JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Hundreds of Afghan refugees living in Indonesia, mostly members of the Hazara ethnic minority, held a rally on Tuesday denouncing the Taliban’s takeover of their country and demanding resettlement from third countries.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, and the government does not allow asylum seekers to work or have access to public schools and hospitals.
Protesters took to the streets in front of the office of the UN refugee agency in the capital, Jakarta, and many said they are extremely concerned about their families at home. Most Hazars are Shiite Muslims, despised by Sunni Muslim radicals and discriminated against by many in the Sunni-majority country..
“Everyone is scared because of the current situation and is desperately trying to escape,” said Hakmat Ziraki, a 28-year-old protester.
Ziraki said his relatives, unable to bear years of life in the jobless limbo, finally returned to Afghanistan. On Friday, she received a text message from her sister, who said she was distressed and that everyone in her village had sent her daughters out of the country.
Banners at Tuesday’s rally said “Afghanistan is not safe” and “Resettling Afghan refugees from Indonesia.”
“Waiting more than eight years without resettlement has been absolutely terrible,” Ziraki said.
Officials at the UN refugee agency in Jakarta were unable to contact him immediately for comment.
Protesters dispersed within hours, as police threatened to arrest them for violating a state of health emergency in Jakarta, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus.
Afghans accounted for just over half of the 13,400 refugees in Indonesia, according to UN data from April.
Many asylum seekers fled to Indonesia as a starting point to reach Australia by boat. But since 2013, the Australian government has sent ships that are often barely navigable in Indonesian waters.