Turkish boat people under quarantine in Jakarta<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post , Jakarta<\/p>\n
Fourteen stranded boat people are being placed under quarantine
\nin Jakarta, where immigration and police officers will question
\nthem to decide their fate, officials said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Ade E. Dachlan, spokesman for the immigration office at the
\nMinistry of Justice and Human Rights, said the Turkish Kurds had
\nbeen flown from Maluku province to Jakarta on Tuesday aboard a
\nchartered flight.<\/p>\n
They arrived in the capital city late on Tuesday and were
\nimmediately taken to the immigration detention center in
\nCengkareng, West Jakarta, said Tumpal Hutapea, head of the
\ndetention center.<\/p>\n
\"They are being dealt with by the International Office for
\nMigration (IOM) in Jakarta. We shall be working along with the
\nIOM on their repatriation,\" he told AFP.<\/p>\n
Ade said Indonesian officials would also coordinate with the
\nUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in
\ninterrogating the boat people upon their arrival here to
\ndetermine whether they were asylum-seekers or not.<\/p>\n
\"We have not yet decided what to do until we know their
\nstatus,\" he said when asked whether they would be deported.<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar had earlier said the
\nboat people would expelled when they arrived in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta offices of IOM and UNHCR usually deal with cases
\nof boat people in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The Turkish Kurds, aboard the Minasa Bone fishing boat, were
\ntowed by the Australian navy last week out to Indonesian waters
\nfour days after it reached Melville Island off the northern
\nAustralian coast.<\/p>\n
The boat people, who sought asylum in Australia, later beached
\non Nov. 9 in Saumlaki town, Yamdena island, in the southeastern
\npart of Maluku. They were then taken into custody by local
\npolice.<\/p>\n
Local police officers said the Turkish immigrants were in poor
\nhealth after sailing aboard the small boat, which was in poor
\ncondition.<\/p>\n
Australia has taken a hard line against people-smuggling after
\nfinding organized gangs were using neighboring Indonesia as a
\nstepping stone for Middle Eastern and Afghan asylum-seekers
\ntrying to resettle in Australia.<\/p>\n
The controversial decision by Australia to send the boatload
\nof asylum-seekers back to Indonesia is a disappointing breach of
\nits obligations under international law, the UNHCR said on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
\"We are very concerned at the way that Australia handled the
\ncase, effectively barring (the 14) from seeking asylum,\" UNHCR
\nspokesman Kris Kanowski was quoted by AFP as saying.<\/p>\n
\"This denial of access represents a breach of Australia's
\nobligations under international law and undermines the system of
\nasylum protection,\" he told a regular news conference in Geneva.<\/p>\n
Unlike Indonesia, Australia was a signatory to the 1951
\nrefugee convention, the foundation of international law for the
\nprotection of refugees, which meant it was obliged to hear
\nrequests for asylum and to resist sending anyone seeking help
\nonward to a dangerous location, the agency explained.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR planned to send an \"official communication\" to the
\nAustralian foreign ministry later in the day outlining its
\nconcerns and frustrations, as the agency had been led to believe
\nAustralia would listen to an application for asylum from the boat
\npeople, said Kanowski.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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