10 Years Of Living In Kupang, Refugees From Afghanistan Moved To Jakarta

Photo via Antara.

KUPANG - The Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim) of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), moved an Afghan refugee with the initials MN to Jakarta.

Head of Kupang Immigration Detention Center Heksa Asik Soepriadi said MN had lived in a shelter in Kupang for approximately 10 years.

"We are working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to move MN to Jakarta," he said when confirmed, quoted from Antara, Friday, November 4.

He explained that the transfer of MN to Jakarta was aimed at processing the person concerned from Indonesia to a third country.

For a third country, Heksa admitted that he did not know because the Kupang Rudenim was only carrying out the process of moving from Kupang to Jakarta.

He added that when departing from the Kupang El Tari International Airport, Kupang Rudenim officers escorted him to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

After returning from Soekarno Hatta Airport, the Afghan refugee was immediately escorted to the Jakarta Immigration Detention Center for the handover process.

WN refugees are placed in temporary shelters at the Mustika Bekasi Hotel which is under the supervision of the Jakarta Immigration Detention Center.

"Arriving in Jakarta, later the foreigner will undergo several examination processes, such as health checks and interviews conducted by the embassy from the targeted country," said Heksa.

Head of the Kupang Rudenim Security and Order Section, Melsy Fanggi, said he was grateful that he was able to help the process of transferring refugees to third countries because so far there have been a lot of complaints from refugees because they don't know how long they have to live in Kupang. On average they have lived in Kupang for years.

"In fact, they often protest. Hopefully, frequent demonstrations will not happen again," he added.

Melsy thanked UNHCR and IOM for working hard in the process of moving to a third country so that there has been a movement of refugees from Kupang City to a third country.

In the near future, he said, there will be several more refugees who will be transferred to third countries.

"The number of them is 12 people. This is currently in process. This is the success of all of us," he said.