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BOGOR, West Java : Refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia face an uncertain future as the process of resettlement to a third country could take years.
Currently there are some 3,000 of them being housed in several parts of Indonesia under the supervision of the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Even though the wait is long, many of them prefer to remain in Indonesia, rather than return to their homeland.
The refugees come from as far as Africa. Once a year, they gather to commemorate International Refugees Day.
Frieda Sinanu, Programme Manager, Church World Service, said: "We have many - you name it - (from) Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, from Myanmar, from Sri Lanka. We even have from China, and also African countries (like) Somalia."
Church World Service is mandated by the UNHCR to provide care for some 200 refugees housed in Jakarta and Bogor, West Java.
There are more than 800 refugees in Indonesia and another 1,800 asylum seekers undergoing verification. Most of them were bound mainly for Australia when they were intercepted by Indonesian authorities.
Sinanu said: "You have (some who have) newly arrived. But you also have those who have been here for quite sometime, from the late 1980s."
They are prepared to wait for years, clinging on to the slender hope of being resettled even as recipient countries tighten their criteria on refugees.
As a non-signatory to the UN Convention on Refugees, Indonesia is not obliged to resettle them. But Indonesian authorities have allowed them to stay in Indonesia temporarily on humanitarian grounds.
The country even caters to the children's education, which is conducted in the Indonesian national language.
"They still can enrol in public school - in elementary school - so that's what we've been doing. We've enrolled children in public schools - school age between 6-12," Sinanu said.
For adult refugees, there is vocational training to help them pick up new skills such as dress-making. Others work on farms, growing organic vegetables.
There have been fun and laughter for the refugees at least during this once a year gathering. But their hearts are certainly somewhere else and not in Indonesia. Most of them are hoping to be processed quickly and be on their way to a third country that is willing to receive them permanently.
- CNA/al
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