Seven illegal Afghan immigrants stage hunger strike in Mataram

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

Seven illegal immigrants from Afghanistan are staging a hunger strike that began on Wednesday in the West Nusa Tenggara capital of Mataram, demanding that the UN grant them refugee status and send them to a third country.

They spread a plaited mat in front of Nusantara Building, a building that has accommodated them for the past three years.

Jafar, one of the Afghan immigrants, said that the immigrants were very disappointed with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for neglecting them and they demanded the UN body grant them refugee status immediately.

"Then, we want them to send us to a third state immediately. We don't want to go back to Afghanistan," he said.

They warned that if the UNHCR still failed to respond to their demand by Monday, the number of people joining the hunger strike would increase. "We'd rather die here than die in Afghanistan," said Jafar.

Jafar said that the hunger strike was a last-ditch effort, after living in uncertainty in Indonesia for years.

There are currently 67 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan living in a refugee camp in Mataram. Thirty-five of them are men, while the remaining 14 and 18 are women and children respectively.

Previously, the number of the illegal immigrants was as high as 200. But, after two rounds of interviews with the UNHCR, some of the immigrants were conferred refugee status and they were transported to countries that were willing to accept them.

Some of them chose to return to Afghanistan after the downfall of fundamentalist Taliban regime, and 67 opted to remain in Mataram until they got the refugee status and were sent to a third country.

"We want to obtain asylum in New Zealand, Australia or Canada or other countries that are willing to accept us," he said.

Jafar said that the illegal immigrants initially fled Afghanistan for Australia to get political asylum. But, the government of Australia rejected the asylum seekers when they arrived in the country three years ago by boat.

The Australian government instead sent them back to Indonesia, their last port of embarkation.

They were then brought to Rote island, and transported to Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara province.

They were held by police personnel while their boats were cruising in waters off West Nusa Tenggara, on their way to Australia. They were then brought to Mataram.

In their refugee camp in Mataram, they are under the supervision of the local police personnel and the International Organization for Migration, an international non-governmental organization (NGO).

The NGO has given them food, proper beds and medical treatment.

They refused to disclose the reasons why they did not wish to return to Afghanistan, even though the fundamentalist regime there had collapsed some time ago.

The Jakarta Post tried to contact Stephane Jaquemet, the country representative of UNHCR in Jakarta late on Thursday, for confirmation, but he had already gone home.