorities. It's important to know that re-settlement is not an international obligation imposed on a re-settlement country..it's a goodwill program.”

Q. What percent of refugees in Indonesia are re-settled each year?

“The resettlement capacity these days it's around 1,000 submissions a year. With the current capacity of UNHRC in Jakarta it's 1,000 submissions that we can do each year. We would not be able to produce more submissions.”

Q. It's a tiny amount given the huge numbers of refugees here?

“Re-settlement will never be able to copy with the number of asylum seekers and refugees that are coming into the region and Indonesia.”

Q. So in the end the refugees are staying in Indonesia because they can't be re-settle?

“The number of refugees in Indonesia with out solution that number is growing everyday. That number is growing more than the re-settlement. Absolutely…re-settlement is not a solution that is able handle the number of people coming into Indonesia and the region.”

Q. So then the problem becomes an Indonesian one?

“Or a regional one.  That's what we have been saying. Given the number of people coming into this region in need it's so important that countries have to talk and tackle this in a more regional collective fashion. If the problem is not addressed regionally what happens is that one country just shifts the problem to a neighbouring country and we have been saying that this will create instability in the region and will create additional political problems that countries what to avoid.”

B/a: Manuel Jordao the UNHRC representative in Indonesia.