UNHCR, IOM pledge to help RI deal with illegal migrants

Rita A.Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

With the number of illegal immigrants living in Indonesia falling drastically, international refugee and migration organizations would continue to help the country dealing with migrants and refugees.

Speaking at a people smuggling conference here on Wednesday, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said his organization, the UNHCR, together with International Organization of Migration (IOM) had helped return migrants and refugees to their home countries.

UNHCR and IOM had been working on repatriation of East Timor refugees residing in West Timor, illegal migrants from several Middle-Eastern countries including Iraq and Afghanistan who were in Indonesia and hoping to be resettled in Australia or another developed Western country.

"UNHCR has been a successful partner of Indonesia and Australia together with IOM to address mixed flows of people of which only a limited number are really refugees," Lubbers said at the end of the Bali regional ministerial conference on people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related translational crime.

Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda stated that with the help of the two UN agencies, Indonesia had successfully reduced the number of asylum-seekers from 3,872 people in l999 to less than 500 last year.

"The majority of these migrants, especially those coming from Afghanistan, were voluntarily returning home as the situation in that country is now improving substantially," Hassan said.

Lubbers explained that last year, UNHCR sent home around 1.5 million Afghans fleeing to several countries including Indonesia and Australia.

"As the situation improves in Iraq, again another example is our role preparing to facilitate the return of some 500,000 persons, over half of the Iraqis who are today living in refugee- like situations," Lubbers said.

UNHCR is currently trying to help out about 12 million refugees and 7 million displaced people, asylum-seekers and stateless people worldwide.

In his evaluation of the current condition of refugees and illegal migrants around the world, Lubbers made several important notes.

People smugglers, traffickers and organized networks involved in transnational crime syndicates profit from the lack of solutions for victims of violence and discrimination.

"To be effective in fighting crime, increasing border control and attacking criminal networks will not suffice. We have been engaged in this for many years, but the problem is still with us. One needs to reduce 'the lifeline' of crime.

"We must therefore not only live up to the spirit of the 1951 Convention, but also engage in comprehensive solutions... solutions for refugees and burden sharing is not only a humanitarian and political challenge. It is also about fighting crime," Lubbers added.

The l951 Convention deals with the proper treatment of refugees and migrants.

Meanwhile, Dennis Nihill, IOM's Asia-Pacific regional representative, disclosed that from l995 to l999, over two million Asian migrant workers left their countries every year.

Major countries of origin include the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Annual outflow of migrant workers had more than tripled in the past decade to almost 900,000 people in 2001.

"The number of documented Indonesian workers in Malaysia, the number one destination for Indonesian migrants, indicates over a six-fold increase to almost 800,000 in the decade from l990," Nihill said.

While being the major region of origin for migrants, Asia is also the host region for millions of migrants, mostly from West Asia and South Central Asia.