IV. Problems Obtaining Refugee Protection

Asylum seekers in Indonesia find it difficult to obtain refugee status, which is granted by UNHCR as the Indonesian government has no mechanisms for processing refugees. These difficulties occur even for unaccompanied migrant children, for whom child-specific forms of asylum hearings are appropriate, and whose applications should be reviewed as quickly as possible in light of their increased vulnerability to abuse during the waiting period. Yet translation is inadequate, and children are not given legal assistance.

Both adults and children face protracted delays in the processing of their cases: the average time for a first-instance refugee status determination is 12-13 months for people in detention, and 14-15 months for people who are not detained.[221] These delays occur because the Indonesian government takes no responsibility and because UNHCR is understaffed.

The consequences of lengthy waits for refugee status determination include the risks of arrest and prolonged detention. Migrants, including children can remain in detention while various stages of their claim are processed, even though they are exceptionally vulnerable migrants. They are vulnerable to abuse while they wait, whether in detention or outside, because Indonesia fails to protect them or provide them with even minimal assistance. 

Even once refugees are granted status by UNHCR, they do not have sufficient legal status in Indonesia to reconstruct their lives (see Section IV, below).

Even once refugees are granted status by UNHCR, they still are not adequately protected in Indonesia. Only a small proportion of the refugees are resettled to a third country, because the number of resettlement places made available by other countries, notably Australia, is smaller than the demand. The statistics provided by UNHCR in April 2013 indicate that 826 people have been resettled in the last three years: 176 people were resettled in 2010, 403 in 2011, and 247 in 2012 (86 percent went to Australia, 7 percent to New Zealand, 3 percent to the US, and the remainder to Norway, Sweden, and Canada).[222]

Delays in Getting Review and Status

Indonesia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol and does not provide migrants with chance to claim asylum under Indonesian law. UNHCR has a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government through which it operates a refugee status determination procedure.

UNHCR can issue first an Asylum Seeker Certificate (ASC) while claims are pending and then, after a more detailed interview and recognition as a refugee, a Refugee Certificate (RC). Even with an ASC or an RC, the bearer may not choose their residence, move freely around the country, or work, and the certificates offer only minimal protection against arrest and detention (see Section V, below).

Refugees, asylum seekers, and NGOs working with them complained of extended waits for UNHCR processing, to obtain an ASC, to be interviewed for refugee status, and for UNHCR to report back the decision on refugee status. As of April 2013, following significant numbers of new arrivals in 2012, the average times for processing a first-instance refugee status determination (including interview and decision-making) were 12-13 months for detained people, and 14-15 months for people who are not in detention.[223]

At some times, the backlog in registration is such that asylum seekers are issued a “token,” or appointment slip, before being allowed to register as an asylum seeker. The token is a piece of paper the size of a business card which has an appointment date and time to return to UNHCR. The token has no legal bearing and offers no defense whatsoever against police action, leaving asylum seekers with even less protection than they would have once they gain an ASC. In September 2012, there was an eight-month wait in order to register as an asylum seeker. [224] By November 2012, however, UNHCR had absorbed the registration backlog such that the use of the token system was no longer necessary; however, in April 2013 UNHCR maintained that they would reinstate the token system if needed. [225]

An asylum seeker—bearing a token, or immediately when the token system is not operating—has a preliminary interview and is then issued the asylum seeker certificate (ASC). Once an asylum seeker has an ASC, they have to renew it, potentially many times, before the process is finally complete. Fartuun A. said she traveled to Indonesia with her sister, brother in-law, and their four children in 2011. They first received asylum seeker certificates two months after arrival, which lasted for two months. When they renewed them, they got “papers for eight months. Then four months. Now again for two months.”[226]

An individual with an ASC then waits for a refugee status determination interview. In April 2013, the average wait was 8-9 months for a person in detention, and 10-11 months for someone who is not detained.[227]After the interview, the wait continues, this time for the results. In April 2013, the average wait for the results of the interview was 4 months. Consequently, the total wait for a first-instance refugee status determination was 12-13 months for someone in detention and 14-15 months for someone not detained.[228] Some people may choose to appeal a negative decision; the average wait for adjudication of that appeal was 180 days, or 6 months.[229] 

