TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
UNHCR, N. Sumatra coordinating help for 157 Rohingya refugees
The UNHCR and local authorities in North Sumatra have been coordinating to help provide aid and temporary shelter for the 157 Rohingya refugees who arrived in Deli Serdang on Dec. 30, 2023.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A Rohingya woman holds up a sheet of paper with the name and age of her infant on Jan. 2, 2024, during a head count conducted by the Medan Immigration Office in Karang Gading village, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, where 157 Rohingya refugees arrived on Dec. 30, 2023. (Antara/Yudi)
T
he United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has been meeting with authorities in North Sumatra over the 157 Rohingya refugees stranded in Karang Gading village, Labuhan Deli district, Deli Serdang regency, as the group await decisions regarding their status in the country.
Most recently, UNHCR representatives and North Sumatra authorities attended a coordination meeting on Friday to discuss the issue.
“We have collected information from all institutions and agencies, as well as the UNHCR. The Rohingya refugees have been here for around five days, and food and other aid have been provided as an emergency response,” North Sumatra social welfare assistant Basrin Yunus Tanjung said in a statement from the North Sumatra Communications and Information Agency.
Security authorities and the Deli Serdang regency administration were securing temporary shelter for the refugees to avoid clashes with local residents, he added.
UNHCR protection associate Oktina Hafanti said the agency would continue to support the efforts of the provincial and regency administrations, adding that it had distributed food and other aid to the refugees.
Oktina said UNHCR usually provided long-term solutions such as food, but it could not do so alone and needed the support of the Indonesian government.
According to UNHCR data, the group of Rohingya refugees who arrived in Deli Serdang on Dec. 30, 2023 consist of 49 men, 32 women and 76 children. Earlier data counted only 147 refugees, as some had made their way among the local community as soon as they arrived.
