500 migrants declared genuine refugees

500 migrants declared genuine refugees

PEKANBARU, Riau: Out of the 2,100 migrants known to have illegally entered Riau over the last few years, 500 have been classified as genuine refugees, Director General of Immigration Iman Santoso said here on Friday.

The classification into the genuine refugee status was made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), he said.

Most of the illegal migrants entering Indonesia were Afghans, who ran away from their country because of the civil war, Iman said, adding that some of them had expressed an intention to return home due to the improving conditions in Afghanistan.

The 2,100 were part of the thousands of migrants, including those from Iraq, that had made their way across Asia to Indonesia in the hope of reaching their final destination -- Australia.

Iman said the Indonesian and Australian governments had agreed to jointly finance the return of the illegal migrants to their countries of origin.

"Australia has pledged financial assistance to Afghan refugees who want to return to their country voluntarily," he added. -- Antara