Domestic refugees left unprotected in international law

By Heru Susetyo

JAKARTA (JP): It is chilling -- the image of thousands of people fleeing to forests from the violence that has killed hundreds, or the jostling to make it to departing ships that will sail the forced migrants to safety far from their property and adopted homeland.

The suffering of the Madurese in the Central Kalimantan cities of Sampit and Palangkaraya in recent attacks by the native Dayaks was a repeat of the tragedy that befell the Madurese during their conflict with the Malays in Sambas, West Kalimantan between 1998- 1999. Then, hundreds of Madurese were killed and approximately 65,000 of them were displaced. Many of those refugees are now still sheltering in various camps.

In Aceh, thousands who have fled the conflict between armed separatists and the military are still scattered in various refugee camps in Lhokseumawe, Sigli and North Sumatra. They have faced hardship, as have more than 200,000 refugees scattered in Poso of Central Sulawesi, in North Sulawesi, and in Ternate in North Maluku.

Take Ternate. Its population prior to the conflict was around 100,000. It has now doubled since then. Competition for resources and livelihood has caused an escalation of not only unemployment but also crime and other social problems.

In Jambula village, Ternate, some 1,500 people have been sheltering in a 125-square-meter warehouse of the local logistics agency (Dolog). The inadequate living conditions include low roofing, poor ventilation and only three toilets for all of the refugees. In Kalumpang refugee camp in Ternate City, hundreds of refugees are sheltering in a half-finished building with no walls or electricity.

During the height of the unrest in Poso last year, some 70,000 people abandoned the city and fled to the neighboring areas of Palu, Ampana, Luwuk, Makassar and Manado.

In Palu, most of the refugees have been sheltering in Gawalise stadium where widows, orphans and hundreds of children who no longer attend school roam aimlessly. In Poso, only five medical doctors were in service in July 2000 to help the refugees.

What has the government been doing? Refugees, local officials and volunteers alike have posed this question on numerous occasions when discussing the situation facing the refugees.

Rather than taking strategic measures to handle the problem, the government has been dragging its feet and has failed to show any well-defined concept as to how it should assist the refugees.

In some conflict-hit areas, thousands have been classified as refugees for more than two years. In Bacan, North Maluku, no day goes by without several refugees dying of various diseases.

It is the nongovernmental organizations that have been working hardest to help ease the hardship of refugees, be they foreign groups such as World Vision, Medicine Sans Frontier, Save the Children Fund, or domestic ones such as Dompet Dhuafa of the Republika daily, MER-C (Medical Emergency Rescue Committee).

In January, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 3/2001 the government established the National Coordinating Board for Disaster and Refugee Management.

Headed by the Vice President and manned by ministers, military commanders, police chiefs and governors, the body resembles that of a cabinet. Volunteers sneer at the body that has failed to include those who have really been working out there all this time, such as social and religious organizations as well as local people.

Where does the international world come in? Provisions for the protection of refugees are contained in many documents such as the UN charter of human rights. A number of legal instruments for the protection of war victims, civilians (women, children and the elderly) and minorities, are already in place.

But do those instruments affect the rights of internally displaced people in Indonesia?

Unfortunately, they do not.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has not worked for refugees in Aceh, Poso, Sampit, Palangkaraya or Maluku because those are considered domestic matters. It has assigned staff members only to places where there are internationally displaced migrants -- such as in the border areas of East Timor and East Nusa Tenggara.

In a way, the absence of UNHCR staff in hotspots in Aceh, Kalimantan and Maluku complies with the Indonesian government's wishes. Once when there were reports about the UNHCR's intention to send a team to Aceh, the government managed to effectively halt the plan citing unnecessary foreign intervention in domestic problems.

In addition, existing human rights instruments have been established to protect internationally displaced migrants rather than domestic migrants. This explains why domestic refugees do not enjoy the same protection as they would under international law.

However, regardless of the discussion on the government's failure to act or on the international world's ignorance, the fact remains that thousands of refugees in Indonesia are suffering. There is no time to wait. The primary responsibility of the government should be to assist its citizens, though everyone else seems to have to bear their own responsibility.

The writer is a lawyer, lecturer at the University of Indonesia's Law School, and director of the Indonesian Center for Legal and Human Rights Advocacy (PAHAM).