Publications
MY PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY
I used to be stateless. That's why I value my Canadian permanent resident card so much
15 October 2022
My eyes welled with tears. For the first time in my life, I have a piece of paper that legally documented my existence. For the first time in my life, I felt like I could breathe easily and experience the world's goodness.
Pengungsi asing di Indonesia selama pandemi: ‘Mereka menolak saya dan mengatakan vaksin hanya untuk WNI’
6 AUGUSTÂ Â 2021
Sebagian pengungsi asing di Indonesia merasa nasibnya kian tak jelas di tengah pandemi Covid-19. Beberapa dari mereka mempertanyakan jaminan perlindungan kesehatan di tengah wabah, termasuk vaksinasi.
Kisah remaja Rohingya di Aceh yang 'bertaruh nyawa' demi pendidikan tinggi
8 JANUARY 2021
Seorang remaja berusia 19 tahun merupakan salah satu pengungsi Rohingya yang terdampar di Provinsi Aceh. Dia bertekad menempuh pendidikan tinggi, saat menumpang kapal dari kamp pengungsi di Bangladesh.
We, the Rohingya youth, demand our right to an education
31 DECEMBER 2019
The world needs to stop viewing us as victims and help us gain the tools we need to forge a new path for Myanmar.
Public health and WASH / Non-signatory States and the international refugee regime
JUNE 2023
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Refugees Stuck In Indonesia Are Experiencing A Mental Health Crisis
21 FEB 2020
Thousands of refugees travel to Indonesia, hoping to make it to Australia. The vast majority of them never will.
OPINION: Asif wanted to be a lawyer in Australia. Instead, he took his own life in Indonesia
07/07/2020
We, refugees, have long endured isolation. We are separated from our families and have been living at the margin of society for many long years, with no certainty about our future, no rights to travel, work or study.
OPINION: ‘I escaped genocide but I cannot escape Australia’s immigration policies’
23/09/2019
In 1982, the Myanmar government introduced regulations denying citizenship to anyone who could not prove Burmese ancestry dating back to 1823. Now, the United Nations has officially called Rohingya a ‘stateless’ ethnicity. As of today, nearly one million Rohingyans have fled to Bangladesh since Myanmar’s military began ethnic cleansing. JN Joniad, a Rohingya man, told Dateline his story.
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COMMENT: 'Impossible to self-isolate,' Refugees in Indonesia fear coronavirus outbreak
01/04/2020
It is almost impossible for them to practice social distancing. With no basic rights to work, travel and use public health services, refugees and asylum seekers are further marginalised and the most vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus.
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Why this refugee woman boxing champion cannot become an international star
02/10/2020
Marwh dreams of becoming an international boxing champion. Her refugee status in Indonesia means she is unable to compete internationally and instead lives in limbo.
Indefinite limbo drives refugees to take their own lives in Indonesia
1.FEB.21
On 14 December 2020, nearly six hundred Refugees gathered at the UNHCR office in Jakarta with three coffins to represent their fellow refugees who committed suicide last month. Their pictures were displayed on banners along with seven refugees who had taken their lives since 2014.
Refugees will not be silent: two months of protests in Makassar
23.OCT.19
We started our protests on 6 August. We protested each day across six cities in Indonesia for nearly two months, rallying in the scorching heat in front of UNHCR offices. We chanted: ‘Justice!’ ‘Host country, hear us! ‘We are human, too!’ ‘UNHCR don’t be silent!’ ‘We need resettlement!’
A lost generation of refugee children In Indonesia
6.MAY.20
‘I always wanted to be like Angelina Jolie. I have seen her helping refugees but I cannot fulfil my dream to be like her because I can’t go to school in Indonesia,’ said Adian Abdullah, a thirteen-year-old Iraqi refugee girl. She has been stranded with her family in limbo for the past four years in Jakarta, Indonesia.
