LAMANRIAU.COM, PEKANBARU – Head of Pekanbaru Immigration Detention Center Junior Sigalingging stated that during 2019 there were 14 immigrant children born in Pekanbaru, adding to the number of immigrants with overseas refugee status in Riau Province.
“We do not expect any additional refugees from outside. The current increase is due to births. This year there were 14 in Pekanbaru,” Junior Sigalingging said in Pekanbaru, Friday (11/22).
With the average birth of one child asylum seeker immigrant in one month in Pekanbaru, the total number of refugee children abroad in the area nicknamed Bumi Lancang Kuning has now increased to 288.
“Until now there are 288 children, an increase due to birth,” said Junior.
The Immigration Division Head of the Riau Ministry of Law and Human Rights Regional Office Mujiyono said that the government had tightened supervision so that no more foreign refugees entered and increased the population of asylum seekers in Riau.
At present there are a total of 998 immigrants with foreign refugee status in Riau Province. They were accommodated in eight shelters in Pekanbaru City and Kampar District.
“We have tightened our supervision since the beginning, let alone from foreign refugees from Malaysia, from other regions as well. As many as 998 refugees do not add more, except those born here. Because people want to be born, how can we be detained,” said Mujiyono.
Although it has not yet ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, the United Nations convention on the status of refugees, the Indonesian government has long accepted refugees from abroad for humanitarian reasons.
With regard to handling refugees from abroad, President Joko Widodo issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 125 of 2016 concerning Refugees From Overseas. The number of foreign refugees currently in Indonesia is based on UNHCR data of more than 13,900 people.
They are trying to seek asylum in third countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The process takes a long time, making immigrants who are already in Indonesia can wait up to more than five years. (cvs)