Asylum seekers reported long waits for UNHCR processing even while in detention, where the timetable should be considerably accelerated. Sher K. waited nine months in detention—six of them in a “confinement” cell with five other men—before his first interview with UNHCR. “Fourteen months later [after the interview], I was finally granted refugee status…. I waited another two and a half months to be released from detention.[230] Sher spent a total of two years, one month, and two weeks in immigration custody. Nabi B. who was interviewed while detained at Pontianak IDC, was still waiting for the outcome of his refugee status determination interview. He said he had waited 5 months for the interview and had been waiting 11 months for the result, for a total of 16 months in detention.[231]

Baqir N., an asylum seeker from Helmand, Afghanistan, requested voluntary return in part because he remained in Pontianak IDC awaiting UNHCR processing, where he had witnessed an asylum seeker die after being beaten by guards:

It’s been eight months without an interview.… If Immigration will kill me here, I may as well be in Afghanistan.… Due to the late [delayed] process, I must go. I know the situation in Helmand is difficult … after being back for a week I will flee again, to Pakistan.[232]

Refugees who traveled through Malaysia and received refugee status from the UNHCR office there had to go through the UNHCR process in Indonesia regardless, and many were detained during this period. Karim Ali S., the father of a Rohingya family from Burma who arrived in Indonesia approximately eight months before meeting Human Rights Watch, said, “we had refugee status in Malaysia, but we have asylum seeker papers only in Indonesia.”[233] A a Tamil man, had refugee status in Malaysia, but spent 11 months in immigration detention before receiving refugee status from UNHCR in Indonesia.[234]

Even children in this situation were detained: Kiriti T., a Sri Lankan mother who traveled to Indonesia with her husband, two daughters (now aged 17 and 9 years old) and one son (now aged 8 years old), said, “We had refugee cards from Malaysia but they still locked us up for six months [at Tanjung Pinang IDC].”[235]

Even some vulnerable people may linger in detention, albeit for shorter periods. Shajunan P. was at Tanjung Pinang IDC for two months before UNHCR came to register him: “Because of my artificial leg, I was given priority for my interview. It was three months more to wait until they interviewed me.”[236] After Shajunan received his refugee certificate from UNHCR, he said, “the immigration office told me I had to go to Belawan [IDC] first before I could get released.”Shajunan spent another month at Belawan for a total of six months in detention.

Some asylum seekers have difficulties going through the application process due to inadequate translation. While IOM provides some help with translation, asylum seekers reported that they still needed more assistance. Sher K., an Afghan who helps translate for many of his community members, commented, “The forms we have to fill out to get recognized by the UN are long and confusing for a lot of people.”[237] Selva P., a Tamil man who traveled to Indonesia with his then four-year-old daughter, said, “We have interpreters at our interviews [for refugee status], but then afterward we don’t have one so it’s hard to tell them when we have questions.”[238]

Delays for Unaccompanied Migrant Children

Unaccompanied migrant children in Indonesia have access to UNHCR’s procedures to seek refugee status, but also face extended wait times, even though UNHCR tries to accelerate procedures for children. If they do gain refugee status, they still cannot work or build a meaningful life in Indonesia.

Unaccompanied minors—who are particularly vulnerable to police abuse, arrest, and the impacts of prolonged detention—may fall under the token system, which, as explains above, offers the bearer no protection. Ali H., who was 16 years old when he arrived in Indonesia, explained the problems with the long delays:

I went to UNHCR to get the token. I went four times, and then got the [ASC]. It was very difficult between here and Jakarta, because there are checkpoints and I could get caught. I was thinking they could take me to prison…. Every two months you renew the card. That’s when you know if you have an interview [for refugee status] or not.[239]

Some children miss being identified by UNHCR. Azim M. was 17 years old when he arrived in Indonesia, six weeks before Human Rights Watch interviewed him:

On my second day in Indonesia, I went to UNHCR. They gave me a token for 2013.  It just has my name and a date on it. They never asked me my age. There was no special line [for those under 18]…. It was very crowded so the interview went quickly and I didn’t get to tell them my age….

Azim feels the token does not give him protection: “I can’t go out. I stay inside the house all day. I’m afraid [immigration officials] will find me. I do nothing all day—sit inside.”[240]