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Supporting refugees in Indonesia, leaving no one behind
The world today offers resettlement for less than 1 percent of refugees globally, while they continue to be prevented from accessing services or jobs that they need in order to be self-reliant.
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Rohingya refugees eat food in a temporary shelter following their arrival by boat in Laweueng, Aceh province on December 27, 2022. Rohingya refugees received emergency medical treatment after a boat carrying nearly 200 people came ashore on December 27, authorities said, in the fourth such landing in the country in recent months.
(AFP/Chaideer Mahyudin)
I
magine that one day a civil war breaks out in your area, and as an innocent civilian, you find yourself in the middle of an armed conflict; things get bad, and your life is at risk; you are threatened or persecuted. To save yourself and your family, you may only have the option to flee outside of your own country.
Tens of millions of people face this stark situation every year, and many of them go to a country they might not even know, where they do not understand the language or the culture, where everything is different. They are only looking for a new home, temporarily or permanently depending on their circumstances, in search of peace and safety.
Today, on World Refugee Day, let us think about the people in this very situation, the 35 million innocent women, men and children who live outside their own countries as refugees. Sometimes living in camps, on occasion behind barbed wire or in inhumane conditions, refugees are often considered a burden at best, or a nuisance at worst.
There is an acute shortage of solutions for people forced to flee. This situation leaves many of the millions of refugees in limbo, in a world that remains unable or unwilling to resolve wars and conflicts. The world today offers resettlement for less than 1 percent of refugees globally, while they continue to be prevented from accessing services or jobs that they need in order to be self-reliant.
The guiding principle of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is to leave no one behind. That, by definition, extends to all individuals, including refugees.
Indonesia has been a host to refugees since more than 40 years ago when the country provided protection to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. Indonesia currently hosts some 12,000 refugees, mostly from Afghanistan (57%) but also from Somalia and Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
We need a world where refugees are part of the communities and included in the national systems. This is the most effective way to enable them to rebuild their lives and contribute to local economies.
A lot of progress has been made over the years as most refugees in Indonesia now have access to basic health care and primary education. But more needs to be done to include refugees in national systems, to ensure they have access to full health care, full education and the opportunity to earn money and make a living.
The United Nations in Indonesia has committed to stand up for refugees and the communities who host them. By joining what is called the UN Common Pledge 2.0 initiative, the UN in Indonesia commits to promote the integration of refugees’ needs and rights into national policies, and to support hosting communities through the inclusion of refugees in Indonesian national and local systems.
Several agencies have pledged to address the challenges faced by refugees in Indonesia – particularly in the areas of health, education, livelihood and access to birth registration.
As we mark World Refugee Day, under this year’s motto “Hope away from Home”, we invite everyone – companies, civil society organizations, communities, individuals – to do whatever they can within their power and means to ease the lives of refugees who are in Indonesia, remembering that they fled from conflict and persecution in their own countries, and to extend a friendly hand, in the name of humanity.
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Valerie Julliand is United Nations resident coordinator in Indonesia. Ann Maymann is UNHCR representative in Indonesia.
