They Were Promised Safety, Then Left to Rot in Indonesia
For over a decade, Afghan refugees have waited in Indonesia—not for charity, but for a future they were promised by the international community. In 2025, most are still waiting. Forgotten by world powers, restricted by local policies, and ignored by institutions that once claimed to protect them.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. It never promised resettlement. But others did.
Countries like Australia, Canada, the U.S., and European states encouraged Afghan asylum seekers to wait in “transit” nations like Indonesia, offloading their responsibility while appearing compassionate. What followed was not protection—but abandonment.
The Human Cost of Policy Failure
According to a 2023 report by Bolaq Analysts Network:
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The majority of Afghan refugees in Indonesia are Hazara and Shia Muslim, many targeted for genocide in their home country.
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Many have lived in Indonesia for 8 to 13 years, with no right to work, no access to school, and no path forward.
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Mental health is at crisis levels: 17 confirmed suicides, self-harm, and trauma among children and adults alike.
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Families live in isolation with no legal status, no mobility, and no protection.
Refugees have protested peacefully for years—writing letters, sewing their lips shut, launching hunger strikes—but the silence from global institutions is deafening.
This Is Not a Transit Zone. It’s a Trap.
Indonesia was never meant to be a destination. But now, for thousands of Afghans, it has become an open-air prison with no exit.
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They are barred from integration.
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They are denied resettlement.
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They are left without the right to plan their lives.
The policies of deterrence by Western states have created a pipeline of despair—outsourcing refugee responsibility to countries with no obligation to protect.
This is not a logistical bottleneck. It is a manufactured crisis rooted in fear-based migration policies and global indifference.
The World Has a Choice
Every day the international community fails to act, more lives are lost. More children are denied futures. More promises are broken.
We call on:
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Resettlement countries to open immediate and accelerated pathways for long-stuck refugees
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UNHCR and IOM to advocate forcefully for their protection and stop hiding behind bureaucratic barriers
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Indonesia to grant basic rights like education, mobility, and dignified shelter to long-term refugees
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The global public to stop accepting this quiet, systemic failure as normal
Generation Outside Afghanistan: Why We Speak
We speak not only because these refugees are Afghan. We speak because this crisis reveals a global truth: the refugee system is failing those most in need.
Afghan refugees in Indonesia were forced to flee. They did not choose exile.
They were told to wait. They did.
Now, they are told nothing. And that is unacceptable.
This is not a refugee crisis. It is a crisis of conscience.
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