Yudha Baskoro – Around 50 refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, most of whom were single with no family of their own, protested in front of the UN Refugee Agency headquarters on Jalan Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

Their main demand was for the UNHCR to grant asylum to 500 single asylum seekers who are currently stranded in Jakarta. Many of them have spent seven years in transit in Indonesia without ever receiving any clarity on their asylum applications. Now they fear that their resettlement applications have been shunted to the backburner because they have no family to support.

The demonstrators shouted slogans, sang protest songs and brandished posters demanding that their voices be heard by the UNHCR.

Some of the posters expressed their gratitude for the Indonesian people who were kind enough to accept and help them during their long wait in the country.

Source: https://jakartaglobe.id/vision/un-refugee-agency-faces-more-protest-from-refugees-and-asylum-seekers