TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian immigration officials have detained 15 foreign asylum seekers who had been camping outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Setiabudi, South Jakarta.

Immigration Director General, Silmy Karim, said the 15 refugees comprised 13 adults and 2 children, hailing from Sudan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Rohingya.

The refugees were then taken to the Directorate General of Immigration building to be registered. “We recorded their details and then coordinated with IOM (International Organization for Migration) and UNHCR for placement in community houses,” Silmy said in a written statement on Tuesday, July 2.

Previously, he said that the Director of Immigration Supervision and Enforcement and the Jakarta Provincial Government had agreed to discipline the refugees for disrupting public order.

He explained that the handling of refugees is regulated by Presidential Regulation No. 125 of 2016. Under this policy, refugees are handled by a task force whose members include various agencies, such as the Indonesian Military (TNI), National Police (Polri), Immigration, the National and Political Unity Office (Kesbangpol), the Social Agency, the Education Agency, UNHCR, and IOM.

Silmy emphasized that refugees are treated differently from immigration detainees and are not subject to deportation. “They are under the auspices of an organization appointed by the UN (United Nations) during their temporary stay in Indonesia until they are transferred to the destination country for refugees,” he added.

As previously reported, a joint team from the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), police, and military cleared the tents set up by the asylum seekers on the sidewalk along Jalan Setiabudi Selatan. Based on a Jakarta regional regulation concerning public order, the action addressed concerns about the sanitation and disruption caused by the tents.

AMELIA RAHIMA SARI

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