A LIFETIME IN LOCKDOWN
JULY 26, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced people around the world into isolation and lockdown, with deleterious effects on mental health. Many people are suffering under the psychological pressures of living restricted lives in limbo, unable to connect with their loved ones, and unsure what the future might hold.
Freedom Street: A Documentary Journey into the Australian Border policy
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
On 16 July 2018, I returned to my home country of Indonesia after being away for nearly a decade. I arrived into a hot and dusty Makassar as I headed towards the refugee accommodations. When I arrived at the address, I was greeted by my refugee friends at the front of their dreary, cramped, repurposed student hostel where a family occupies a single tiny room.
In Makassar, refugees rally for medical treatment in the shadow of the virus
SEPTEMBER 24, 2020
Indonesia is becoming a long-term hub for refugees, living in limbo without access to comprehensive healthcare. With many failing to receive necessary treatment over a period of years, the health implications are apparent, with the pandemic only making matters worse
Across Indonesia, latest Covid-19 surge adds to woes of refugees in limbo
MAY 31, 2020
Indonesia's sizeable population of refugees – living in limbo awaiting resettlement without healthcare, employment, nutrition and social distancing – now fear what effect Covid-19 could have on their community following a confirmed case in mid-May
Stateless in a Globalised World
26 JULY 2019
A Rohingya refugee stuck in limbo in Indonesia reflects upon his journey and the denial of freedom of movement to refugees around the world.
My halted journey toward freedom
10 DECEMBER 2020
On 26 July 2013, I was with my classmates on my way home from my English language class. Suddenly, two bomb explosions occurred, one in the market and the other in the neighboring bazaar. I was just walking around the market (which was just 20 meters away from me) and going back to my village to the main town to catch a bus. The second blast almost hit me. Fortunately, I was behind a bus that saved me with just minor injuries, but I lost one of my most cherished classmates.
Public health and WASH / Non-signatory States and the international refugee regime
JULY 2021
The latest issue of Forced Migration Review, now online, includes two features. In the Public health and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) feature, authors discuss challenges, responses and innovations across a wide range of settings, and identify learning which could help inform future public health and WASH work with forced migrants. Meanwhile, in the second feature, authors explore the status of protection in non-signatory States, examining, in particular, the role of UNHCR, civil society and legal actors in facilitating access to protection for refugees and asylum seekers.
Australia`s Border Protection and the Rohingya
19 December 2018
Australia’s extreme refugee policies are damaging to refugees and set a dangerous precedent. Indonesian policies are also harsh but Indonesia is not the signatory of the UN Declaration on Refugees. We believe the purpose of Australia’s cruel treatment of Rohingya is determent, and it bears responsibility for the refugees in Indonesia as boat turnbacks have relocated refugees illegally in Indonesia. The UN Declaration on refugees explicitly forbids ‘refoulement’ and punitive policies.
A Rohingya refugee’s flight to Canada
23 FEBRUARY, 2022
Today, thanks to Canada and those kind Canadians I have a chance for a second life. However, there are still nearly 14,000 refugees stranded in Indonesia. I, therefore, take freedom as an opportunity to advocate more effectively for them and the refugees around the world. I strongly encourage Canadian and Australian citizens to join the change makers who are giving hope by sponsoring refugees in vulnerable positions. The UNHCR has reported that, typically, less than one percent of the 20.7 million refugees worldwide under UNHCR’s mandate are ever resettled. It is also possible that the Canadian model of community sponsorship for refugees may be adopted by other countries, an initiative that would greatly boost refugees’ hope for resettlement.
JN Joniad fled his home in Rakhine state 6 years ago, and is currently registered in with UNHCR in Indonesia as a refugee, while he awaits resettlement elsewhere. His story not only illuminates the condition of fellow Rohingya, but also uncovers what appears to be a global trend amongst wealthy nations (the US, EU, and Australia) to outsource their border enforcement policy to developing nations through a strategy of deterrence and obscured accountability.