Rudenim Kupang Asked To Absorb Immigrants' Aspirations, Ombudsman: If Destination Country Closes Entrance Gate, Deportation To Country Of Origin

Illustration of immigrants in Indonesia under the supervision of the Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim). (intermediate dock)

NTT - The head of the Ombudsman representing East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Darius Beda Dator, asked the Kupang Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim) to follow up on the complaints of immigrants who are currently scattered in shelters in Kupang City.

He conveyed this when he met the Head of the Kupang Rudenim Heksa Asik Soepardi with his staff.

"We ask the Kupang Rudenim to be obliged to follow up on complaints from service users or immigrants according to the complaint handling mechanism within the Ministry of Law and Human Rights," Daton said when contacted, Thursday, July 21.

Daton said that currently there are 200 immigrants scattered in several shelters in Kupang City.

Immigrants, he continued, complained about the difficulty of getting services to seek asylum to third countries that were their destination, such as Australia and New Zealand.

He explained that the handling of refugees from abroad had been enshrined in the Presidential Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 125 of 2016.

The statement is based on Antara's report: "The handling of refugees is based on cooperation between the central government and the United Nations (UN) through the high commissioner for refugee affairs in Indonesia or international organizations in the form of coordination of discovery, shelter, security, and supervision".

According to the regulation, the shelter of the refugees is the responsibility of the local government, while the facilitation of all the needs of the refugees is the responsibility of international organizations.

Daton asked the Kupang Rudenim not to allow the immigrants' complaints so that the problem would not spread everywhere.

Regarding the responsibility for sheltering immigrants, his party asked Rudenim to continue to coordinate with the NTT Provincial Government so that it is handled properly and does not cause other social problems because they live for a long time.

"If the destination country has closed the entrance, we suggest that they can be deported back to their country or another solution as agreed with the Indonesian government and the United Nations," he said.