The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will support whatever policy is taken by the Indonesian government on refugees so long as it respects human rights and does not force refugees to return to their home countries.

Jeffrey Savage, the UNHCR’s senior protection officer, told The Jakarta Post in Batam on Friday that his organization had heard about the idea to place refugees on one island.

He said the UNHCR had asked the government to review the idea carefully because such a measure could lead to problems and could potentially create conflict.

“First of all, there are 48 different nationalities,” Savage said after meeting with local administration officials to discuss the issue.

He said the success story of how the Batam administration and the central government had dealt with Vietnamese refugees on Galang Island, Batam, 30 years ago...