Asylum seekers removed from UN office

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police removed some 150 asylum seekers from Central Asia and the Middle East from the Arya building, which houses the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Jakarta, on Monday.

The asylum seekers, including women and children from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, had been staging a sit-in at the building since Friday to demand that the UN agency speed up the process of sending them to third countries in the West.

There was some resistance from the asylum seekers during the evacuation process, but there were no reported injuries. They were sent back to their temporary shelters.

Kemala Angraini Ahwil, UNHCR Jakarta office spokeswoman, told the asylum seekers that they were not protesting on UN premises because UNHCR was only a tenant in the building, Antara said.

Some 100 of the asylum seekers have been given refugee status and are awaiting news of their acceptance into a Western country.

The UNHCR office in Jakarta has granted refugee status to some 500 of the estimated 1,400 asylum seekers from the Middle East and Central Asia currently in Indonesia.

Many asylum seekers have used Indonesia as a jumping point to enter Australia illegally. On Sunday, Indonesian authorities intercepted an Australia-bound boat carrying 170 asylum seekers off Sumbawa island in East Nusa Tenggara.