Rohingya: Indonesia pushes back refugee boat to Malaysia

This mimeographed photo taken and received from Indonesian police on December 28, 2021 shows officers preparing to send supplies to Rohingya refugees aboard a wooden ship off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province in Bireuen.

AFP - HANDOUT

Text by: Clea Broadhurst

1 min

A boat with 120 Rohingya refugees, including 51 children and 60 women on board, was prevented by Indonesian police from docking on the shores of the archipelago and returned to neighboring Malaysia, authorities in Jakarta said on Tuesday (December 28th). .

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Rohingya refugees have been stranded at sea off the coast of Aceh province in northern Indonesia for three days.

Their wooden boat is damaged and the engine is no longer running.

Several humanitarian organizations, including Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), have therefore asked the Indonesian authorities to allow the boat to dock.

The approaching police did not allow a disembarkation, but provided water, food, fuel and a technician to repair the boat so that it reached Malaysia.

Aceh police spokesperson added that the boat would be monitored until it reached its destination.

5% of refugees registered in Indonesia

Last year, hundreds of Rohingya refugees, a Muslim community persecuted in Burma, arrived in the archipelago.

Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention, but hosts nearly 14,000 refugees registered with UNHCR.

More than half of them come from Afghanistan while the Rohingya make up around 5% of these refugees.

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• Rohingya

• Indonesia

• Refugees

• International Migration

• Malaysia

• Burma