ISSN: 2686-2379; E-ISSN: 2686-3464
A. Introduction
Indonesia is an archipelagic country located in Southeast Asia, lying between the
Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is located in a strategic location astride or along major sea
lanes connecting East Asia, South Asia, and Oceania. This strategic position has led
Indonesia to become one of the transit countries for international asylum seekers and
refugees with Australia as the destination country.3
Refugees are people who cross international borders in order to flee human rights
abuses and conflicts. Refugees are prime evidence of human rights violations and
vulnerability. People who are persecuted and deprived of their homes and communities
and means of livelihood are frequently forced to flee across the borders of their home
countries and seek refuge abroad.4 According to the data provided by the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia, at the end of September 2021,
the cumulative number of refugees and asylum seekers in Indonesia was recorded at
13.273 people from 49 countries and more than half of the population came from
Afghanistan.5 The majority of refugees do not enter Indonesia as a destination, but only a
place to stop temporarily before going on to countries that they consider ideal for meeting
the needs of refugees, including Australia and America.6
There are several problems faced by international refugees arriving in Indonesia, one
of which is not being grant the right to a nationality for babies born to international
refugees in Indonesia. This includes both those born from both parents who are
international refugees or from one of their parents who is an international refugee. Like
many Southeast Asian states, Indonesia is not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees and Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 (the
Refugee Convention). This lack of international protection for refugees is exacerbated by
the absence of a regional human rights convention, like those found in Europe and the
Americas. Furthermore, domestic legal protections are absent as no national legislation
comprehensively provides for refugee rights. Indonesia has no asylum system but allows
3
Lin Karita Sakharina and Kadarudin, Pengantar Hukum Pengungsi Internasional (Perbedaan Istilah
Pencari Suaka, Pengungsi Internasional Dan Pengungsi Dalam Negeri) (Deepublish, 2017), 38.
4
Alexander Betts and Gill Loescher, Refugee in International Relations (Oxford University Press
2011), 1.
5
UNHCR. 'Indonesia Factsheet' (2021) <https://reporting.unhcr.org/document/858> accessed 19
March 2023.
6
Antje Missbach, Troubled Transit: Asylum Seekers Stuck in Indonesia (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
2015), 7.
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