'1,500 Timorese children still stranded'<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Kupang<\/p>\n
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said
\non Friday that 1,500 East Timorese children, placed in orphanages
\nacross Indonesia in 1999, had not yet been reunited with their
\nparents in newly independent East Timor.<\/p>\n
UNHCR spokeswomen in Jakarta Kemala Angraeni Ahwil said that
\nparents had requested their children be returned, but finding
\nthem after they had been sent away to orphanages was no easy
\nfeat.<\/p>\n
She said the UNHCR knew of 1,501 cases of unreturned children.
\nFoundations that placed the children in orphanages were reluctant
\nto surrender them, Kemala said.<\/p>\n
UNHCR documents, parent-signed letters, and video footage of
\nthe parents were often not enough to convince the foundations or
\nthe orphanages, she said.<\/p>\n
\"They don't understand and don't believe us,\" she told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the UNHCR had managed to help reunite a total of
\n1,179 East Timorese children placed in orphanages across
\nIndonesia with their parents.<\/p>\n
Those children were handed over by their parents in refugee
\ncamps in West Timor to foundations who promised to take care of
\nthe children. The foundation then placed the children in various
\norphanages.<\/p>\n
Over 200,000 East Timorese fled the violence that engulfed the
\nformer Indonesian province following a 1999 UN-backed ballot, in
\nwhich the East Timorese overwhelmingly voted for independence.<\/p>\n
Kemala said that parents who had returned to East Timor and
\nsome who were still in Kupang had asked the UNHCR to help find
\ntheir children.<\/p>\n
\"They are scattered among many orphanages, so we're keeping
\nour eyes and ears open,\" Kemala said.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Java-based Hati (heart) Foundation had come under
\nfire on charges of obstructing efforts to return children to East
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
The international non-governmental organization, Jesuit
\nRefugee Service (JRS) Indonesia, said it was unable to repatriate
\n150 children because of objections from the Hati Foundation.<\/p>\n
But chief of the Hati Foundation Octavio Soares argued he was
\nresponsible only to the parents who had entrusted their children
\nto the foundation.<\/p>\n
\"Some (foundations) claim that because parents gave them the
\nchildren, they want the parents to pick them up,\" Kemala added.<\/p>\n
She said the UNHCR would need the help of the Ministry of
\nForeign Affairs to discuss the matter with the foundations.<\/p>\n
According to her, past cooperation with the Ministry of
\nForeign Affairs had been helpful in getting them to understand
\nthe UNHCR's job. \"I fear there is prejudice against the UN and
\nthe suspicion that we're meddling with Indonesia's internal
\naffairs.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/1500-timorese-children-still-stranded-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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