Rohingya refugees taken ashore after huge Indonesian rescue | Rohingya News

Medan, Indonesia – A stop by a Rohingya refugee ship and a stop by the Indonesian navy ended in a horrific 18-hour rescue due to heavy rains and seas.

Refugees – mostly women and children – were landed in Lhokseumawe in Indonesia’s Aceh province in the early hours of Friday. Health department officials immediately examined it as part of the country’s protocol against COVID-19.

“We are very reassured and grateful to the Indonesian government for allowing the Rohingya to land in Aceh for humanitarian reasons,” said Lilianne Fan, founder of the Geutanyoe Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that protects Indonesian refugees. and Malaysia.

“Indonesia has once again shown great humanity towards refugees and not only should we praise this principled response, but also help it properly,” Al Jazeera said.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees also said he applauded the Indonesian government’s decision.

“We are grateful to Indonesia and its people for reaffirming their humanitarian spirit and for showing that saving their lives must always be a top priority.

Rescue is coming to an end in recent days when a damaged wooden boat carrying more than 100 Rohingya refugees was first spotted by fishermen on the coast of Aceh on Sunday.

On tuesday Indonesian authorities initially dismissed the refugee boat, his engine was broken and he was taking water. Photos circulating on social media showed the Indonesian navy preparing food, water and gasoline for refugees ahead of a plan to return to Malaysian waters.

This prompted calls from NGOs, including Amnesty International and UNHCR, to allow refugees to land. Encouraging Indonesian authorities to bow.

“Today, the Indonesian government has decided, on behalf of humanity, to provide shelter to Rohingya refugees currently on the water near the Biereun district, Aceh,” Indonesian Security Ministry official Armed Wijaya said on Wednesday.

High tides, stormy seas

On Thursday, an Indonesian navy ship towed the refugee ship to the port of Lhokseumawe, where the refugees were able to land. Initially, the process was expected to take about 12 hours, but with high tides and high waves, the storms progressed.

“There were 105 refugees on board and several of them will need medical attention in the coming days,” said Al Jazeera, Nasruddin M Is, humanitarian coordinator for the Geutanyoe Foundation.

Nasruddin was waiting at the dock to help process the refugees.

He said the refugees would be quarantined for 10 days according to local coronavirus protocols. He added that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also intends to vaccinate refugees.

Fan, the founder of the Geutanyoe Foundation, told Al Jazeera that returning refugees to the sea would be a violation of the principle of non-international translation.

Non-return is a principle of international law this prohibits the return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they are at risk of persecution.

“No security or freedom in Myanmar”

A Rohingya refugee living in Gura Amin, Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, arrived in Aceh in 2019 from Bangladesh by boat. He told Al Jazeera that he was very concerned about the escalation of the situation.

“When I was on my boat, it was very difficult. Myanmar’s government and military have been killing Rohingya for years, including women and children. There is no security or freedom in Myanmar. ”

When Gura Amin arrived in Aceh from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, he had been at sea for seven months, having been repeatedly landed in Malaysia.

Many of the food and water supplies on his boat were depleted, and some of the refugees on board were killed, including children.

Amin was only able to enter Indonesia because his boat was not seen by authorities until it landed and the refugees on board were landed on a local beach.

“They will try to get into Malaysia,” he said of the refugees on the last ship.

In the past, residents of Thailand and Malaysia did not allow Rohingya refugees to land and drove them back to the sea. Indonesia has also repeatedly tried to deny refugees the right to land before surrendering, Fan said something was also a violation of Indonesian law.

“It goes against Indonesian Decree 125 of 2016,” he said.

“Indonesia has a legal framework for landing refugees and responding to emergencies. It is far from perfect, but it is a very important humanitarian law and one that must be respected. “

In the past, Indonesia has also repeatedly tried to deny refugees the right to land before the refugee rights advocates said it was a violation of Indonesian and international law. [Photo courtesy of Geutanyoe Foundation]

Article 9 of Indonesian Presidential Decree 125/2016 states that refugees in a state of emergency at sea should be provided with emergency assistance and should be allowed to land on Indonesian soil if they are at risk.

The Rohingya are one of the world’s most persecuted minorities and have faced massive killings in Myanmar for decades, causing thousands to flee to refugee camps in Bangladesh or other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the subsequent 1967 Refugee Protocol, which means that refugees cannot be permanently relocated to the country.

“Authorities are always trying to repatriate refugees, unless there is pressure from NGOs, locals or the media,” said Nasier Husein, a documentary filmmaker living in Aceh’s Lhokseumawe.

Earlier, refugees were able to land in Aceh, including residents, fishermen, after the interventions, something happened again this time.

Following the recent discovery of the boat in the coastal waters of Bireu, fishermen staged a demonstration on the beach and tried to reason with local authorities to allow the refugees to land.

“Following the arrival of three ships in 2020 and 2021, the structures of the local refugee task force have been established in Aceh, and a temporary reception center / compound is ready to receive arrivals through the work of IOM and partners,” said Louis Hoffmann, IOM chief. The Indonesian Mission said in a statement.

In addition to the UNHCR registration process, IOM and its partners also provide shelter, bedding, food and psychosocial support to refugees, Hoffmann said.

The last refugees, who have been living for more than a month, will be temporarily housed in Aceh, the capital of Medan province, where other Rohingya refugees, including Gura Amin, live.

“I am grateful to the Indonesian government [for allowing them to land], “he said.

“That will save his life.”

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the subsequent 1967 Refugee Protocol, which means that refugees cannot be permanently relocated to the country. [Photo Courtesy of the Geutanyoe Foundation]