Indonesia says Rohingya refugee boat can stay ‘in the name of humanity’
- ‘Today, the Indonesian government decided, in the name of humanity, to give refuge to Rohingya refugees currently afloat on a boat near Biereun district’, said an official
- The refugees had been at sea for 28 days when their boat’s engine broke and the vessel began taking on water
Indonesia will allow a boat packed with Rohingya refugees that had become stranded off its coast to dock in the Southeast Asian country, its security ministry said on Wednesday, after calls from aid organisations.
Local officials in Aceh, a province on the Western island of Sumatra said on Tuesday that they would provide the roughly 120 passengers on board with food, medicine and water, but would not allow them to seek refuge in Indonesia, despite international pleas to do so.
“Today, the Indonesian government decided, in the name of humanity, to give refuge to Rohingya refugees currently afloat on a boat near Biereun district, Aceh,” Armed Wijaya, an official at Indonesia’s chief security ministry, said in a statement.
“The decision was made after considering the emergency conditions the refugees are experiencing on board the boat,” he said. Its passengers were mostly women and children, he added.
The stranded boat had been at risk of sinking within days, two fishermen told Reuters on Wednesday.
“There were two places where the boat was leaking. There was lot of water,” said Aditya Setiawan, one of the fishermen. In a video seen by Reuters, dozens of people appeared to be packed above and below the deck of the long, wooden skiff.
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Video shows smugglers beating Rohingya refugees on boat during failed attempt to flee Bangladesh
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 UN. Convention on Refugees and is predominately seen as a transit country for those seeking asylum to a third country.